Gloria Frost, a philosophy professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, and a parishioner of St. Patrick, Hudson, was recently named by the Vatican Secretary of State to the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Frost is only the fifth woman to be appointed to the academy since its founding in 1879 and the first St. Thomas faculty member to be appointed.
The academy is a group of 50 scholars from around the world that meets annually at the Vatican to promote the thought of St. Thomas of Aquinas in the church and world.
“Though he lived 800 years ago, Aquinas’ ideas remain important for the contemporary church and world. Aquinas models for us today how to seek and integrate truth through philosophy, theology and the natural sciences,” Frost said. “It is a great honor to be selected as a member of a group of scholars which is charged with promoting Aquinas’ ideas in scholarly research, education and society. I look forward to engaging with the other members of the academy who come from around the world, bringing diverse perspectives to bear on interpreting and applying Aquinas’ views.”
Frost has research specialization in the thought of Thomas Aquinas and medieval philosophy more generally. In addition to many articles on Aquinas in leading philosophy journals, she recently published a book on Thomas Aquinas titled “Aquinas on Efficient Causation and Causal Powers” with Cambridge University Press. Frost also is the immediate past president of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, an assistant editor for the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly and the associate chair of the St. Thomas Philosophy Department.
Gloria Frost’s book on St. Thomas Aquinas is a scholarly work published by Cambridge University Press. (cambridgeblog.org)
