Sweetman, Robert

Robert Sweetman
College: Institute for Christian Studies
Degrees: PhD (Toronto)
Email: robert.sweetman@utoronto.ca
Phone: 647-232-9600
Teaching Category:
Affiliate Cross-Appointment
Appointment Status:
Basic Degree
GCTS Full

Bio

BA (Calvin College), MSL (The Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies), PhD (University of Toronto)

Robert Sweetman is a trained medievalist specializing in Dominican thought (philosophical, theological, pastoral, mystical) in the thirteenth century. He is particularly interested in the interaction of these different discourses in the thought of Thomas Aquinas, Meister Eckhart, and others. He also is interested in the florescence of women’s contemplative thought and writing that Dominicans supported. He brings these interests and competencies into contact with the Reformational tradition of Christian thought by using them to examine D.H.Th. Vollenhoven’s “problem-historical” historiography of the history of philosophy. Bob is currently finishing a book-length manuscript on the relationship between narrative and argument in thirteenth-century Dominican thought.

  • Specializations

    • Medieval Philosophy and Theology (Aquinas, Eckhart, Scotus, Ockham)
    • Historiography of the History of Philosophy (Scholastic, Genealogical, Problem-Historical)
    • Rhetoric and Systematic Thought (Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Augustine, Abelard)
    • Mysticism and Discourse (Margaret Porete, Hadewijch, Mechthild of Magdebourg, Meister Eckhart)
    • Myth and Systematic Thought (Macrobius, Bernardus Sylvestris, Allan of Lille, Hildegard of Bingen)
    • Reformational Philosophy and Philosophical Historiography (Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven)

  • Publications

    Books

    Select Articles, Book Chapters, and Other Works

    Scholasticism:

    • “Exemplary Care: Storytelling and the 'Art of Arts' among Thirteenth-Century Dominicans.” Learning to Love: Schools, Law, and Pastoral Care in the Middle Ages. Esssays in Honour of Joseph W. Goering. Ed. Tristan Sharp, Isabelle Cochelin, Greti Dinkova-Bruun, Abigail Firey, and Giulio Silano. Toronto, ON: The Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies Publications, 2017. 628-646.
    • “Foreword.” Louis Mackey. Faith Order Understanding: Natural Theology in the Augustinian Tradition. Toronto, ON: The Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, 2011.  xi-xxiii.
    • "Univocity, Analogy and the Mystery of Being According to John Duns Scotus." Creation, Covenant and Participation: Radical Orthodoxy and the Reformed Tradition. Ed. James K.A. Smith and James H. Olthuis. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005. 73-87.
    • “John Paul II's Account of the Unity of Christian Scholarship in Fides et Ratio." That the World May Believe: Essays on Mission and Unity in Honour of George Vandervelde. Ed. Margaret O’Gara and Michael Goheen. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2006. 203-214.
    • "Haunting Conceptual Boundaries: Miracle in the Summa theologiae of Thomas Aquinas." Limina: Thresholds and Boundaries. Ed. J. Goering, F. Guardini and G. Silano New York: Legas, 2005. 63-72.
    • "Plotting the Margins: An Historical Episode in the Management of Social Plurality." Towards an Ethics of Community: Negotiations of Difference in a Pluralist Age. Ed. James H. Olthuis. Waterloo ON: Wildred Laurier University Press, 2001. 11-35.
    • "When Popular Piety and Theological Learning Conjoin: St. Bonaventure on Demonic Powers and the Christian Soul." Fides et Historia 23 (1991): 4-18.

    "Mythologizing" Platonism:

    • "Love, Understanding, and the Mystical Knowledge of God." Mystics, Visions and Miracles. Ed. J. Goering, F. Guardiani, G. Silano. New York: Legas, 2002. 173-183.

    Mysticism:

    • “Sin Has Its Place, but All Shall Be Well: The Universalism of Hope in Julian of Norwich (c. 1342-c. 1416).” “All Shall Be Well:” Explorations in Universalism and Christian Theology, from Origen to Moltmann. Ed. Gregory MacDonald. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2011. 66-92.
    • "Exempla and the Promotion of Religious Identity: Gerard of Frachet’s Vitae fratrum." Weapons of Mass Instruction: Secular and Religious Institutions Teaching the World. ed. Joseph Goering, Francesco Guardiani, Giulio Silano. Ottawa: Legas, 2008. 41-50.
    • "Nisi necessitate et utilitate: Catherine of Sienna’s Dominican Confessors and the Principles of a Licit Pastoral 'Irregularity'." Rule Makers and Rule Breakers. Ed. Joseph Goering, Francesco Guardiani, Giulio Silano. Ottawa: Legas, 2006. 199-210.
    • "Christine the Astonishing." Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Margaret Schmauss. New York: Routledge, 2006.
    • "Talking Dirty, Analogically Speaking." Pro Rege 32 (2004): 16-19.
    • "Thomas of Cantimpré and the Performative Reading of Scripture: A Study in Two Exempla," With Reverance for the Word: Medieval Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Ed. J. MacAuliffe, Barry Walfish and Joseph Goering. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 256-275.
    • "Love, Understanding, and the Mystical Knowledge of God." Mystics, Visions and Miracles. Ed. J. Goering, F. Guardiani, G. Silano. New York: Legas, 2002. 173-183.
    • "Of Women, Ire and Other Dangerous Things." Fides et Historia 32 (2000): 127-133.
    • "Thomas of Cantimpré, Performative Reading and Pastoral Care." Performance and Transformation: New Approaches to Late Medieval Spirituality. Ed. Mary Suydam and Joanna Ziegler. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. 134-163.
    • "Thomas of Cantimpré, Mulieres Religiosae and Purgatorial Piety: Hagiographical Vitae and the Beguine 'Voice'." In a Distinct Voice: Medieval Studies in Honor of Leonard E. Boyle O.P. ed. Jacqueline Brown and William Stoneman. Notre Dame IN: University of Notre Dame, 1997. 606-626.
    • "Christianity, Women and the Medieval Family." Religion, Feminism and the Family. The Family, Religion and Culture. Ed. Anne Carr and Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Louisville: John Knox/Westminster Press, 1996. 127-147.
    • "Visions of Purgatory and Their Role in the Bonum universale de apibus of Thomas of Cantimpré." Ons Geestelijk Erf 67 (1993): 20-33.
    • "Christine of St. Trond and Her Preaching Apostolate: Thomas of Cantimpré's Hagiographical Method Revisited." Vox Benedictina 7 (1992): 67-97.