According to Aquinas, contemplation is 'the goal (finis) of our entire life and a foretaste of heavenly beatitude'. Rik Van Nieuwenhove's authoritative and interdisciplinary, engaging and wide-ranging book focuses on epistemological and metaphysical issues of contemplation, the relation between active and contemplative lives (in micro) and between philosophy, spirituality, and theology (in macro) as seen through this Dominican's eyes, the parts played by charity, faith, and the Holy Spirit's gifts in the contemplative act, and the liaison between contemplation and the beatific vision. And the result is a triumph.
Rik Van Nieuwenhove is Associate Professor of Medieval Thought at Durham University. His publications include Introduction to Medieval Theology (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Introduction to the Trinity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), and Jan van Ruusbroe: Mystical Theologian of the Trinity(University of Notre Dame Press, 2003).