Our institute’s main activities are collecting scholarly books and journals on European medieval thought, history, literature, arts, law, medicine, etc. (both primary and secondary sources), and publishing academic books and translated original texts. Both of these tasks aim to promote research on medieval thought and related fields. We also organize lecture presentations and course lectures at the Sophia Community College.
By a consensus among scholars of medieval thought at Sophia University, the University of Tokyo, Keio University, University of the Sacred Heart Tokyo, and Tokyo Metropolitan University, the institute was founded in 1956 with assistance from the (then) Ministry of Education (established first as “Research Room for the Study of Medieval Philosophy” within the Sophia University Department of Philosophy, then reorganized in 1976 as “Institute of Medieval Thought”).
Our book collection covers the period from early Christian times (2nd century) to the late Middle Ages, as well as the 16th and 17th centuries, under the aspects of Christian theology, philosophy (including Jewish and Arabic philosophy), literature, history, education, law, history of science, and others, of these periods. * Collection size: ca. 60,000 volumes (ca. 2,500 Japanese volumes, 56,000 Western volumes, 13 Japanese periodicals, and 74 Western periodicals). * Language of books: Latin, Greek, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese. * Please refer to the classification table.
Faculty members and students as well as members of “Friends of Sophia University Library” may borrow library resources (except books and periodicals that may be used only in the library). Check-out periods follow the Sophia University Central Library guidelines. Members of the Japanese Society of Medieval Philosophy, the Classical Society of Japan, the Japan Society for Medieval European Studies, the Japanese Society for Patristic Studies, the Japanese Society for Neoplatonic Studies, and the Japanese Association for Eastern Christian Studies may check-out 4 items for 2 months (please contact us if you live in a remote place). In-library-only resources are available for reading and copying. Inter-library loans (ILLs) for users not mentioned here are also available.
1) Search using the Sophia University Central Library Book Search System OPAC 2) Search using the Sophia University Institute of Medieval Thought’s search system “Benedictus” * User Guide for Benedictus (PDF)
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00 to 16:30 (break 11:30-12:30) Friday 12:30 to 16:30 – On Saturday, Sunday, national holidays, and university holidays the library is closed.
・Hiroyuki OGINO (Professor of Sophia University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Philosophy) Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy/ Patristic Studies
・Hitoshi KAWANAKA (Professor of Sophia University, Faculty of Theology, Department of Theology) Ignatian Spirituality / Fundamental Theology
・Naoko SATO (Director [2008-], Professor of Sophia University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Philosophy) Philosophy/ Ethics
・Nobukuni SUZUKI (Associate Professor of Sophia University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Philosophy) German modern thought after I. Kant/ Philosophical Anthropology/ Neoplatonism in renaissance era
・Osamu TAKEUCHI (Professor of Sophia University, Faculty of Theology, Department of Theology) Philosophy/ Ethics/ Religious Studies
・Yuichi TSUNODA (Assistant Professor of Sophia University, Faculty of Theology, Department of Theology) Dogmatic Theology/ Modern Shin Buddhist Thought
・Naoko MATSUMOTO (Professor of Sophia University, Faculty of Law, Deparment of International Legal Studies) European Legal History / German Law
・Hiroko MORI (Associate Professor of Sophia University, Faculty of Theology, Department of Theology) Musicology
・Taro ETO [Apr. 1955‐Mar. 1974]
・Klaus RIESENHUBER [Apr. 1974‐Mar. 2004]
・Hiroyuki OGINO [Apr. 2004‐Mar. 2008]
Institute of Medieval Thought Sophia University, 7-1 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 102-8554 Japan Tel: 03-3238-3822 Fax: 03-3238-4623 Email: imdthght＠sophia.ac.jp
