by Revista Espíritu | 170-2025
In a society where everything is subject to a frenetic pace and subjugated to the illusory logic of the infinite market, where everything can be bought, we need works that encourage us to reflect calmly and invite us to contemplate the central issues of existence. This monograph by Professor Rafael Monterde is a timely and recent invitation to devote time to what matters most: cultivating wisdom not merely as an intellectual pursuit, but as a way of life.
by Revista Espíritu | 170-2025
In 2018, the twelfth and final volume of the (not entirely) complete works of Antonio Millán-Puelles was published. To mark the occasion, a one-day symposium was held on 30 May of that year at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Complutense University of Madrid.
by Revista Espíritu | 170-2025
The 2024–2025 academic year marked the 86th anniversary of the Balmesiana Foundation and the 22nd anniversary of the Santo Tomás School. It also coincided with the conclusion of the jubilee year of St Thomas Aquinas and the 10th anniversary of the launch of the school’s virtual campus.
by Revista Espíritu | 170-2025
Feminist theory is based on the premise that there is no natural calling to motherhood inscribed in women’s bodies, nor is there a natural instinct that drives them to care for their children. On the contrary, it understands that motherhood and child-rearing are ideological constructs that patriarchy imposes on women’s bodies in order to oppress them. It is crucial to understand how feminism has argued both positions, as they are key to many of its demands, especially the right to contraception and abortion. This article explores how this view contrasts with the natural law tradition and Thomist thought, which see motherhood as an essential expression of womanhood.
by Revista Espíritu | 170-2025
Leibniz’s position on God is close to pantheism, because the best of all possible worlds is an asymptotic perfection with that of God, and because God creates out of moral necessity. On the other hand, Catholics may think that, by faith, they attain a superior knowledge of God. But Thomism defends that the existence of God is only known after a laborious knowledge of the world; moreover, the essence of God is always mysterious. These differences may help explain Leibniz’s flawed conception of creation and the existence of evil in the world.
by Revista Espíritu | 170-2025
This article proposes an account of the fundamental role of the theology and philosophy of the Angelic Doctor in the life of the church, drawing on an interpretation of the Motu Proprio Doctor Angelici. It argues that the charism of rational clarity, togheter with the gifts of knowledge and wisdom characterizes Thomas Aquinas’ thought and grounds the enduring mission of guiding the Church’s path, particularly in our time, given the distinctive capacity of his principles to enlighten, order and confirm in truth, and to dispel doubts and refute errors.
by Revista Espíritu | 170-2025
Hope is a protective factor for mental health, especially when a person goes through difficult situations in life. While it does not resolve the situation, it strengthens the individual by giving them reasons to persevere and make decisions that help them overcome life’s challenges. It is a resilience factor, closely related to what Viktor Frankl proposed with the notion of the meaning of life. The theological psychology of Thomas Aquinas allows for the integration of the human need for meaning with the call to participate in divine life, as Augustine of Hippo expressed when he exclaimed: “My heart is restless until it rests in You, Lord.” Integral psychotherapy cannot separate the need for meaning from participation in divine life, nor be satisfied with a merely pragmatic use of hope in therapeutic progress. Instead, it must understand the transformation that occurs in the person who directs their hope toward the supernatural end to which they have been called: beatitude.
by Revista Espíritu | 170-2025
According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, following Saint Gregory the Great, acedia or sadness in the face of divine blessings is one of the causes of despair. To the extent that joy in contemplating the truth is a remedy for acedia, knowledge can be considered an instrument at the service of hope. The philosopher Byung-Chul Han characterizes today’s society as a society without hope and appeals to the contemplative life as a necessary counterpoint to recovering the spirit of hope. In this communication, we attempt to delimit the scope and limits of such a proposal in light of the teachings of Aquinas.
by Revista Espíritu | 170-2025
This article explores the link between friendship and hope, with the aim of investigating whether it is possible to find, in the shared life between friends, a foundation that nourishes the hope of attaining the full good and happiness towards which human beings are oriented as their ultimate fulfilment, consisting in contemplation. To this end, it delves into the thought of Thomas Aquinas and the classical tradition that has addressed these questions.
by Revista Espíritu | 170-2025
Since the teachings of St. Thomas, hope as a passion that drives us toward good and away from future evil has taken on fundamental importance in education, especially in the task of parents. This hope presupposes a love of self that guides the person toward their own good. But, in turn, that original love is preceded by another hope: trust in the help of another. The article analyzes the importance of this second form of hope in the education of children, especially those who did not experience being loved in childhood. In the face of structural hopelessness, hope in “the power of another” strengthens their self-esteem, leads them to love, and ultimately guides them to their ultimate good, which culminates in God, the foundation of all education.
by Revista Espíritu | 169-2025
The study of sixteenth-century Spanish scholastic authors has progressed considerably during the last hundred years, not only through the analysis of primary sources, but also through the transcription of many of the innumerable manuscript materials of this period. However, no less a contribution to our knowledge of this period has been made by the careful review of the archives and the identification of these manuscripts.
by Revista Espíritu | 169-2025
The present work corresponds to the doctoral thesis of Professor David Torrijos defended at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarra. His author exposes in this successful text some very important contributions of Pedro de Ledesma in the framework of the discussions about the efficacy of grace. As in other works by Professor David Torrijos, a very rigorous historical study of the sources goes hand in hand with a speculative interest that shows the value of the texts studied. In addition, this book has an interesting presentation by Father Bonino.
by Revista Espíritu | 169-2025
Aaron Zubia’s book on Hume’s political thought delivers much more than what the title promises. It is a thorough investigation on the roots and fruits of Hume’s political views, which means that it demonstrates the deep connection between his metaphysics, his theology, his ethics, on the one hand, and his political philosophy and his historical researches, on the other. Based on the established connection, the book criticizes the liberal idea of “public reason” and demonstrates that we need to go back to the classical roots or our civilization.
by Revista Espíritu | 169-2025
This book gathers a series of articles on the subject of friendship written by a group of international, but mainly Spanish, scholars. The book opens with a prologue written by Lydia Jiménez González, followed by an article by the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Madrid, Juan Antonio Martínez Camino, who presents the importance of the notion of friendship with Christ in the Christian life.
by Revista Espíritu | 169-2025
Francisco Canals’ political thought occupies an important place in his inte- llectual work, although it is perhaps the least known. Much of this doctrinal corpus has been compiled in countless newspaper articles or in journals such as Cristiandad and Verbo. One of the most compelling aspects of his political analysis is his study of moderan- tism, or political centrism. Within the context of the Spanish history, this was a political current that sought to draw traditionalist Catholics towards liberalism. Canals does not limit himself to a purely historical analysis, rather, informed by his Thomist formation, he aims to show how these political dynamics lead to the secularisation of society.
by Revista Espíritu | 169-2025
In this work we investigate a trait of religiosity in the Golden Age. We refer to a common belief in the inconsistence of human action. The awareness about the dete- rioration of willingness causes a religiosity of personal inadequacy. This kind of religiosity splits into different cultural, philosophical and theological manifestations. Considering the own moral inadecuacy, we can better understand some characteristics of Golden mind, as the intellectualism, the insistence in theological virtues over the moral ones, or the primacy of Grace.
by Revista Espíritu | 169-2025
St Thomas brings together in the crucifixion the double mission of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Master. His spirituality is marked by an intense devotion to the Crucified One, manifested in his synthetic and catechetical works, but above all in his biblical commentaries. The Crucified is Master because the crucifixion reveals the divine power and the fully human life of Christ noticeable in his virtues. In this way, the Cruci- fied One is presented as doctrine and as doctor: he is the best book in which to contempla- te the mystery of God and he is the Master who teaches from the chair of the cross.
by Revista Espíritu | 169-2025
The aim of this article is to present the theory of Pedro de Ledesma on the relation between God’s infinite perfection and the perfections of creatures. Its main thesis states that Ledesma, in an effort to preserve God’s infinity, embraces ideas usually associated with pantheism. Nevertheless, in order to maintain the distinction between God and creatures, he develops a complex conceptual apparatus grounded in Scholastic philosophy, mainly that of Thomas Aquinas’ metaphysics of being, which results in a form of Thomistic panentheism.
by Revista Espíritu | 169-2025
Due to its rational modality and to its commun object, the human un- derstandig is deeply marked by a resolutive dynamic. Its nature cannot escape this one. Humanly, this dynamic finds its supreme expression in the metaphysical science. Under the imperatif of the being, the latter grants to the understandig acces to the subsisting being itself, through an analogical knowledge, but it does not seem sufficient to quiet this dynamic. The stillness of this dynamic could only be verified if the subsisting being itself is reached in itself. For this to happen, it is necessary that the subsisting being itself takes the initiative.
by Revista Espíritu | 169-2025
This article examines Thomas Aquinas’ inaugural lecture Rigans Montes with the aim not only of understanding his early reflections on the master and its value but also of exploring whether his doctrine on the act of teaching—later developed in works such as De Veritate and the Summa Theologiae—is already present in this work, where his thought is more mature.
