Saint Thomas Aquinas, Vol 1: The Person and his Work (review)

Reviews 203 their aged parents. Warnings against bequeathing property in one's lifetime are virtually universal, however, and Shahar considers that these also are an expression of anxiety about aging, as well as the pain caused by the asymmetry in the love between parents and their offspring. The undifferentiated conception of old people (more accurately, of old men) in the literature discussed in the cultural-historical chapters of Shahar's study is offset by her examination of a number of sub-groups, which aims to show that the status and participation of the elderly varied according to gender, social stratum, position, regional custom, level of functioning and personality. A summary of the conclusions to which this examination points would have been helpful. Shahar's postscript emphasises the existence of tensions between the older and younger generations, arising from the limited nature of resources, irrespective of the system of division adopted. This theme also figures in her final chapter, on charity, which concludes that although old people are not defined by scripture as especially deserving, destitute old people were not victims of a deliberate policy of discrimination in favour of other needy groups, but suffered, as some young people did, because resources were insufficient. Awareness of medieval views of old people, Shahar concludes, can help 'to point out the universal, changeless aspects and old age and the relations between the generations, which are part of the h u m a n condition' (p. 173). In view of this it is perhaps inevitable that one of the weaknesses of this study is its failure to address the question of whether images, attitudes and expectations of old people did remain constant during the four centuries it spans. Stephanie Hollis Department of English University of Auckland Torrell, Jean-Pierre, O .P., Saint Thomas Aquinas, Vol. 1: The Person and trans. Robert Royal, Washington, D. C , Catholic University of America Press, 1996; paper; pp. xxiv, 407; R.R.P. US$25.95. Ordinary historical realism has tended to be ignored in approaching one o the great masters of philosophical realism. Aquinas, says Jean-Pierre Torrell, 'has too often been presented as atimelessthinker; but in fact he was situated in a specific time and place, marked by precise historical contingencies'. In this first of two volumes, Torrell concentrates on Aquinas's life, including the dating, circumstances and the content in brief of his formidable corpus. H e seeks to do for Aquinas what Renaissance humanists did for their revered Ancients: restore h u m a n concreteness to an almost mythical figure and provide contextual terms of reference to works and ideas that are customarily treated only in the abstract. 204 Reviews The sixteen chapters of the study begin with a sketch of Aquinas's youth and his struggle to attain the religious vocation of his choice; they move through his apprenticeship to Albert, his academic success, the increasing responsibility of his teaching appointments and the demand for his theological expertise. His journeys are followed from Paris to Orvieto, to Rome, a second stay in Paris and his final period in Naples, whence, on the road to the Council of Lyon, he died in 1273. T w o concluding chapters deal with the sequel to his death: the cult following, criticism, vindication and eventual canonisation. The attention that Aquinas's known works receive throughout in the specific context of their writing, as well as the detailed catalogue given at the end, indicate something of the magnitude and diversity of his output and should counteract the c o m m o n inclination to regard the Summa Theologica in virtual isolation and Aquinas's work as an amorphous whole. Torrell seeks to 'discover something of his face' in details of Aquinas's life that have customarily received little attention: h o w he spent his days; his physical characteristics, handwriting and work-habits, his strong links with his family; the vigour with which he defended his beliefs, especially with regard to the mendicant religious life; the originality of thought that provoked such controversy following his death. The outlines that emerge are of a rich and multi-faceted human being, instead of the detached intellectual he is customarily...