Official Title: Assistant Professor | Director of the Xavier Centre for Memory and Identity | Research Coordinator for the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy | Director of the Macau Ricci Institute
Faculty: 宗教研究及哲學學院
電郵: thomas.cai@usj.edu.mo
Short Bio
Dr. Thomas Yilun Cai (Ph.D, KU Leuven) teaches courses in dogmatic theology. Before coming to USJ, he was a research fellow at Sun Yat-sen University. His doctoral dissertation focuses on the idea of natura pura in Robert Bellarmine’s commentary on the Summa. Dr. Cai’s work is broadly engaged with the theology of Thomas Aquinas and the Thomistic school in the 16thand the 17thcentury.
Publications
Articles in English:
Yilun Cai, “The Efficacy of Grace according to Domingo Bañez”, Augustiniana 62(2012), 291-326.
Yilun Cai, “The Appeal to Augustine in Domingo Bañez’s Theology of Efficacious Grace”, Studia Patristica 69 (2013), 379-384.
Yilun Cai, “Robert Bellarmine’s Idea of the Child Who Dies Unbaptized in the Commentary on Summa Theologiae”, Journal of Early Modern Christianity 1 (2014), 143-164.
Yilun Cai, “Desiderium naturale vivendi Deum in Robert Bellarmine’s Commentary on Summa Theologiae”, Gregorianum 95 (2014), 511-534.
Yilun Cai, “The Question of Adam’s Grace and the Theology of Pure Nature in Robert Bellarmine’s Commentary on the Summa”, Sino-Christian Studies 24 (2017), 7-39.
Thomas Yilun Cai, “Original Sin and Reprobation in Renaissance Thomism, The Cases of Domingo Bañez and John of St. Thomas,” in Nos sumus tempora: Studies on Augustine and His Reception Offered to Mathijs Lamberigts, BETL 316, ed. A. Dupont, W. François, J. Leemans (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 433-444.
Yilun Cai, “To follow or overcome our nature? Reflections on the goodness of human nature with Mencius and Thomas Aquinas," Gregorianum 103(2022), 691-712.
Yilun Cai, “Matteo Ricci’s teaching on the goodness of human nature: its Thomistic and neo-Confucian sources,” The Heythrop Journal 65(2024), 138-151.
Articles in Chinese:
Yilun Cai, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau” Thomas Aquinas’ Idea of the Cause of Predestination”, Logos and Pneuma: Chinese Journal of Theology道風：基督教文化評論 47(2017), 49-75.
Yilun Cai, “The Debates on Indulgences and Faith between Cajetan and Luther in 1518 Augsburg”, Christian Studies基督宗教研究輯刊 22(2017), 117-131.
Yilun Cai, “God and the Origin of Moral Evil---Maritain and Nicolas on God’s Permission of Evil," Universitas哲學與文化 46(2019), 71-85.
Yilun Cai, “St Robert Bellarmine on Unbaptised Infants: A Theological Interpretation in the Historical Context,” Collectanea Theologica Universitatis Fujen 神學論集202 (2019), 522-550.
蔡翼倫， "聖多瑪斯思想權威之演變，從1274年至1323年"，《神學論集》（ISSN: 1012-9332) 218期（2023冬），529-551頁.
Modules
Year 1 Bachelor
This course discusses the following topics: the concepts of revelation and tradition from an anthropological perspective; the importance of these categories in theology; the case for a foundational theology; religion and revelation in the history of religions; the Christian notion of revelation; history of the doctrine on revelation; today’s understanding of revelation; revelation in the Creation; revelation as promise and prophecy in the Old Testament; revelation as the fulfillment and the plenitude in Christ; the structures of revelation: fact and word; historicity and sacramentality; signs of credibility; permanence and transmission of revelation in the Church; tradition and witnessing.
This course explores the foundations of faith as it relates the issue of humanity as an issue of God. Other topics include: Faith and today’s world (secularization, atheism, religious indifference); faith and the meaning of life; faith and biblical witness; dialogic structures of faith; God’s gift and man’s free response; faith as an experience of salvation and as a process of liberation; growth and maturing of faith; the communitarian dimension of faith; faith as knowledge and as an attitude towards life; theology as a reflection of faith; theology as science and as wisdom; theological hermeneutics and faith inculturation; confession of faith, dogma and its interpretation; the plurality of theologies and the unity of faith; the ecumenical challenge; theological reflection in today’s world.
Year 3 Bachelor
This course will survey the topic of sin and redemption as it evolved from the Scriptures and early Church, through today. In addition to the New Testament, the first half of the course will consider authors such as Irinaeus, Athanasius, Augustine, Anselm, Abelard, Luther, etc. We will also explore the spiritual renewal harbored by Cardinal Cisneros and the catechism of Juan de Valdes, and how the encounter with Eastern religions may have influence Christian thinking in Asia.
As an integral part of the Licenciate studies, all undergraduate students at USJ are required to prepare and present a portfolio of their work. The portfolio is assembled over the entire duration of their undergraduate studies, and is to consist of selected pieces of work that they have produced during their studies. A student’s portfolio may contain examples of assignment work, tests and examination answer scripts, presentations and project reports, and other work done by the student during his or her studies.
Year 4 Bachelor
This course will discuss the Sacraments of the Catholic Church and contemporary Sacramental Theology. The course curriculum is divided into three sections. The first section considers the history of the sacraments and the development of sacramental theology from the Christian Scriptures (New Testament period) through the Second Vatican Council and current reflections on the renewal of the sacraments resulting from the council. The second section examines sacramental practice within the Catholic liturgy, and considers contemporary practice of sacraments in Christian faiths other than Catholicism, as well as the promises and challenges of an ecumenical perspective. The third section will explore the intimate role sacraments play in conversion and on-going conversion in Christian life.
This course will explore the Sacraments of Reconciliation and of Anointing of the Sick. Historical, theological, canonical, liturgical and pastoral dimensions are given appropriate attention so as to prepare the future priest celebrants.
