Levering, Matthew 1971–

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Levering, Matthew 1971–

(Matthew Webb Levering)

PERSONAL: Born 1971.

ADDRESSES: Office—Ave Maria University, 1025 Commons Circle, Naples, FL 34119. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Ave Maria University, Naples, FL, began as assistant professor, became associate professor of theology, cofounder and codirector of Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal, 2001–, and associate editor of Sapienta Press, 2001–.

WRITINGS:

(With Michael Dauphinais) Knowing the Love of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 2002.

Christ's Fulfillment of Torah and Temple: Salvation according to Thomas Aquinas, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 2002.

(Editor) On the Priesthood: Classic and Contemporary Texts, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2003.

(Editor) On Christian Dying: Classic and Contemporary Texts, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2004.

Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology, Blackwell (Malden, MA), 2004.

(Editor) On Marriage and Family: Classic and Contemporary Texts, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2005.

(Editor) On Prayer and Contemplation: Classic and Contemporary Texts, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2005.

(Editor, with Michael Dauphinais) Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas: Theological Exegesis and Speculative Theology, Catholic University of America Press (Washington, DC), 2005.

(With Michael Dauphinais) Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible, Brazos Press (Grand Rapids, MI), 2005.

Sacrifice and Community: Jewish Offering and Christian Eucharist, Blackwell (Malden, MA), 2005.

Coeditor of journal Nova et Vetera (English edition); member of editorial board, "Thomas Aquinas in Translation" series, Catholic University of America Press.

SIDELIGHTS: A founder of the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal at Ave Maria University in Florida, Matthew Levering is a theology professor who has written extensively on St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as on Christian beliefs in general. Often collaborating with Michael Dauphinais, his partner at the Aquinas Center, Levering has been praised by critics for his writings on Aquinas's thought and its relationship to the Bible, making the thirteenth-century theologian's writings understandable to general audiences. In Knowing the Love of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, Levering and Dauphinais "have written an introduction to the theology of St. Thomas that is genuinely useful," noted to Russell Hittinger in First Things. The book is an effort to summarize St. Thomas's important Summa theologiae and explain the points the theologian was making about the teachings of the Bible and the meaning of Christianity in that work. Interpretation contributor Robert Barron called the book "a remarkable achievement" that is "an excellent introduction to the major themes in the writings of Thomas Aquinas."

Levering has also published other books about St. Thomas, including Christ's Fulfillment of Torah and Temple: Salvation according to Thomas Aquinas and Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology. The former, a reworking of Levering's Ph.D. thesis, discusses the concept of new versus old biblical law and Aquinas's writings about Christ's fulfillment of Old Testament precepts. Scripture and Metaphysics addresses St. Thomas's concept of the Trinity and analyzes it in relation to contemporary theology in what William W. Young, III, called an "engaging book" in a Journal of Ecclesiastical History review.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

First Things, June-July, 2002, review of Christ's Fulfillment of Torah and Temple: Salvation according to Thomas Aquinas, p. 73; April, 2003, Russell Hittinger, review of Knowing the Love of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, p. 67; December, 2003, review of On the Priesthood: Classic and Contemporary Texts, p. 63; April, 2004, review of On the Priesthood, p. 57.

Interpretation, July, 2003, Robert Barron, review of Knowing the Love of Christ, p. 336.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, January, 2004, Nicholas Lash, review of Knowing the Love of Christ, p. 163; July, 2005, William W. Young, III, review of Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology, p. 580.

Library Journal, August 1, 2005, Christopher Brennan, review of Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible, p. 92.

Publishers Weekly, June 13, 2005, review of Holy People, Holy Land, p. 48.

Theological Studies, December, 2003, Joseph Wawrykow, review of Christ's Fulfillment of Torah and Temple, p. 886.