WITH COLOMAN VIOLAWITH COLOMAN VIOLA
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Coloman VIOLA (VIOLA Kálmán) was born in 1928 in Székesfehérvár (Alba Regia), Hungary, the Capital City of his country for several centuries since the time of Saint Stephen, first King of the Hungarian Crown (1000-1038). During his philosophical studies in his native country he has chosen the freedom and was compelled to leave the Communist Dictatorship passing through the Iron Curtain. He completed his Philosophical, Theological, and Palaeographical studies in various European Universities and pursued Linguistic studies in Japan. After his teaching activities in Tokyo, Rome and in Paris, he consecrated most of his time for research work at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. He was for five years Director of a research programme in Japanese Linguistics (modern scientific terminology) at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Besides his linguistic studies, his scholarly activities as a researcher embraced various fields of Ancient Greek, Mediaeval Christian and Contemporary Thought, namely the problem of relationship between reason and faith. His main subject is the reinterpretation of Saint Anselm of Canterbury's method and thought who was one of the great Thinkers of the Mediaeval Christian Period. Already in 1972, de Lubac qualified his studies on Anselm as of great importance. - No living scholar has done more than Coloman Viola to enlarge our understanding of the writings of St Anselm : this is the recent judgement of late Sir Richard W. Southern, FBA, on his scholarly achievement.
He was in charge of the Palaeographical Research Centre in Tokyo and later on he taught Latin Palaeography at the Gregorian University of Rome. Some of his discoveries concern the oldest exemplar of the first psychological treatises of the XIIIth Century, Johannes de Rupella's Summa de anima as well as the identification of some anonymous treatises and fragments.
He contributed articles to various Encyclopaedias, namely :
- Histoire des Saints et de la Sainteté chrétienne, Tome VI: Au temps du renouveau évangélique 1054-1274 (sous la dir. d'A. Vauchez), Paris 1986;
- Dictionnaire encyclopédique du Moyen Age, sous la direction d'A. Vauchez, t. I, A-K XXXII-858 pp.; t. II, L-Z, p. 859-1692, (James Clarke & CO. LTD, Cambridge; Editions du Cerf, Paris; Città Nuova, Rome) 1997;
- Encyclopédie philosophique;
- Dictionnaire critique de Théologie.
He is Editorial Consultant of Anselm Studies (The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston-Queenston-Lampeter); member of the Comité de rédaction of the Dictionnaire critique de Théologie, (Presses Universitaires de France, Paris).
He is member of the
- Société Internationale pour
l'Etude de la Philosophie Médiévale (SIEPM)
- International Committee
for Anselm Studies.
- International Society for
Neoplatonic Studies (ISNS), Secretary of the French Speaking Section
He organised two major international conferences in Paris under the auspices of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique:
- 1985 : Proclus, lecteur et interprète des Anciens (Proclus reading Ancient Philosophers)
- 1990 : Saint Anselme, penseur d'hier et d'aujourd'hui (Saint Anselm, a Thinker of Yesterday and Today)
Besides a great number of papers delivered in various international Conferences, he was invited to give public lectures in the following places :
His bibliography embraces publications in seven languages. You may become acquainted with his thought and scholarly work through his publications. He is criticising certain forms of contemporary historiography. He is engaged in discussing some aspects of
His unpublished writings will be regularly published on Internet with the guiding of this home page.
He is also ready to dialogue with anyone who is open minded and keen to share Truth. You may also obtain his works on CD-ROM.
The author retains copyright ® for all texts you find in these pages. You may use them partly or in extenso , but you have to quote the author's name.
