Thomas Williams is the Isabelle A. and Henry D. Martin Professor of Medieval Philosophy at Georgetown University. He has published widely on medieval philosophy and theology, with a particular focus on Augustine, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, and John Duns Scotus.
His work includesAnselm: A Very Short Introduction,Anselm: The Complete Treatises with Selected Letters and Prayers and the Meditation on Human Redemption, and a translation of Augustine'sConfessions.
Thomas Williams
Isabelle A. and Henry D. Martin Professor of Medieval Philosophy
Thomas Williams is the Isabelle A. and Henry D. Martin Professor of Medieval Philosophy. He received his BA from Vanderbilt University in 1988 and his PhD from the University of Notre Dame in 1994. He came to Georgetown from the University of South Florida, where he taught for sixteen years following nine years at the University of Iowa. He began his career with the Jesuits at Creighton University and is happy to be returning to the world of Jesuit education.
An Episcopal priest, Prof. Williams served for ten years as the Canon Theologian of the Cathedral Church of St Peter in St Petersburg, Florida. He is an avid choral singer and a reasonably competent pianist. His husband, Marty Gould, is Associate Professor of English at the University of South Florida, specializing in Victorian literature. Thomas and Marty have an American Pit Bull Terrier named Tess.
Publications
·“How great a debtor: grace and providence in Augustine’sConfessions” (2024)
·Confessions (2019)
·Hermeneutics and Reading Scripture(2014)
·Review of Brian Dobell,Augustine’s Intellectual Conversion (2011)
·Review of James J. O’Donnell,Augustine: A New Biography (2007)
·Augustine vs Plotinus: The Uniqueness of the Vision at Ostia (2002)
·On Free Choice of the Will(1993)
·“‘Be anxious for nothing’: Anselm on Fearing Evil” (2024)
·Anselm: A Very Short Introduction (2022)
·Anselm: The Complete Treatises (2022)
·Can Anselm Have Everything He Wants? (2021)
·Anselm on Evil (2018)
·Anselm on Free Choice and Character Formation (2017)
·Anselm’s Quiet Radicalism (2016)
·Anselm: Free Will and Moral Responsibility (2014)
·Review of Katherin Rogers,Anselm on Freedom (2009)
·Anselm (Great Medieval Thinkers) (2008)
·God Who Sows the Seed and Gives the Growth: Anselm’s Theology of Holy Spirit (2007)
·Anselm on Truth(2005)
·Anselm’s Account of Freedom (2005)
·The curious case of the marginalized mystics (2023)
· Atonement(2021)
·The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Ethics (2019)
·Will and Intellect (2019)
·Philosophy in the Middle Ages, 3rd ed. (2010)
· Describing God(2009)
·Sin, Grace, and Redemption in Abelard (2004)
·Transmission and Translation (2003)
Ethics of
John Duns Scotus
Translations
John Duns Scotus:
Selected Writings on Ethics
Errata
100.8. restrained willing / restrained willing-against
211 7th line from bottom. not straightaway / straightaway
219.5. [missing period]
219 last sentence before section 3. Faith / Hope
328 n. 55 line 4. unhappiness / happiness
333 line 2 of main text. interior / exterior
I am grateful to Robert Pasnau for drawing some of these corrections to my attention, and I invite other readers to notify me of any other mistakes.
Articles
“Duns Scotus, intuitionism, and the third sense of 'natural law'“ (2022)
“Complexity without Composition--Duns Scotus on Divine Simplicity” (2019)
“John Duns Scotus on Free Will” (2016)
“The problem with the Vatican edition ofOrdinatio III.26-40” (2014)
“The divine nature and Scotus’s Libertarianism: A reply to Mary Beth Ingham” (2009)
“From metaethics to action theory” (2003)
“The Unimitigated Scotus” (1998)
“The Libertarian Foundations of Scotus’s Moral Philosophy” (1998)
Lesser Feasts
A blog about the Church, travel, staying put, a bit of philosophy, small celebrations (lesser feasts), such meals as I can manage to eat (lesser feasts, again), and whatever else occurs to me
I’m happy withmy own contribution, which somehow manages to quote from two hymns and an Amy Grant song.
My final session on Augustine’sConfessions, a minor (!) baking glitch, and random Scottish art
I’ve been bitching for years about how no one around here does a proper Ascension Day service, so I kind of had to go—and of course I’m very glad I did.
Augustine, Platonism, lavender-lemon cookies, Scotus translations, and various bits of Catherine of Siena scattered about Italy
When I was an unathletic kid, I was fond of 1 Timothy 4:8a, which in the Authorized Version reads, “Bodily exercise profiteth little.” See, jocks: even St Paul is dismissive of your pursuits. Now that I’m sojourning in the outer precincts of Gym Bro Land, however, I prefer the more accurate translation of the RSV: “Bodily training is of some value.”
In which I talk about various unconnected things and invite you to Evensong, Book Club, and Stations of the Cross
Mary’s deepest instinct was not to talk, but to treasure; not to proclaim, but to ponder.
