A Thomistic Christocentrism

"Every Christian theologian seeks to secure the centrality of Christ. Ever since the fourteenth century the debate has been framed as one between Scotists and Thomists. Fr. Dylan Schrader shows us how these two schools became mutually informing in the early modern period. He further demonstrates the resulting christocentrism of the Discalced Carmelites of Salamanca has much to commend it. Yet their position is overlooked by the leading voices of modern Catholic theology. This is essential reading on a fundamental dogmatic question."—Justus Hunter, author of If Adam Had Not Sinned: The Reason for the Incarnation from Anselm to Scotus

"A welcome contribution to a fuller rediscovery of the theology of the Carmelites of Salamanca and their remarkable capacity to illumine, deepen, and even correct modern theological proposals of consequence. Schrader succeeds admirably in offering a lucid interpretation and a persuasive defense of the profound Salmanticensian account of the rationale for the incarnation. Their way of integrating a central Scotist insight within a fundamentally Thomist approach influenced Matthias Joseph Scheeben in the nineteenth century and Charles Cardinal Journet in the twentieth century. Schrader successfully displays the ongoing fruitfulness of the superior Salmanticensian proposal by putting it into a highly instructive dialogue with the recent accounts of Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar. A 'must read' for teachers and students of theology who care about a fresh ressourcement of contemporary Catholic Christology"—Reinhard Hütter, author of Bound for Beatitude: A Thomistic Study in Eschatology

"This is a fascinating study which shows that the seventeenth- century Salmancan Carmelites offer a nuanced Christocentrism that rivals leading twentieth-century theologians. Fr. Schrader rediscovers the lost treasure of Salamanca."—Ulrich Lehner, University of Notre Dame