I am glad to announce the publication of my new book by Cambridge University Press:  Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Happiness and Ultimate Purpose.  The details of the book on the Books page of this website tell a little about the book, quote the endorsements, and provide links to the Table of Contents, the Introduction, and two different samples.

Let me say a word about the lovely picture that graces the cover of the book.  Many readers will find the choice self-explanatory.  Others may find it a little puzzling.  What does Joseph DeCamp’s The Blue Cup – a painting of a housewife, face and eyes glowing, admiring a cherished piece of crockery which we can hardly make out -- have to do with happiness?

My original thought had been to use a quite different image, some suitable illustration of the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price:  “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”  All I can say is that the available paintings of the Pearl of Great Price all seemed to leave something to be desired.  Of course I may have overlooked or misjudged some great work of art.  But for me, the homely Blue Cup evokes the Pearl of Great Price with truer pitch than any image which is known to me of the parable itself.