Acknowledgements
I am in debt to many teachers for leading me to the well of Thomas Aquinas, beginning with a Dominican priest in my home parish when I was fifteen years old and extending to multiple Dominican professors at Aquinas Institute of Philosophy and Theology, including Father James Weisheipl, OP, and many more. To Father M.-D. Chenu, OP, for his brilliant writings, challenging and enthusiastic classes, and sustained encouragement through the years. To Josef Pieper and to G. K. Chesterton. To Meister Eckhart, who stands on Aquinas’s shoulders and has led me on many deep adventures. And to Fiona Hallowell and Dover Publications for the new publication of my Sheer Joy book, with special mention of Father Bede Griffiths, who gave me critical feedback and upgraded my translations to the Queen’s English and wrote the afterword, and to Rupert Sheldrake, who wrote the foreword and who reminds me, along with Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, of the importance of Aquinas in the history of science. Thank you.
Thank you to artist Ullrrich Javier Garcia Lemus for the painting that graces the cover of this edition, and to J. Andrew Edwards for his copyediting and suggestions that improved the current manuscript. And a special shout-out to Ilia Delio and Jerry Maynard for their insightful foreword and afterword, respectively. And to Dennis Edwards, Ron Tuazon, and Mara for their daily support. To Hailee Pavey for her beautiful cover designs.
To iUniverse publishers and to Jill Angelo and Andrew Harvey who encouraged me to work with these publishers. Thank you to Aileen Myers and Vinnia Alvarez of iUniverse for their production help and coaching.
To my fellow workers with dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org including Phila Hoopes, Richard Reich, Mary Plaster, Ellyn Kennedy.
To Aaron Stern and his coworkers at the Academy for the Love of Learning, for their support and encouragement. And to those who took the time to read an advance version of the manuscript and create the blurbs that are found in the front pages. Thank you!