Miscellanea André Combes (review)

380 BOOK REVIEWS as a passive sterility which makes no efficient contribution to the accomplishment of actualization. Father Walgrave concludes: "To recover a receptive form of consciousness which is willing to live in silence and awareness of God, we must develop a concept of man that is in complete opposition to a closed form of humanism." (p. 1~7) He believes that a providential trend is at work in the world which may serve to liberate man and bring him to accept himself as one of" the poor of Yaweh." A recovery of the dialogie sense of contemplation has been manifested in the lives of such influential figures as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dag HammerskjOld and Pope John XXIII. It is the author's unassailable premise that the Dominican concept-the ideal incarnated in Saint Dominic-contains a contemplative dimension that has a value in itself and an ultimate relationship to the apostolic and doctrinal mission. Authenticity demands a practical reaffirmation of this by the Order. The ultimate criterion which must be applied to evaluate experiments engaged in concerning the housekeeping details of the Dominican life-form is neither the norm of efficiency nor that of self-realization but whether or not the process is contributory to the development of the contemplative attitude. If this is assured, all else will follow. Dominican House of Studies Washington, D. 0. WILLIAM B. RYAN, 0. P. Miscellanea Andre Combes. Rome: Libreria Editrice della Pont. Universita Lateranense, 1967-1968. I (Pp. 896, L. 4000), II (Pp. 500, L. 5000), III (Pp. 500, L. 5000) . Friends and colleagues of Monsignor Andre Combes joined together to offer a massive tribute to him in the form most characteristic of his own career, scholarly writing. The three large volumes of Miscellanea honor the man who, after a distinguished scholarly career in his native France, came to the Lateran in Rome at the threshold of its academic renewal, which coincided with the opening of the pontificate of John XXIII. In 1968 he became the founder of the Chair of St. Thomas at the Lateran, with the purpose of recapturing the long history of Thomistic teaching going back to the former Apollinare and of bringing Thomistic thought to bear on the area of contemporary Catholic culture. From this sprang the series "Cathedra Sancti Thomae" (which also includes this Miscellanea) and the later "Studi e ricerche sulla rinascita del tomismo." Combes was also the founder of the Institute of Higher Studies of Spirituality, which publishes " Spiritualitas." BOOK REVIEWS 381 A disciple and collaborator of Etienne Gilson, student of the spirituality of Gerson, dedicated follower of St. Therese of Lisieux, lifelong admirer of St. Thomas Aquinas-these various interests among others indicated in the prefatory "Life and Works of Msgr. Andre Combes" are reflected in the sweep of articles relating to every epoch in the life of the Church. The three volumes are divided into eleven sections beginning with Biblical Themes and ending with Thomism and Modern Science. We can merely list the major contributions which would offer direct interest to Thomists. " Comment Le Premier Moteur Meut L'Univers," by Paul Siwek, S. J. (I, 377··39~) ; " Berenger de Tours dans les ecrits de Saint Thomas d'Aquin," by Godfroid Geenen, 0. P. (II, 43-61); "Un aspect de la notion de verite selon Saint Albert le Grand auteur du ' De Bono,'" by Abbe Francis Ruello (II, 149-160); "Elementi per una dottrina tomistica della partecipazione," by Cornelio Fabro, C. P. S. (II, 163-190); "Animadversiones thomisticae in argumentum ideologicum pro existentia Dei," by Humbertus Degl'Innocenti, 0. P. (II, 191-~16); "S. Tommaso, 'De spiritualibus Creaturis,' art. 10, ad 8," by Msgr. Giorgio Giannim (II, ~17-130); " Significate e valore della IV Via nella Somma Teologica di San Tommaso," by Toshiyuki Miyakawa (II, ~31-~53); "La finalita dei miracoli secondo S. Tommaso d'Aquino (Contra Gentes, III, 99) ," by Prof. Vladimiro Boublik (II, ~55-~64); "II pensiero politico di Tommaso d'Aquino," by Prof. Umberto A. Padovani (II, ~65-~7~); " Due grandi ascesi della carita: S. Tommaso e S. Francesco di Sales," by Prof. Luigi Bogliolo, S.D. B. (II, 479-497); "Marginalia alia storia del Neotomismo," by Clemente Vansteenkiste, 0. P. (III...