The Thomistic Institute The Myth of Dante's Thomism? Reading Aquinas and Dante with the Dominicans | Prof. George Corbett
Feb 10, 2023
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Kenon Foster’s Unusual Formation
- Kenon Foster trained as a Dominican but diverged into modern and medieval languages at Cambridge.
- Foster became a leading post-war authority on Dante's theology while rejecting some traditional Thomist readings.
Dante’s Mixed Philosophical Heritage
- Foster saw Dante as philosophically Aristotelian mediated through Aquinas, yet not a strict Thomist.
- He argued Dante blended Aristotelian, Neoplatonic, Averroist, and Albertian sources into an uneasy synthesis.
Apparent Doctrinal Gaps Are Often Misreads
- Two alleged major differences (natural desire for beatific vision; essence-existence distinction) hinge on contested readings.
- Corbett argues these discrepancies often stem from misreading Aquinas or taking Dante's poetic voice literally.