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    De Sortibus: A Letter to a Friend about the Casting of Lots
    De Sortibus: A Letter to a Friend about the Casting of Lots
    De Sortibus: A Letter to a Friend about the Casting of Lots
    Ebook118 pages1 hour

    De Sortibus: A Letter to a Friend about the Casting of Lots

    By Thomas Aquinas and Andrew Davison

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    About this ebook

    This book makes De Sortibus, Thomas Aquinas's letter to a friend on the casting of lots, available in clear English for the first time. The letter was written around 1270 and was prompted by the question of whether lots could be used to seek God's will in the appointment of a bishop. We've all tossed a coin, or pulled straws to see who goes first, or opened the Bible to see if we could resolve an issue with a message from God. These are the kinds of things that Aquinas talks about to show us when casting lots is a good idea and when it's just superstition. The translation is accompanied by an introduction that sets the letter in its historical context, a brief overview of the life of Thomas Aquinas, and eight short essays that shine light from different angles onto this delightful work. This letter serves as a great gateway into the thought and method of one of the world's greatest thinkers.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCascade Books
    Release dateJan 13, 2021
    ISBN9781725289789
    De Sortibus: A Letter to a Friend about the Casting of Lots
    Author

    Thomas Aquinas

    Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church. An immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, he is also known within the latter as the Doctor Angelicus, the Doctor Communis, and the Doctor Universalis.

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      Book preview

      De Sortibus - Thomas Aquinas

      De Sortibus

      A Letter to a Friend about the Casting of Lots

      By

      —Saint Thomas Aquinas—

      Translated by Peter Carey

      Edited by Jane Shannon

      Foreword by Andrew Davison

      DE SORTIBUS

      A Letter to a Friend about the Casting of Lots

      Translation Copyright ©

      2021

      Peter Carey. Copyright ©

      2021

      Wipf and Stock Publishers. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

      199

      W.

      8

      th Ave., Suite

      3

      , Eugene, OR

      97401

      .

      Cascade Books

      An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

      199

      W.

      8

      th Ave., Suite

      3

      Eugene, OR

      97401

      www.wipfandstock.com

      paperback isbn: 978-1

      -

      7252-8976

      -

      5

      hardcover isbn: 978-1

      -

      7252-8977

      -

      2

      ebook isbn: 978-1

      -

      7252-8978

      -

      9

      Cataloging-in-Publication data:

      Names: Thomas, Aquinas, Saint,

      1225?–1274

      , author. | Carey, Peter, translator

      Title: De sortibus : a letter to a friend about the casting of lots / by Saint Thomas Aquinas ; translated and introduced by Peter Carey.

      Description: Eugene, OR : Cascade Books, 2021 |  Includes bibliographical references.

      Identifiers: ISBN

      978-1-7252-8976-5

      (paperback) | ISBN

      978-1-7252-8977-2

      (hardcover) | ISBN

      978-1-7252-8978-9

      (ebook)

      Subjects: LCSH: Thomas, Aquinas, Saint,

      1225?–1274

      . | Thomas, Aquinas, Saint,

      1225?–1274

      —De sortibus. | Choice by lots—History. | Philosophy, Medieval. | Divinization.

      Classification: LCC B

      765.T54 C37 2021

      (print) | LCC B

      765.T54

      (ebook)

      01/25/21

      Scripture quotations in Part I are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©

      1946

      ,

      1952

      , and

      1971

      National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

      Cover image: the portrait of Saint Thomas Aquinas was painted by Tobias Haller, also an essay contributor in this book, and it is printed here with his permission.

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      About the Author and Translator

      Foreword

      Preface

      Acknowledgments

      Introduction

      Part I: The Translation

      A Letter to a Friend about the Casting of Lots

      Chapter I: In which areas we can search for information by using lots

      Chapter II: The end to which lots are ordered

      Chapter III: The different ways we use lots

      Chapter IV: The power of lots

      Chapter V: Whether it is permitted to use lots

      Part II: The Essays

      Biographies of the Essay Contributors

      Chapter 1: Anglican Reverence for Aquinas

      Chapter 2: Use of Scripture in De Sortibus

      Chapter 3: Four Gifts for Our Time

      Chapter 4: Divination and Deliberation

      Chapter 5: Aquinas and the Fathers of the Church

      Chapter 6: Reliance on the Holy Spirit

      Chapter 7: Richard Hooker and Thomas Aquinas

      Chapter 8: Aquinas as Anglican

      Appendix I: A Review of Aquinas’s Life and Principal Works

      Appendix 2: Chronology

      For Further Reading

      This entertaining volume presents Thomas Aquinas, the renowned Dominican saint-scholar, discussing the practice of lot-drawing and similar ventures of chance. Thomas affirms that such gambling can be appropriate in practical matters where moral certainty cannot be reached otherwise. These reflections are now put before us in Father Peter Carey’s lucid English translation of Thomas’s text, helpfully supplemented with brief essays by other esteemed Thomas scholars. Readers will enjoy and benefit from this work.

      —Bruce Williams

      OP, Pontifical Angelicum University, Rome

      Among the many wordy and warring interpreters of our faith, Thomas Aquinas is distinguished by the sweet thoroughness of his calm and broad reason. This letter to a friend on ‘the casting of lots’ is a wonderful oasis of broad and grounded clarity, and helpfully accompanied by insightful essays from Anglican authors on Scripture, tradition, and reason. Treat yourself in this harried time, and consider the Holy Spirit when next you flip a coin.

      —Rebecca Lyman

      The Church Divinity School of the Pacific

      If grace perfects nature, then the guidance of the Holy Spirit exceeds without overriding our best shared practices of discernment. This is the wisdom of Thomas’s lovely treatise on casting lots—reading omens and stars, drawing ‘straws,’ rolling dice. Carey’s translation and commentary, along with brief essays by eminent scholars, make this an ideal introduction to an ‘Anglican’ Thomas.

      —Anthony D. Baker

      Seminary of the Southwest

      "Thomas Aquinas is the greatest of all medieval theologians. If that fact alone has kept you till now from attempting to read his work, I highly recommend that you begin with Peter Carey’s translation of De Sortibus: A Letter to a Friend about the Casting of Lots, in which Saint Thomas shows himself to be humane, imaginative, fanciful, and at times even humorous and romantic. Enter the Middle Ages by a door you didn’t even know was there—and have fun."

      —Thomas Cahill

      Author of Mysteries of the Middle Ages

      "Peter Carey’s De Sortibus, produced during the dark days of the pandemic, is like a flowering plant miraculously appearing in a crevice of a concrete wasteland. What a pleasure to read this formerly untranslated letter by Thomas Aquinas and its accompanying essays by Anglican and Roman scholars. It reminds me as an Anglican committed to the ecumenical vision how much Aquinas has to offer that vision with his comprehensive use of biblical, patristic, and classical sources accompanied by his balanced and reasonable approach to the matter in hand. Aquinas truly belongs to the whole Christian family. May they all be one."

      —Andrew R. St. John

      St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York

      "Peter Carey has done us a great service in translating this short work by Aquinas. The expert commentaries included alongside the translation light up Aquinas’s gem of a text and remind us that we still have much to learn from the Angelic Doctor, even in his littlest writings. I warmly commend this wonderful edition of De Sortibus to newcomers and seasoned readers of Aquinas alike."

      —Nathan Lyons

      University of Notre Dame, Australia

      "Thomas Aquinas’s works, like his reputation, can be daunting. But if you’d like to find a good place to start, you can find no better place to begin than with Peter Carey’s delightful translation of De Sortibus."

      —Mark Larrimore

      The New School, New York

      "Peter Carey’s translation of De Sortibus: A Letter to a Friend about the Casting of Lots reveals Aquinas’s keen skill in the art of discernment. The book sheds light on an ancient form of divination, itself rendered an appropriate tool for discernment in a variety of circumstances. If you wish to learn more about Aquinas’s pastoral sensitivity and theological acuity—and how these are woven together for the good of Christian community—read this book!"

      —Amy Bentley Lamborn

      The University of the South, Sewanee

      Dedicated to

      Saint Thomas Aquinas:

      a great teacher

      who continues to teach us today

      About the Author and Translator

      Peter Carey was born in New York City in 1938 . In 1959 , he entered the Dominican Order, and in 1966 , was ordained a priest.

      After graduate work in Rome, he left the Dominicans, but remained in Rome, teaching English there for five more years. He returned to New York in 1977. He worked first for Price Waterhouse where he fine-tuned his knowledge of translating technical material into plain English. Peter then worked for Citibank, becoming a vice president in 1987. In 1987, he also became an Episcopalian, and in 1990, because of the AIDS epidemic, he returned to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church.

      In 1994, Peter was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia and nearly died, but in 2000, he was fortunate enough to be the recipient of one of the first genetically engineered cancer drugs, and fully recovered.

      After thirty years of life together with his partner, David Natoli, the couple married in Canada in 2007 and received the

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