Compare Untrammeled Approaches

The first consists of philosophical essays. Several deal with truth, with philosophy at the time of Vatican II, and with the divine aseity; two are on philosophy of nature, dealing with evolution and with animal instinct; and three are on moral philosophy. A second group consists of primarily theological essays. Four are contributions to what Maritain calls an existential epistemology. They are followed by a moving meditation on the Mass and essays on the Church triumphant, resurrection, and the priesthood. When he lay dying at Fossanova, Thomas Aquinas, in deference to the wishes of the Cistercians, with whom he had found refuge, wrote a commentary on the Song of Songs. How better could a lifelong Thomist round off his lifetime of writing than with his own essay on the Song of Songs? This is what Maritian does in the serenely profound meditation that closes the volume.