The Summa Halensis: Philosophy and Reception

Sponsored by the European Research Council and King’s College London

There is no cost to attend the conference, but please register your attendance by 8 September 2019 for individual days of the conference using Eventbrite so we can get an accurate idea of numbers. If you are no longer able to attend, please cancel your reservation before the day.

If you would like to book lunch on one or more of the days, please do so using King’s eStore; the charge is £10 per day. You can book lunches here: https://estore.kcl.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/academic-faculties/faculty-of-arts-humanities/department-of-theology-and-religious-studies/lunch-for-the-summa-halensis-conference

In case of any questions, please email the event organiser, Lydia Schumacher, Reader in Historical and Philosophical Theology at King’s College London at Lydia.schumacher@kcl.ac.uk

Conference Description

In the second quarter of the thirteenth century, early Franciscan theologians at the University of Paris, above all, Alexander of Hales and John of La Rochelle, worked together to lay down a distinctly Franciscan intellectual tradition for the first time. The product of their efforts was one of the first great Summae of the period, the so-called Summa Halensis. This and other early Franciscan texts have often been regarded as mere attempts to codify the longstanding ‘Augustinian’ tradition of the earlier middle ages. However, four European Research Council workshops held in 2018 on the sources (Greek, Arabic, Latin), methods, context, and doctrinal contents of the Summa have helped to establish this text as the source of many innovations that are often more closely associated with the later Franciscan school.

The purpose of the 2019 conference is to explore the philosophical material of the Summa in greater depth and to trace the later reception and development of its innovations. How did ideas laid down initially in the Summa influence and evolve from the generation of Duns Scotus onwards? Papers are welcome on any aspect of the conference theme and on the reception of early Franciscan ideas in any later scholastic or early modern thinker of relevance. The hope is to publish the papers in an edited volume, potentially with Brill. For this purpose, a provisional title and abstract may be requested in early 2019.

22 September

5:30-6:30 Opening Lecture: Oliver Davies (King’s College London)

Catholic Constructive Theology and the Franciscan Tradition

Britton Room in the Lawn Pavilion

7:00 Drinks Reception

8:00 Dinner in local restaurant

23 September

8:00-9:00 Breakfast in Trinity College Hall

9:00-9:15 Welcome and Introduction

9:15-10:15 Paper 1: Tiziana Suarez-Nani (Fribourg)

Divine Immensity in the Summa Halensis

Chair: Lydia Schumacher

10:30-11:30 Paper 2: Maarten Hoenen (Basel)

Divine Names in the Summa Halensis

Chair: Riccardo Saccenti

11:30-12:00 Coffee break

12:00-1:00 Paper 3: Oleg Bychkov (St Bonaventure University)

Aesthetic Themes in the Summa Halensis

Chair: Lydia Schumacher

1:00-2:15 Lunch in Trinity College Dining Hall

2:15-3:15 Paper 4: Magdalena Bieniak (Warsaw)

Body-Soul Union in the Summa Halensis

Chair: Riccardo Saccenti

3:30-4:30 Paper 5: Alexander Fidora (Barcelona)

The Talmud and the Summa Halensis

Chair: Lydia Schumacher

4:30-5:00 Coffee break

5:00-6:00 Paper 6: Drew Rosato (Thomas Aquinas College)

The Human Nature of Christ in the Summa Halensis

Chair: Lydia Schumacher

6:30 Opening drinks reception in Trinity beer cellar

7:00 Dinner in Trinity College

24 September

8:00-9:00 Breakfast in Trinity College Hall

9:00-10:00 Paper 7: Volker Leppin (Tübingen)

What is Later Franciscan Theology? Ockham and the Early Franciscans

10:15-11:15 Paper 8: Dominik Perler (Humboldt University of Berlin)

What is a Person? Olivi and the Franciscan Tradition

11:15-11:45 Coffee break

11:45-12:45 Paper 9: Richard Cross (Notre Dame)

Christology in the Summa Halensis

1:00-2:00 Lunch in Trinity College Dining Hall

2:00-3:00 Paper 10: Lesley Smith (Oxford)

The Summa, William of Auvergne, Maimonides, and Avicenna

3:00-3:30 Coffee break

3:30-4:30 Paper 11: Theo Kobusch (Bonn)

Absolute and Ordained Power in the Summa Halensis

4:45-5:45 Paper 12: Nicola Polloni (Berlin)

6:30 Drinks in Trinity beer cellar

7:00 Dinner in Trinity College

25 September

8:00-9:00 Breakfast in Trinity College Hall

9:00-10:00 Paper 13: Cecilia Trifogli

Matter in the Summa Halensis and Duns Scotus

10:15-11:15 Paper 14: William Courtenay (Madison)

Gabriel Biel and the Summa Halensis

Chair: Mark Thakkar

11:15-11:45 Coffee break

11:45-12:45 Paper 15: Mary Beth Ingham (Franciscan School of Theology)

Free Will in Scotus and the Summa

1:00-2:00 Lunch in Trinity College Dining Hall

2:00-3:00 Paper 16: Jenny E. Pelletier (Leuven)

Ockham and Walter Chatton in relation to the Summa Halensis

3:00-3:15 Coffee break

3:15-4:15 Paper 17: William Short (Franciscan School of Theology)

Bartholomew of Pisa and the Summa Halensis

Chair: Riccardo Saccenti

4:30-5:30 Paper 18: Katja Krause (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science)

Medieval Approaches to Seeing God: Alexander of Hales and Albert the Great on the Beatific Vision

5:45-6:45 Paper 19: Riccardo Saccenti (King’s College London)

The Reception of the Summa Halensis in the Manuscript Tradition until 1450

6:30 Drinks in Trinity beer cellar

7:00 Dinner in Trinity College

26 September

8:00-9:00 Breakfast in Trinity College Hall