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Shorter Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas: A Modern Translation of the Compedium of Theology
Shorter Summa Theologica by Thomas The Compendium of TheologyAquinas in his own concise voice—faith made clear, orderly, and luminous. Thomas Aquinas composed the Compendium of Theology as a brief guide to the whole of Christian doctrine, distilling the heart of the Summa into a direct, pastorally focused synthesis. This edition offers a modern, faithful translation with a crisp introduction and unobtrusive notes—ideal for study, teaching, or spiritual reading.
What’s inside?God & the Divine Attributes — God’s existence, simplicity, goodness, wisdom, will, and providence.The Trinity — Processions, relations, and the unity of essence with distinction of Persons.Creation & Providence — Creation ex nihilo, angels, the human soul, evil as privation, and the order of the universe.Human Nature & Beatitude — Image of God, intellect and will, the ultimate end, and happiness in the vision of God.Grace & Virtue — Theological and moral virtues, gifts of the Spirit, law, and the shaping of the Christian life.Christ & Redemption — Incarnation, the unity of Christ’s person, passion and merit, and the communication of grace.Prayer, Sacraments & Last Things — The Lord’s Prayer, sacramental economy in brief, resurrection and final fulfillment.
Why this edition?Modern & Faithful — Smooth, accurate English that preserves Aquinas’s precision and warmth.
Guided Reading — A concise introduction situates the Compendium within Aquinas’s life and the wider Thomistic corpus.
Concise Commentary — Light notes clarify key terms (act & potency, form & matter, nature & grace) without interrupting the flow.
Reader-First Design — Clean headings, consistent formatting, and thoughtful spacing for classroom, parish, or prayer.
Who is it for?Students of theology and philosophy, clergy and catechists, and all readers seeking a trustworthy, readable doorway into Aquinas’s vision of God, the human person, and life in Christ.
Meet Thomas Aquinas—teacher of the Church, guide of reason and faith.Read the Shorter Summa as a living ordered, luminous, and oriented to beatitude—the knowledge of God that heals, elevates, and perfects the human person.
What’s inside?God & the Divine Attributes — God’s existence, simplicity, goodness, wisdom, will, and providence.The Trinity — Processions, relations, and the unity of essence with distinction of Persons.Creation & Providence — Creation ex nihilo, angels, the human soul, evil as privation, and the order of the universe.Human Nature & Beatitude — Image of God, intellect and will, the ultimate end, and happiness in the vision of God.Grace & Virtue — Theological and moral virtues, gifts of the Spirit, law, and the shaping of the Christian life.Christ & Redemption — Incarnation, the unity of Christ’s person, passion and merit, and the communication of grace.Prayer, Sacraments & Last Things — The Lord’s Prayer, sacramental economy in brief, resurrection and final fulfillment.
Why this edition?Modern & Faithful — Smooth, accurate English that preserves Aquinas’s precision and warmth.
Guided Reading — A concise introduction situates the Compendium within Aquinas’s life and the wider Thomistic corpus.
Concise Commentary — Light notes clarify key terms (act & potency, form & matter, nature & grace) without interrupting the flow.
Reader-First Design — Clean headings, consistent formatting, and thoughtful spacing for classroom, parish, or prayer.
Who is it for?Students of theology and philosophy, clergy and catechists, and all readers seeking a trustworthy, readable doorway into Aquinas’s vision of God, the human person, and life in Christ.
Meet Thomas Aquinas—teacher of the Church, guide of reason and faith.Read the Shorter Summa as a living ordered, luminous, and oriented to beatitude—the knowledge of God that heals, elevates, and perfects the human person.
187 pages, Paperback
Published December 17, 2025
About the author
Thomas Aquinas
2,840 books1,240 followersPhilosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican friar and theologian of Italy and the most influential thinker of the medieval period, combined doctrine of Aristotle and elements of Neoplatonism, a system that Plotinus and his successors developed and based on that of Plato, within a context of Christian thought; his works include the
Summa contra gentiles
(1259-1264) and the
Summa theologiae
or theologica (1266-1273).
Saint Albertus Magnus taught Saint Thomas Aquinas.
People ably note this priest, sometimes styled of Aquin or Aquino, as a scholastic. The Roman Catholic tradition honors him as a "doctor of the Church."
Aquinas lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the arrival of the Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the question of the relation between faith and reason, calling into question the modus vivendi that obtained for centuries. This crisis flared just as people founded universities. Thomas after early studies at Montecassino moved to the University of Naples, where he met members of the new Dominican order. At Naples too, Thomas first extended contact with the new learning. He joined the Dominican order and then went north to study with Albertus Magnus, author of a paraphrase of the Aristotelian corpus. Thomas completed his studies at the University of Paris, formed out the monastic schools on the left bank and the cathedral school at Notre Dame. In two stints as a regent master, Thomas defended the mendicant orders and of greater historical importance countered both the interpretations of Averroës of Aristotle and the Franciscan tendency to reject Greek philosophy. The result, a new modus vivendi between faith and philosophy, survived until the rise of the new physics. The Catholic Church over the centuries regularly and consistently reaffirmed the central importance of work of Thomas for understanding its teachings concerning the Christian revelation, and his close textual commentaries on Aristotle represent a cultural resource, now receiving increased recognition.
Saint Albertus Magnus taught Saint Thomas Aquinas.
People ably note this priest, sometimes styled of Aquin or Aquino, as a scholastic. The Roman Catholic tradition honors him as a "doctor of the Church."
Aquinas lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the arrival of the Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the question of the relation between faith and reason, calling into question the modus vivendi that obtained for centuries. This crisis flared just as people founded universities. Thomas after early studies at Montecassino moved to the University of Naples, where he met members of the new Dominican order. At Naples too, Thomas first extended contact with the new learning. He joined the Dominican order and then went north to study with Albertus Magnus, author of a paraphrase of the Aristotelian corpus. Thomas completed his studies at the University of Paris, formed out the monastic schools on the left bank and the cathedral school at Notre Dame. In two stints as a regent master, Thomas defended the mendicant orders and of greater historical importance countered both the interpretations of Averroës of Aristotle and the Franciscan tendency to reject Greek philosophy. The result, a new modus vivendi between faith and philosophy, survived until the rise of the new physics. The Catholic Church over the centuries regularly and consistently reaffirmed the central importance of work of Thomas for understanding its teachings concerning the Christian revelation, and his close textual commentaries on Aristotle represent a cultural resource, now receiving increased recognition.
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