Way Toward Wisdom, the

Benedict M. Ashley, O.P., (1915 – 2013) was emeritus professor of moral theology at Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis. Among his publications are Health Care Ethics, with Kevin O'Rourke, O.P., Justice in the Church, Truth in Love, and Theologies of the Body.

"In summarizing and synthesizing the best of Neothomism and the range of developments of modern scientific and cultural studies, Ashley's work brings to a close the late modern involvement of Thomism as 'Neothomism' by opening the way to a postmodern era for philosophy and intellectual culture as a whole, an era within which we may expect to see yet another epoch of Thomistic development . . . " —American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly"In The Way toward Wisdom: An Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Introduction to Metaphysics . . . Father Ashley explains why only metaphysics has a legitimate claim to being the university's unifying academic discipline. Without it, universities have no 'way toward wisdom'. . . . Father Ashley's book is a gift, a patient exposition of human wisdom, proceeding from the best of the Catholic intellectual tradition." —The British Columbia Catholic"This is an impressive, well-researched book, of great value. It offers the wider philosophical community a point of entrance, by a proponent of a certain type of Thomism, into a domain that all philosophers think they already understand. The result is the creation of a 'big picture' of human knowledge." —Mark Johnson, Marquette University"Ashley's book is a recapitulation of a lifelong effort to reach a comprehensive understanding of reality. It displays a high level of scholarship, offers a voyage through the philosophical disciplines and takes into account the metaphysical orientation of the great religious traditions of mankind." —The Review of Metaphysics