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Guide to Thomas Aquinas
One of the great philosophers of the 20th Century, Josef Pieper, gives a penetrating introduction and guide to the life and works of perhaps the greatest philosopher ever, St. Thomas Aquinas. Pieper provides a biography of Aquinas, an overview of the 13th century he lived in, and a wonderful synthesis of his vast writings. Pieper shows how Aquinas reconciled the pragmatic thought of Aristotle with the Church, proving that realistic knowledge need not preclude belief in the spiritual realities of religion. According to Pieper, the marriage of faith and reason proposed by Aquinas in his great synthesis of a "theologically founded worldliness" was not merely one solution among many, but the great principle expressing the essence of the Christian West. Pieper reveals his extraordinary command of original sources and excellent secondary materials as he illuminates the thought of the great intellectual Doctor of the Church.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
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About the author
Josef Pieper
143 books306 followersJosef Pieper was a German Catholic philosopher and an important figure in the resurgence of interest in the thought of Thomas Aquinas in early-to-mid 20th-century philosophy. Among his most notable works are The Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance; Leisure, the Basis of Culture; and Guide to Thomas Aquinas (published in England as Introduction to Thomas Aquinas).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
December 2, 2022
A philosophical palate cleanser for Aquinas
Another introductory work on Aquinas with a distinctively defensive tone, however this is understandable as despite being comparatively straightforward as a thinker Aquinas is subject to a disproportionate amount of misunderstanding. To many atheists he is a fake philosopher who can largely be dismissed as someone who at best twisted logic to justify his religious beliefs, while to many Christians he can largely be dismissed as someone who merely added a Christian veneer to pagan philosophy.
These lectures (which unfortunately have a lot of untranslated Latin) do a great job of succinctly showing Aquinas was genuinely both a philosopher and not an uncritical Aristotelian. Additionally, you will also get to understand the complexity of Aquinas’s times and his contribution to Catholicism.
Another introductory work on Aquinas with a distinctively defensive tone, however this is understandable as despite being comparatively straightforward as a thinker Aquinas is subject to a disproportionate amount of misunderstanding. To many atheists he is a fake philosopher who can largely be dismissed as someone who at best twisted logic to justify his religious beliefs, while to many Christians he can largely be dismissed as someone who merely added a Christian veneer to pagan philosophy.
These lectures (which unfortunately have a lot of untranslated Latin) do a great job of succinctly showing Aquinas was genuinely both a philosopher and not an uncritical Aristotelian. Additionally, you will also get to understand the complexity of Aquinas’s times and his contribution to Catholicism.
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August 2, 2011Vintage Pieper. This should be read alongside Chesterton's classic as an introduction to the Angelic doctor. And, like reading Chesterton, reading Pieper inevitably brings one into contact with a great deal of common sense along the way.
March 8, 2024
A series of lectures that does offer a nice biography and overview of the work of Aquinas. Not my favorite work of Pieper but it is still a great read.
In the last 100 or so pages it also offers a few nice snippets of metaphysics and existential philosophy that were helpful.
Would recommend
In the last 100 or so pages it also offers a few nice snippets of metaphysics and existential philosophy that were helpful.
Would recommend
April 16, 2015
A smooth but disorganized Intro to Aquinas' world and ideas. Have your Latin dictionary handy if you're rusty- most Latin Aquinas quotes are untranslated.
December 28, 2020
Very well done series of lectures given by Pieper on certain aspects of Thomas. In particular he describes philosophical aspects of Thomas' thought; he explicitly mentions that he leaves out his soteriology, ecclesiology, and sacramentology. The lectures are well written and translated from the original German, easy to read and follow along with, and quite thorough in what they address. Pieper disagrees with many future "Thomists" and states that Thomas was not a Classicalist in any way. That is agreeable, one can read later Thomists versus Thomas to see that, but it is not always so cut and dry. I would have liked more discussion on Thomas' "Summa Contra Gentiles" since many of his philosophical, natural theology discussions arise from there. A great introduction to Thomas' thought and biographical background. I'd recommend it for anyone unfamiliar with St. Thomas or wanting to delve further into his "Summa Theologica" or other works by this giant of Christendom.
April 10, 2022
Another classic from Pieper, who describes this book as notes from a series of lectures... I wish I could have attended them! What the volume lacks in system and presentation it more than makes up for through that golden combination of reader engagement and scholarly depth. Recommended along with Chesterton's classic introduction to St. Thomas.
March 13, 2024
just like sitting down for a bunch of lectures with a professor who you can place so much trust in, but is also so much smarter than you could ever hope to be. a really great companion to chesterton's book on aquinas - both give flesh and vocal cords to a saint who can become little more than an old statue in the modern church.
April 20, 2019
This translation is such an impressive work that I find it hard to believe that the original material was from lectures in German!
This is a clear and helpful introduction to Aquinas’s thought (not necessarily to historical Thomism as it developed post-Aquinas). The treatment of Thomas’s synthesis of “evangelical poverty” and “worldliness” is clear and well put. Pieper argues that Thomas synthesized the Bible and Aristotle by affirming the “goodness” of Creation on the basis of God as purus actus (Creator).
This is a clear and helpful introduction to Aquinas’s thought (not necessarily to historical Thomism as it developed post-Aquinas). The treatment of Thomas’s synthesis of “evangelical poverty” and “worldliness” is clear and well put. Pieper argues that Thomas synthesized the Bible and Aristotle by affirming the “goodness” of Creation on the basis of God as purus actus (Creator).
February 22, 2018
Helpful introductory lectures to the sorts of theoretical problems that Aquinas faced in his life and how he went about solving them. Pieper focuses on Aquinas as a teacher and the development of a theory of education and knowledge.
August 18, 2023
Second reading: I recommend reading this with Chesterton's book. For poor mortals like me, rereading is essential in grasping the thought of St. Thomas. Fortunately Pieper writes well and his topic is interesting, so rereading was a joy!
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This is a nifty little book. Perhaps I read too many thousand pagers last year, but I certainly now appreciate nifty little books.
If Chesterton sketched the man of St. Thomas Aquinas better than anyone else, Pieper might lay claim to the best sketch of the milieu he walked in. The Christian world has tipped a bit too much towards the Platonic (some would mistakenly say a Paulist/Augustinian) conception against the physical world. It now faces a challenge from the newly rediscovered Aristotle that this world is in and of itself worthy of study, a thing that is good. St. Thomas, like Odysseus, strings together the bow of knowledge by combining the Platonic element of Revelation with the Aristotelian notion of Philosophy.
There are many interesting topics one can learn about reading this book, such as the nature of medieval universities, the controversies of the day, or the fact that St. Thomas was able to dictate four books to four different scribes simultaneously, but there are two I wish to highlight in particular.
The first is St. Thomas' "polemical" works. I should, and should not, place quotation marks around that word. On the one hand, these works are directed against errors, and so cannot be anything but argumentative in nature. On the other, St. Thomas so calmly and so accurately states the positions of his opponents that many have assumed they were the opinions of Thomas himself until they have read on to his refutations! There is something to be said in this: one needs to give an opposing viewpoint its strongest possible interpretation before looking for flaws. Apparently, St. Thomas would not even let his students respond to an argument until they could state it accurately in their own words. There is a matter of respect and of humility in this manner of debate, that the other person does have something valuable to say, that they are seeing something that requires a response. I know that I have acted accordingly sometimes, and sometimes not so much, and there is no question which conversations were not just worth my time, but also enjoyable. If only I could be more consistent!
The second point, which would almost certainly come as a surprise to anyone who has glanced at his Summa Theologiae, is that St. Thomas was not an advocate for closed, definite systems. He loved the world too much and understand human limitations too well to believe any system of philosophy ever devised by mankind would be complete. Philosophy and theology go hand in hand; the one studies the world, the other the word of God, and these things constantly interact. They need each other. One could imagine St. Thomas gleefully accepting the inputs of modern science as he updates his understanding of the world, which is of course a gift from God. To be able to love the gift, but the gift giver more...there is something St. Thomas, St. Augustine, and probably every Saint has been able to do.
Again, a nifty, well-written little read. Absolutely recommended.
******************************
This is a nifty little book. Perhaps I read too many thousand pagers last year, but I certainly now appreciate nifty little books.
If Chesterton sketched the man of St. Thomas Aquinas better than anyone else, Pieper might lay claim to the best sketch of the milieu he walked in. The Christian world has tipped a bit too much towards the Platonic (some would mistakenly say a Paulist/Augustinian) conception against the physical world. It now faces a challenge from the newly rediscovered Aristotle that this world is in and of itself worthy of study, a thing that is good. St. Thomas, like Odysseus, strings together the bow of knowledge by combining the Platonic element of Revelation with the Aristotelian notion of Philosophy.
There are many interesting topics one can learn about reading this book, such as the nature of medieval universities, the controversies of the day, or the fact that St. Thomas was able to dictate four books to four different scribes simultaneously, but there are two I wish to highlight in particular.
The first is St. Thomas' "polemical" works. I should, and should not, place quotation marks around that word. On the one hand, these works are directed against errors, and so cannot be anything but argumentative in nature. On the other, St. Thomas so calmly and so accurately states the positions of his opponents that many have assumed they were the opinions of Thomas himself until they have read on to his refutations! There is something to be said in this: one needs to give an opposing viewpoint its strongest possible interpretation before looking for flaws. Apparently, St. Thomas would not even let his students respond to an argument until they could state it accurately in their own words. There is a matter of respect and of humility in this manner of debate, that the other person does have something valuable to say, that they are seeing something that requires a response. I know that I have acted accordingly sometimes, and sometimes not so much, and there is no question which conversations were not just worth my time, but also enjoyable. If only I could be more consistent!
The second point, which would almost certainly come as a surprise to anyone who has glanced at his Summa Theologiae, is that St. Thomas was not an advocate for closed, definite systems. He loved the world too much and understand human limitations too well to believe any system of philosophy ever devised by mankind would be complete. Philosophy and theology go hand in hand; the one studies the world, the other the word of God, and these things constantly interact. They need each other. One could imagine St. Thomas gleefully accepting the inputs of modern science as he updates his understanding of the world, which is of course a gift from God. To be able to love the gift, but the gift giver more...there is something St. Thomas, St. Augustine, and probably every Saint has been able to do.
Again, a nifty, well-written little read. Absolutely recommended.
December 21, 2016
I've been hovering around St. Thomas Aquinas for years. I finally began to read the Summa Theoligica a few months ago and now believe I will never finish. But that's okay because as Josef Pieper points out in his wonderful book on St. Thomas that the Angelic Doctor didn't actually finish the Summa Theologica and instead turned to silence. Pieper's book is not breezy. I would suggest that if you really want to start to understand Thomas read Bishop Robert Barron's book about Thomas and the Denys Turner's biography. But I think Pieper gets to the heart of Thomas more than the others. It's also a great book to read while starting to read the summa.Reading the summa is not difficult if you understand a little about Aristotle. (I had no background in philosophy or Aristotle. But I was pointed to an excellent little book by the late Mortimer Adler called "Aristotle For Beginners.) In fact at times it can seem easy. Especially with his questions, objections and counter arguments. But Pieper helped me understand that there are many layers and facets to Thomas that helped me understand what was going on below the surface.
October 17, 2016
Pieper offers a thorough treatment of St. Thomas Aquinas the philosopher, approaching the saints' genius through the consideration of Thomas' desire to hold together two cultural phenomena that in his day seemed mutual exclusive: the newly discovered philosophy of Aristotle and the evangelical and biblocentric voluntary poverty movement.
While this gives a solid account of St. Thomas as the philosopher, his philosophical emphasis neglects the fact that Thomas was, first and foremost, a priest and therefore a practitioner. To be fair, Pieper does reflect occasionally on Thomas' theological and pious contributions to his day, but always and only as an aspect of the saints' philosophy. Therefore, Pieper never entirely follows through on his approach: while he purports to emphasize Thomas' holding together of both 'Aristotle and the Bible', Pieper is almost entirely concerned with 'Aristotle', that is, Thomas' philosophy.
While this gives a solid account of St. Thomas as the philosopher, his philosophical emphasis neglects the fact that Thomas was, first and foremost, a priest and therefore a practitioner. To be fair, Pieper does reflect occasionally on Thomas' theological and pious contributions to his day, but always and only as an aspect of the saints' philosophy. Therefore, Pieper never entirely follows through on his approach: while he purports to emphasize Thomas' holding together of both 'Aristotle and the Bible', Pieper is almost entirely concerned with 'Aristotle', that is, Thomas' philosophy.
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July 24, 2011I have found that European scholars in the humanities always do the best job of providing a "guide" or "introduction" to a discipline. That is certainly true here. Pieper uses his profound knowledge of Thomas Aquinas to choose out what would best help a student new to the subject. The book is a series of lectures prepared for his university classes. It puts Aquinas in his 13th century historical context, especially the rise of the university, and explains the nature of the literary genre that Aquinas used. Pieper's view of Aquinas: a person committed to knowing Things As They Are; hence, he embraced Aristotle (just then becoming known in the West) and the Bible, seeing the task of the philosopher and the theologian to be the same: the right understanding of reality. Highly recommended for those interested in reading Aquinas himself.
August 21, 2008
This book does a great job of placing St. Thomas within his context and of explaining how his thought unfolds. Pieper begins the work with biographical notes, and intersperses these with commentary on the major issues and influences which shaped St. Thomas' thought and his approach to teaching. In subsequent chapter (which are transcribed lecture) he delves more deeply into particular areas of St. Thomas' writing. This is certainly a good introduction to the writing of St. Thomas.
July 7, 2010
This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. Incredibly readable introduction to Thomas Aquinas. Pieper does a wonderful job of making very dense subject matter come alive. The 13th Century and its intellectual ferment and the various disputes of the day come alive as well. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in philosophy and Thomas Aquinas.
January 3, 2017
This is probably the single best introduction to Thomas Aquinas and his works. It is more lucid than the standard work, M-D. Chenu's, which presents the subject in a sort or florid fog of theological and mystical discourse. The book is a collection of lectures and therefore is slightly disjointed when transitioning from chapter to chapter, but well worth reading as an entry into Aquinas.
November 28, 2007
The author is brilliant, up to the task of deciphering (at an introductory level) the mammoth genius of Aquinas.
February 1, 2009
Whoooooooooooooosssssh!!! :/
Want to read
December 2, 2009suggested by Michael Novak
May 6, 2012
Wonderful overview of the 13th century of Thomas Aquinas. Peiper's desciption of the life and times of Aquinas gives context to Aquinas' thoughts on faith and reason.
April 9, 2014
Good summary that corrects many misconceptions.
April 26, 2014
Nice introduction to Aquinas. Explains what his project was all about in under 200 pages.
May 31, 2024
This is a really interesting book. First, it goes through an overview of the life of Thomas in a single chapter. Then, each subsequent chapter goes through a bit of the story again, this time, deepening it and complicating it, as well as exploring how Aquinas' ideas developed. Lots of great details here. For example, it's important to see how the Mendicant Order wasn't necessarily full of perfect people, though all the brilliant philosophical minds of that generation belonged to it. It's also so important to see that Aquinas didn't simply take Aristotle and give him a slight tweaking to make him "fit" with Catholic ideas. Rather, Aquinas was interested in the truth for the sake of truth, and he had an uncanny ability to sniff out truths from falsehoods and present his own radical worldview which fully held theological and philosophical and commonsense truths and wisdom to be one-hundred percent compatible with each other, whether his source was Aristotle, Plato, Dionsyius, Boethius, the Bible, and so on.
Plenty of other interesting things emerge, like Disputation in in the first universities, where serious disagreements were had out in the classroom with the interlocutors constantly forming the other’s idea in as generous and complete way as they could before attempting to disprove it. Also interesting, Aquinas’ idea that literal translation is a terrible idea because it can’t capture the real nuances of the other language.
As always with Pieper, he builds toward one final remarkable conclusion. Here, it is this: That Aquinas thought things were so knowable that we in fact could never fully know them--the knowing of creation is infinite, always ongoing, and this should produce in us a sense of wonder and also a healthy suspicion of "isms," of anything that says it knows in complete totality, with no room for expansion or reconsideration, even theology, even Thomism itself. Thomas' end of life in silence, refusing to write more, speaks to this fact. It is all straw compared to what is.
Overall a great book on Aquinas.
Plenty of other interesting things emerge, like Disputation in in the first universities, where serious disagreements were had out in the classroom with the interlocutors constantly forming the other’s idea in as generous and complete way as they could before attempting to disprove it. Also interesting, Aquinas’ idea that literal translation is a terrible idea because it can’t capture the real nuances of the other language.
As always with Pieper, he builds toward one final remarkable conclusion. Here, it is this: That Aquinas thought things were so knowable that we in fact could never fully know them--the knowing of creation is infinite, always ongoing, and this should produce in us a sense of wonder and also a healthy suspicion of "isms," of anything that says it knows in complete totality, with no room for expansion or reconsideration, even theology, even Thomism itself. Thomas' end of life in silence, refusing to write more, speaks to this fact. It is all straw compared to what is.
Overall a great book on Aquinas.
February 26, 2025
Some good stuff, especially his mini essay on Latin. Others have commented on the good parts of the text; I'll give some particular issues I saw, at least from a first read through.
1) His dismissal of Thomas's scriptural commentaries (in one paragraph!) because he doesn't like the way Thomas handled Scripture according to Pieper's own implicit higher critical views. How can you really write a book about St Thomas and ignore all his Scriptural commentaries? (It is possible instead to see that Thomas commentary on Scripture are the biblical theology of his own systematic works, as Scot Hahn has said). He also makes a similar comment about not liking about Pope Gregory's work on Job because he used allegory (did Pieper forget the Quadriga method here?)
2) Pieper also makes some comments about the Inquisition and says he can't understand what he thinks are contradictory views of why Thomas would support the State using coercion in suppressing public blasphemy (if you can't understand this, even if you don't agree, why are you presuming to write a book on the man?).
3) Near the end of the book he quotes (I believe the second time) from St. John Henry Newman regarding taking in other sources into our theology, but he abuses this by using it out of context. Newman said this in 1841 while still an Anglican, he didn't convert until 1845, so this means that the other sources he had in mind would lead to his own conversion. Quoting him out of context like Pieper does makes it seem like he was saying Roman Catholic theology should learn from other sources.
4) Lastly, he makes some comments about needing to revise our theological methodology in light of "evolutionary research" among other things (page 150 of my Ignatius Press edition), which is straight up modernism.
1) His dismissal of Thomas's scriptural commentaries (in one paragraph!) because he doesn't like the way Thomas handled Scripture according to Pieper's own implicit higher critical views. How can you really write a book about St Thomas and ignore all his Scriptural commentaries? (It is possible instead to see that Thomas commentary on Scripture are the biblical theology of his own systematic works, as Scot Hahn has said). He also makes a similar comment about not liking about Pope Gregory's work on Job because he used allegory (did Pieper forget the Quadriga method here?)
2) Pieper also makes some comments about the Inquisition and says he can't understand what he thinks are contradictory views of why Thomas would support the State using coercion in suppressing public blasphemy (if you can't understand this, even if you don't agree, why are you presuming to write a book on the man?).
3) Near the end of the book he quotes (I believe the second time) from St. John Henry Newman regarding taking in other sources into our theology, but he abuses this by using it out of context. Newman said this in 1841 while still an Anglican, he didn't convert until 1845, so this means that the other sources he had in mind would lead to his own conversion. Quoting him out of context like Pieper does makes it seem like he was saying Roman Catholic theology should learn from other sources.
4) Lastly, he makes some comments about needing to revise our theological methodology in light of "evolutionary research" among other things (page 150 of my Ignatius Press edition), which is straight up modernism.
May 3, 2025
What a magnificent book. Perhaps because they are lectures, these chapters are easy to follow and comprehensive to their topic. Here, Pieper does not get into many of the particulars of St. Thomas' thought but into what kind of person he was. This discussion includes some description of the age in which he lived, but Pieper focuses constantly on how St. Thomas responded to and integrated the varied thoughts and movements of his day.
My reading was helped in that I have a particular fondness for St. Thomas. I find his focus on synthesis, his assertion that Creation is inherently good, and his humility before the mystery of God (and Creation!) to be sound views of the way the world works. I also think they're some of the most sound intellectual assertions of Christianity, which as a whole does not completely agree with St. Thomas. Had I not already been "on his side", I may not have been as enthusiastic to read Pieper's thoughts.
That said, while I have found myself to be quite the fan of St. Thomas, I have never really been interested in the thirteenth century. The "middle" Middle Ages have always seemed so political to me, all arguments and wars. In fact, the further the Middle Ages go on, the less I have been interested in them. Pieper was, however, able to overcome my assumptions and presented a really compelling age. I left the book wanting to know more about St. Thomas but also more about Christendom in the thirteenth century. What a delightful and unexpected result!
My reading was helped in that I have a particular fondness for St. Thomas. I find his focus on synthesis, his assertion that Creation is inherently good, and his humility before the mystery of God (and Creation!) to be sound views of the way the world works. I also think they're some of the most sound intellectual assertions of Christianity, which as a whole does not completely agree with St. Thomas. Had I not already been "on his side", I may not have been as enthusiastic to read Pieper's thoughts.
That said, while I have found myself to be quite the fan of St. Thomas, I have never really been interested in the thirteenth century. The "middle" Middle Ages have always seemed so political to me, all arguments and wars. In fact, the further the Middle Ages go on, the less I have been interested in them. Pieper was, however, able to overcome my assumptions and presented a really compelling age. I left the book wanting to know more about St. Thomas but also more about Christendom in the thirteenth century. What a delightful and unexpected result!
November 30, 2022
Pieper is insightful as always. Two favorite Aquinas quotes:
"They hold a plainly false opinion who say that in regard to the truth of religion it does not matter what a man thinks about the Creation so long as he has the correct opinion concerning God. An error concerning the Creation ends as false thinking about God."
"We must love them both, those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth and both have helped us in the finding of it."
ETA: I just watched R.C. Sproul's first lecture on Aquinas in his series The Consequences of Ideas, and he confirmed Pieper's view that Aquinas was not separating nature and grace (Pieper talks about "Aristotle and the Bible" or "reason and faith"), contrary to what Francis Schaeffer claimed. Sproul says that Aquinas was distinguishing between nature and grace, not dividing them. Certain things can only be learned through observing the natural world, and others only through revelation. And Aquinas also argued that some things about God could be learned through both nature and grace or revelation ("natural theology").
"They hold a plainly false opinion who say that in regard to the truth of religion it does not matter what a man thinks about the Creation so long as he has the correct opinion concerning God. An error concerning the Creation ends as false thinking about God."
"We must love them both, those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth and both have helped us in the finding of it."
ETA: I just watched R.C. Sproul's first lecture on Aquinas in his series The Consequences of Ideas, and he confirmed Pieper's view that Aquinas was not separating nature and grace (Pieper talks about "Aristotle and the Bible" or "reason and faith"), contrary to what Francis Schaeffer claimed. Sproul says that Aquinas was distinguishing between nature and grace, not dividing them. Certain things can only be learned through observing the natural world, and others only through revelation. And Aquinas also argued that some things about God could be learned through both nature and grace or revelation ("natural theology").
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August 20, 2017I am commenting on the original (German) issue "Hinführung zu Thomas von Aquin". It was published 1958, I received it 1960, the year of our marriage, as a Chrismas gift. I have read chapters now and then ever since. Josef Pieper has become an 'Ideal' for me as a science author and a biographer likewise, and every reading has revealed more depth of the work and its subject. The essence of my critique however is how positively and 'human' in judgement as well as in language this life is told, 'christian' not only in terms of the story but in the approach to the so over- as also underestimatid historical figure and 'hero of the plot'. Tiny stain though: 'Hinführung' (title!) is NOT guidance, it is less and more in one, in that it has much of an 'open offering' rather than of 'guidelines'. All in all: a book for an introduction and for all seasons of a life as well, and well serving as invitation for more from that Author: no surprise what of his work is meanwhile on offer in english.
January 11, 2025
Josef Pieper's Guide to Thomas Aquinas is an excellent primer on the life and significance of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelic and Common Doctor of the Catholic Church. Pieper contextualizes Aquinas' intellectual triumphs within the unique intellectual and political crises of the 13th century. Pieper's Aquinas emerges as exactly the hero the Church needed, whose unique approach to harmonizing the Church's historical thought with Aristotelian 'worldliness' becomes a defining characteristic of the Western intellectual tradition.
Pieper's book is especially good for those seeking to understand the power and significance of Aquinas' philosophical method (disputation) and his approach to language and truth.
Originally a series of spoken lectures, the book has an easy-to-read conversational flow (for philosophy). There's a fair bit of repetition, however. Readers interested in the specifics of Aquinas' thought would be better served by a philosophical primer on Aquinas.
Pieper's book is especially good for those seeking to understand the power and significance of Aquinas' philosophical method (disputation) and his approach to language and truth.
Originally a series of spoken lectures, the book has an easy-to-read conversational flow (for philosophy). There's a fair bit of repetition, however. Readers interested in the specifics of Aquinas' thought would be better served by a philosophical primer on Aquinas.
January 19, 2018
A better title might be 'A Preface to Thomas Aquinas,' since Pieper spends very little time on Aquinas's ideas, and a lot of time on the context surrounding them: the rise of the university and its methods of teaching and learning, of Aristotle, of the preaching orders, and so on. It's all very easy to read until the final lectures, which do get into the ideas, broadly understood, and at that point Pieper's Germanity comes out a little bit more. But certainly a good place to start if you want a very sympathetic introduction to Aquinas's life, times and context.
April 17, 2021
This is a great read.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Pieper captures Aquinas very well in this biography.
2. I think Pieper explains how Aquinas was a teacher. He focuses on Aquinas as a teacher which Aquinas was. Aquinas was a teacher of the faith and of truth and Pieper focuses on this.
3. The biggest take-away for me is how well Pieper knew the teachings of Aquinas. It is abundantly clear that Pieper allowed for the teachings of Aquinas to marinate in his mind.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Pieper captures Aquinas very well in this biography.
2. I think Pieper explains how Aquinas was a teacher. He focuses on Aquinas as a teacher which Aquinas was. Aquinas was a teacher of the faith and of truth and Pieper focuses on this.
3. The biggest take-away for me is how well Pieper knew the teachings of Aquinas. It is abundantly clear that Pieper allowed for the teachings of Aquinas to marinate in his mind.
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