Aquinas's Summa Theologiae

Critical Essays on the Classics

by Brian Davies (Editor), Leonard Boyle (Contributor), Victor White (Contributor)

Thomas Aquinas (1224/6-1274) was first and foremost a Christian theologian. Yet he was also one of the greatest philosophers of the Middle Ages. Drawing on classical authors, and incorporating ideas from Jewish and Arab sources, he came to offer a rounded and lasting account of the origin of the universe and of the things to be found within it, especially human beings. Aquinas wrote many works, but his greatest achievement is undoubtedly the Summa Theologiae. This presents his most mature thinking and is the best introduction to his philosophical (and theological) ideas. Few secondary books on Aquinas focus solely on the Summa, but the present volume does just that. Including work by some of the best Aquinas scholars of the last half decade, it provides a solid introduction to one of the landmarks of western thinking.

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Brian Davies is a Dominican friar and Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, New York. He has published extensively on the thought of St Thomas Aquinas.

Reviews

[Alfredo Nicolás Dueñas]

A lot of important works here, and some stuff that I could do without (Father Kerr, I'm looking at you). It feels like going back to this level of overview on the freedom/will question after diving so deep into it is counterproductive for me, but as a general intro into it, Chapter 9 is quite useful. Also, Wippel's reading of the 5 Ways was a good course correction from the extremely austere and linguistic reading that has been digging into me since I read the Burrell. It's good to get a balance!

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10 intro to Thomas aquinas' summa theologiae. written in academic langauge so some of the essays were difficult to get through but still clear. Gives a lot of background to the history of the time where he was writing also.

[Bruce Paolozzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!