Selected Writings

by Thomas Aquinas

In his reflections on Christianity, Saint Thomas Aquinas forged a unique synthesis of ancient philosophy and medieval theology.
Preoccupied with the relationship between faith and reason, he was influenced both by Aristotle's rational world view and by the powerful belief that wisdom and truth can ultimately only be reached through divine revelation. Thomas's writings, which contain highly influential statements of fundamental Christian doctrine, as well as observations on topics as diverse as political science, anti-Semitism and heresy, demonstrate the great range of his intellect and place him firmly among the greatest medieval philosophers.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Religion, Classics, Nonfiction, Christianity, Medieval

ebook

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

Philosophy 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.

Reviews

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 5 out of 5]

These selected works of Aquinas gave me a great peek in to the middle age thinkers through the lens of Aquinas. He understands them well and quotes them extensively. The editor's one page summary of each chapter gave an exciting background and some necessary insights for understanding what was to follow in each chapter. That and the editor's choice of selections made this book a real nice find for me. I'm grateful that I didn't get a copy of the the Summa Theologia and found this book instead. The Summa by itself would mostly bore me. It would have taken me forever to have finished and I'd still be stumped regarding such questions as: do angels have intellect or not? The real question to me would be who is stupid enough to believe in angels?

I've read about Aquinas from various modern authors who would talk about him, but after these 800 plus pages in his own words I have a real understanding of how he thought. Aristotle is always long winded. Aquinas is not. Aquinas takes "The Philosopher" and reworks him with in this framework and explains how to reconcile reason with his faith. It's a work of art to behold. No matter what the question Aquinas has a way of explaining his view point with logic. Also, even when Aquinas is explaining what Boethius meant by "being", you'll see the magic of Aquinas at work. He'll reword the work under consideration and explain it in such a way that is clear what Boethius was trying to say, but in some kind of peripatetic fashion even though in the case of Boethius he usually was speaking in Platonic terms.

Science was saved by Aquinas. I can say that with near certainty after having read these selections. The way he approaches his religion through logic allows for science. Cause and effect is always in his dialectic. There's an appeal for principles (or rules, or laws) that lurk with in his arguments. I kept on seeing other more modern philosophers thoughts pop up in these selections. I wonder if they had read Aquinas or if Aquinas was just ahead of his time. "Knowledge is higher to the degree that it is more unified and extends to more things", that's very similar to Nietzsche with his "there are no truths but just perspectives and the greatest perspective is the one that includes the most truth".

At the heart of living is understanding 'being' and 'truth'. It's safe to say, that Aquinas' world view is not mine, but he always gives a good argument. He'll say multiple places that "something can never be the cause of itself", but he'll say elsewhere that God (the prime mover) and conscience are each causes of them self. I'm not criticizing, just pointing out that most philosophers need a ground somewhere. I noticed that Heidegger did the same for conscience in "Being and Time". Aquinas has to give man 'free will' beyond what Augustine allows. He does that by giving us our own conscience from itself. Spinoza in his "Ethics" takes Aristotle and gives a completely necessary universe with no free will (cause and effect), but Aquinas can't allow that in his Catholic system. He really does overturn Augustine, but at the same time, he uses Augustine as his second favorite philosopher.

Never trust what other people say about great thinkers. I read all the selections in this book. Even the overtly dogmatic selections, because Aquinas has an approach worth knowing. I would never suggest this book for someone who has not first read Aristotle's "Metaphysics" or "Ethics". It would probably lead to frustration and little understanding.

[Diem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the Selected Writings, I read:

-The Inaugural Sermons
-On the Principles of Nature
-On Being and Essence
-The Nature of Theology
-Proof of God's Existence
-The Human Good
-On Goodness and the Goodness of God
-Definitions of Soul
-On the Ultimate End
-On Human Choice

Most of these sections were read at least twice. Most were read many more than two times. I supplemented my reading with four books ABOUT the writings of Aquinas. I have never been more thoroughly over a book in my life.

Atheists need to read Aquinas. Not because he presents a convincing argument for the existence of God. But because he presents a deeply compelling and logically sound argument against atheism. And frankly, for the more strident and less learned atheists of the world (most of them), reading Aquinas would remove a lot of the duds from their arsenal of weapons frequently lobbed against religion.*

A background in Aristotle would have been extremely helpful in my reading of these selections.

Aquinas thinks and writes in a highly abstract state. Sometimes his concepts were so elusive that I almost had to meditate to reach some transcendental state of complete detachment from everything I thought I understood. And if I did it just right I could sometimes grasp his reasoning for one fraction of one second. Just long enough to understand that he was on to something. It was very difficult reading but I did find that with a dogged determination and enough coffee you can slog on and eventually it does become a little easier to understand the way he writes and presents arguments.

A SOLID background in traditional logic would have been extremely helpful in my reading of these selections.

My 15-year old seemed to come to an understanding with Aquinas more rapidly than I did. Is this because she's smarter than I am. Yes. Kind of. But I think there's a benefit to reading philosophy before your mind has fully gelled. That being said, time travel is still in the early stages of development and I can only read it at the age I am now. Save yourselves.

*Edited to add that I am an atheist of long-standing and remain so even after this reading.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads forces me to choose either read, currently reading or too read...there is no option for "tried to read and gave up." After reading City of God and (rereading) The Confessions by Augustine, I desired to dive into one of the other best-of-the-best theologians in church history. As a few others reviewers have noted, Aquinas is just plain hard to read, because of his immersion in Aristotle and Scholastic style (make a point, list reasons for and against, make a conclusion, then some addendums). That said, there were definitely points that were interesting and even inspiring (well duh some will say...should we not imagine that one of the greatest theologians ever wrote some "interesting" things?).

Aquinas is great; while reading this I picked up a book at the library that was a summary of his theology. It just needs to be read in small doses. I do wonder if this was the wrong selection to dive into Aquinas. As selected writings, we get excerpts from various points in his career. But I think this may have added to the tedium. Perhaps it would be better just to dive into the Summa Theologica? Of course, as I write that I cringe...maybe in 10 or 15 years I'll try that!

At any rate, this will be a good reference book to have and maybe I will pick it up and try to read a selection here and there.

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction is really helpful, be sure to check it out; for all the rest I am not pretending to have read it all, skimmed large sections as not all what is discussed is all that relevant, but to get a grasp of what Aquinas is about, this can be your 'in'.

"There are two kinds of truth about God, Thomas observes. First, truths which can be known by anyone employing his natural capacity to think about the world around us; second, truths which God has revealed about himself and which are accepted as true on the basis of a gratuitously granted disposition of mind called faith."

"The central intellectual feature of Thomas’s time is precisely the question of the relation between Aristotle and Christianity."

"The New Testament, which is ordered to eternal life not only through precepts but also through the gifts of grace, is divided into three parts. In the first the origin of grace is treated, in the Gospels. In the second, the power of grace, and this in the epistles of Paul, hence he begins in the power of the Gospel, in Romans 1.16 saying, ‘For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.’ In the third, the execution of the aforesaid virtues is treated, and this in the rest of the books of the New Testament."

"Christ is the origin of grace. John 1.16–17: ‘And of his fullness we have all received, grace for grace. For the Law was given through Moses: grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’ In Christ a twofold nature is to be considered, a divine, and the Gospel of John is chiefly concerned with this, hence he begins, ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ And a human, and the other Gospels treat chiefly of this, and they are distinguished according to the threefold dignity that belongs to the man Christ."

"With respect to his prophetic honour, Mark speaks, hence he begins with the preaching of the Gospel. With respect to his priestly dignity, Luke speaks, and he begins with the temple and the priesthood and ends his Gospel in the temple, and frequently returns to the temple, as the Gloss says about Luke 2.46: ‘And they found him sitting in the temple in the midst of the teachers.’ In another way, Matthew might be said to speak of Christ chiefly with respect to the mystery of the Incarnation, and thus he is depicted in the figure of a man. Luke, with respect to the mystery of the Passion, and therefore he is depicted as a bull, which is an animal to be immolated. Mark, with respect to the victory of the Resurrection, and thus he is depicted as a lion. But John, who soars to the heights of his divinity, is depicted as an eagle."

[Marcos Augusto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Aquinas, the foremost medieval Scholastic, developed his own conclusions from Aristotelian premises, notably in the metaphysics of personality, creation, and Providence. As a theologian, he was responsible in his two masterpieces, the Summa theologiae and the Summa contra gentiles, for the classical systematization of Latin theology, and, as a poet, he wrote some of the most gravely beautiful eucharistic hymns in the church’s liturgy. His doctrinal system and the explanations and developments made by his followers are known as Thomism.

Normally, his work is presented as the integration into Christian thought of the recently discovered Aristotelian philosophy, in competition with the integration of Platonic thought effected by the Fathers of the Church during the first 12 centuries of the Christian Era. This view is essentially correct; more radically, however, it should also be asserted that Thomas’s work accomplished an evangelical awakening to the need for a cultural and spiritual renewal not only in the lives of individual men but also throughout the church. Thomas must be understood in his context as a mendicant religious, influenced both by the evangelism of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, and by the devotion to scholarship of St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican order.

When Thomas Aquinas arrived at the University of Paris, the influx of Arabian-Aristotelian science was arousing a sharp reaction among believers, and several times the church authorities tried to block the naturalism and rationalism that were emanating from this philosophy and, according to many ecclesiastics, seducing the younger generations. Thomas did not fear these new ideas, but, like his master Albertus Magnus (and Roger Bacon, also lecturing at Paris), he studied the works of Aristotle and eventually lectured publicly on them.

For the first time in history, Christian believers and theologians were confronted with the rigorous demands of scientific rationalism. At the same time, technical progress was requiring men to move from the rudimentary economy of an agrarian society to an urban society with production organized in trade guilds, with a market economy, and with a profound feeling of community. New generations of men and women, including clerics, were reacting against the traditional notion of contempt for the world and were striving for mastery over the forces of nature through the use of their reason. The structure of Aristotle’s philosophy emphasized the primacy of the intelligence. Technology itself became a means of access to truth; mechanical arts were powers for humanizing the cosmos. Thus, the dispute over the reality of universals—i.e., the question about the relation between general words such as “red” and particulars such as “this red object”—which had dominated early Scholastic philosophy, was left behind, and a coherent metaphysics of knowledge and of the world was being developed.

According to Aquinas, reason is able to operate within faith and yet according to its own laws. The mystery of God is expressed and incarnate in human language; it is thus able to become the object of an active, conscious, and organized elaboration in which the rules and structures of rational activity are integrated in the light of faith. In the Aristotelian sense of the word, then (although not in the modern sense), theology is a “science”; it is knowledge that is rationally derived from propositions that are accepted as certain because they are revealed by God. The theologian accepts authority and faith as his starting point and then proceeds to conclusions using reason; the philosopher, on the other hand, relies solely on the natural light of reason. Thomas was the first to view theology expressly in this way or at least to present it systematically, and in doing so he raised a storm of opposition in various quarters.

The literary form of Aquinas’s works must be appreciated in the context of his methodology. He organized his teaching in the form of “questions,” in which critical research is presented by pro and con arguments, according to the pedagogical system then in use in the universities. Forms varied from simple commentaries on official texts to written accounts of the public disputations, which were significant events in medieval university life. Thomas’s works are divided into three categories: (1) commentaries on such works as the Old and New Testaments, the Sentences of Peter Lombard (the official manual of theology in the universities), and the writings of Aristotle, (2) disputed questions, accounts of his teaching as a master in the disputations, and (3) two summae or personal syntheses, the Summa contra gentiles and the Summa theologiae, which were presented as integral introductions for the use of beginners. Numerous opuscula (“little works”), which have great interest because of the particular circumstances that provoked them, must also be noted.

The logic of Aquinas’s position regarding faith and reason required that the fundamental consistency of the realities of nature be recognized. A physis (“nature”) has necessary laws; recognition of this fact permits the construction of a science according to a logos (“rational structure”). Thomas thus avoided the temptation to sacralize the forces of nature through a naïve recourse to the miraculous or the Providence of God. For him, a whole “supernatural” world that cast its shadow over things and men, in Romanesque art as in social customs, had blurred men’s imaginations. Nature, discovered in its profane reality, should assume its proper religious value and lead to God by more rational ways, yet not simply as a shadow of the supernatural. This understanding is exemplified in the way that St. Francis of Assisi admired the birds, the plants, and the Sun.

Thomas held that human liberty could be defended as a rational thesis while admitting that determinations are found in nature. In his theology of Providence, he taught a continuous creation, in which the dependence of the created on the creative wisdom guarantees the reality of the order of nature. God moves sovereignly all that he creates; but the supreme government that he exercises over the universe is conformed to the laws of a creative Providence that wills each being to act according to its proper nature. This autonomy finds its highest realization in the rational creature: man is literally self-moving in his intellectual, volitional, and physical existence. Man’s freedom, far from being destroyed by his relationship to God, finds its foundation in this very relationship. “To take something away from the perfection of the creature is to abstract from the perfection of the creative power itself.” This metaphysical axiom, which is also a mystical principle, is the key to St. Thomas’s spirituality.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

My tour of philosophical and religious classics continues with Aquinas. Last year I read Aristotle and this is my encore. Aquinas and Aristotle are in conversation, so it is good to have a little familiarity with Aristotle before starting Aquinas.

My star rating is less a judgment on Aquinas, who is dense and often impossible to read, but also of course historically important and valued. My opinion on him doesn't really matter much, but the stars are more reflective of my opinion on the work of the editor, who I wish had provided additional context and background to help the reader.

This is a tough book; it's one of those that I often found myself reading the words but my mind was elsewhere and I wasn't taking in much information. You have be a disciplined reader to really engage with the text. Perhaps it is unfair but a lot of space is devoted to questions that are variations on "how many angels can dance on a pinhead?". While I gather than Aquinas is widely regarded as a brilliant synthesizer of Aristotle with medieval Christian ideas, and that may be true please don't ask me to go into any details.

[Bonny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tough read indeed, but engrossing if you can concentrate. Best to those who starve of spiritual food.

[Caris · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favourite pieces were the standalone writings: “Principles of Nature”, “Being and Essence”, and “On the Eternity of the World Against the Murmurers”—unsurprisingly also Aquinas’ most philosophical pieces.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Selected Writings of Thomas Aquinas in 2003, while wrapping up my PhD — a time when my mind was both exhausted and electrified, like a city after a storm. Aquinas was not light reading, but he offered a kind of clarity that felt earned. His Latin was precise, his logic relentless, and his theology? Towering. This wasn’t just philosophy. It was scaffolding for a worldview — and in McInerny’s curation, it became accessible without losing its density.

What struck me, page after page, was how calm Aquinas was. In a world that debates with volume, he argued with order. He didn’t shout down Plato or Augustine or Aristotle — he harmonized with them, even when he disagreed. Reading him was like sitting beside a great clock, watching the gears of logic click into place. Whether it was the nature of God, the question of evil, or the hierarchy of angels (yes, he really does rank angels), Aquinas always brought a stillness to the inquiry — a sense that the truth, however distant, could be approached by reason illumined by faith.

At the time, I was knee-deep in my own academic turmoil — deadlines, drafts, rejections, the dizzying weight of “original contribution.” But Aquinas reminded me that thought could be devotional, that reason could be sacred. His Summa Theologica wasn’t just an academic text — it was a cathedral built of syllogisms.

McInerny’s selection helped too. He chose texts that revealed Aquinas not just as a theologian, but as a philosopher in conversation with all of history — confident, yes, but never arrogant. The book became a kind of daily ritual: an early-morning read before writing, or a late-night anchor when doubt crept in.

The questions Aquinas posed were old, yet terrifyingly current: What is good? What is just? Can humans truly know God? He didn’t offer easy answers, but he offered structured ones — and in a PhD season where everything felt unstable, I needed that structure.

What I remember most was his humility. Near the end of his life, Aquinas reportedly had a vision during Mass that made him declare, “All that I have written seems like straw.” And yet — what glorious straw. To think someone could build an intellectual legacy so enduring, and still feel the smallness of human knowing... it taught me something no footnote ever could.

[Nemo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aquinas condensed his Summa Theologiae into five arguments, with the first four being cosmological and the last being teleological. Aquinas' First Way, the Way of Motion, argues that things in motion must be moved by another, as something in potentiality cannot move itself. This leads to an infinite regress of movers, which is impossible. Therefore, there must be a first unmoved mover, who moves all other things without being moved by anything else. This is what we call God. Aquinas' Second Way, the cosmological proof of the unmoved mover, expands on this idea, stating that every movement is preceded by another actuality, and that every cause is caused by something else. Aquinas' Third Way, the Way of Efficient Causality, argues that efficient causes cannot go on to infinity, for there would be no first cause and no intermediate causes. Therefore, there must be a first efficient cause, which we call God. The third way is taken from the possible and the necessary. If everything can be and not be, then nothing would exist now. Therefore, not all beings are possible; there must be something necessary in things. But every necessary thing either has the cause of its necessity from elsewhere, or it does not. It is impossible to proceed infinitely in necessary things. Therefore, it is necessary to establish something that is itself necessary, having no cause of necessity from elsewhere. The fourth way proceeds from the degrees found in things. There is something which is truest, and best, and noblest, and most being, which is called God. The fifth way proceeds from the governance of things. Natural bodies act for an end, not fortuitously but designedly.The universe is intricately designed; irrational things contribute to order for mutual benefit. This cannot be a coincidence, but rather the result of a powerful and rational being, God. Thomas Aquinas argues that just as a visitor to a farm sees the result of human effort, so does he see the result of God's effort in the world. This type of argument from analogy is known as the teleological proof. The existence of an intelligent being, directing all natural things to their end, is why we call this being God.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting in very small doses, but extremely difficult, especially for those without a grounding in Aristotle and early theology/philosophy. I gave up after a few hundred pages.

[Myles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Snoooooooze. Aristotle and Christianity aren't compatible. You lose.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

St. Thomas Aquinas is one of the most prolific theologians in history. I could read this book 10 more times and probably still get new things from it

Will definitely be revisiting the following chapters, “Exposition of the Angelic Salutation” was easily my favorite chapter, “The Active and Contemplative Lives” a close second

“On Conscience”
“Proof of Gods Existence”
“The Human Good”
“On the Divine Simplicity”
“On Goodness and the Goodness of God”
“On the Ultimate End”
“On Human Choice”
“What Makes Actions Good or Bad?”
“On Law and Natural Law”
“Active and Contemplative Lives”
“Logic of the Incarnation”
“What is a Sacrament?”
“Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to Philemon”
“Exposition of the Angelic Salutation”

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have the upmost respect for this man’s mind, His understanding and chapters on truth and natural law are perspicuous. (You see this is where Chesterton and Lewis get a lot of there ideas)

It pains me to say this, but some of these great church fathers, I dare even include beloved Augustine, seem to, every so slightly, miss the concept of grace.

This would deserve a proper discussion, but in summary, they see salvation by grace alone, but they don’t see us as completely corrupt. Grace is portrayed by, them, as a free gift of divine power that will improve us, a ladder by which we can rise to success. You see where I am going with this?

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A difficult yet worthwhile read for all Christians alike

[Gabrielle Huston]

Read for HUMS2000 at Carleton University. Read IaIIae, qq. 1-5, pp.482-550 and IaIIae, qq. 90 & 91, pp. 611-628.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

How do I review Thomas Aquinas, doctor of the church, acme of scholasticism? As the title states, this was a selection of his writings. I probably would have preferred one of his summae. The editor states in his introduction that the focus was on philosophical, not theological, writings. But of course, nothing he wrote was "pure" philosophy--theology was always involved.

Thomas was a thoroughgoing Aristotelian. So much so that he refers to him never as Aristotle, but merely the "Philosopher" (which would be like me calling Calvin the "Theologian" in all my writing.

As you may know, a typical scholastic piece of writing would begin with some question, called the article (for example, "Is any truth other than first truth eternal" is a randomly-selected article from the hundreds treated in the book). Then the writer lists the prima facie case before or against the article. Next is the 'on the contrary,' where the writer is duty-bound to state the best evidence against the initial case. Then the writer gives the 'response,' which synthesizes the pros and cons in a way that best summarizes the writer's own views. Last are the addenda, which respond point by point, in light of the response, to the elements that made up the initial argument.

Some of the articles are quite profound (another random selection: "Does the goodness of the will depend on the intention of the end?" in the midst of a good question on good and evil). But the whole issue with scholasticism is that they often lost the forest for the trees, dealing in minutiae while the church increasingly went to rot. Thomas was brilliant, and his work still profoundly affects the church and theology today. But his brand of work lead to my side trails and dead ends on the road from Augustine to Luther.

Interestingly, my favorite work in the compendium came near the end--a textual commentary on Paul's epistle to Philemon. This is the only portion included where Thomas deals directly with the Biblical text. I certainly did not agree with all of his conclusions and connections to other texts, but I appreciated the insight to how he handled the Word of God and submitted himself to it. I would have taken more of that and less of "Can the angel know many things simultaneously?" (article 2, Question 58, Summa theologica I).

This reading was a long project--10 or 15 pages a day for several months is really the only way to digest the guy.

[Jordan Pilarski · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an attempt to improve upon Anselm's argument for the existence of God, Aquinas seems to make the same fallacy on his own. Anselm's Ontological Argument for the existence of God was flawed by his inclusion of the "Necessary Being". By incorporating the condition of a "Necessary Being" to his argument for the existence of God, Anselm 'begs the question' by assuming the very thing he was trying to prove with his argument. In other words,he makes the existence of God, a part of the definition of God. And in doing so he assumes the very point of contention to be true.

Aquinas, though presumably more rational than Anselm, none the less commits the same fallacy as Anselm in the Quinque Viæ (Five Ways). Though the Cosmological Arguments of Aquinas are striking in the sense that most of them are firmly grounded in the natural world and are based on scientific reasoning, they fail to make the arguments they set out to. The Arguments from Motion, Causation, Contingency, and Degree all attempt to solve the problem of Infinite Regress with the concept of the "Necessary Being" (God). Thus Aquinas begs the question by assuming the very thing he is trying to prove. And in doing so his argument is Self Defeating. Rationally speaking, God should be subject to the very conditions set forth by Aquinas. However, if God somehow can be exempt from these conditions, why can't others. And if others can be exempt, then God is not a prerequisite for establishing things in the first place.

[Patrick\ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unless you are really into Roman Church, this will do as a guide that drives theological thinking even today (had Jesuit instructors). Even a shoot of modern philosophy is deviating back to sholasticism. Interesting. I find Aquinas much like a Vienese Rococo facade - no surface left untouched. The four proofs for the existence of God I put alongside the ancient Egyptian six favorable farts for proof of gastro-intestinal patient recovery.

Still, he was (is) a massive influence within the Roman Church - so makes this a 4 star. A need to know also makes this about as much of Aquinas one would ever want to take on.

[David Mosley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wide selection of readings, perhaps too wide, in an attempt to help the reader understand the mind of Thomas Aquinas as it developed. I look forward to reading some of the works sampled––namely the two Summas--in full.

[Mark Glidden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolute perfection. The best one-volume collection of Aquinas available, ranging from his early lectures to selections from his major works ('Summa Contra Gentiles' and the 'Summa Theologicae'), this is an absolute must.

[Barros Juan Pablo]

lo regalé

[Laura]

Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings (Penguin Classics) by Thomas Aquinas (1999)

[Daniel Seifert]

Excellent translation for this seminary graduate who enjoys and needs a little Thomas periodically.

[Modern Abbess · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some pretty interesting passages, but the selections are more of a survey than an in depth portrayal of his work. Such a cool guy.

[Rivkah · Rating 3 out of 5]

not my favorite. I prefered the last section on free choice greatly to the previous ones, however, the previous three sections are necessary to the last one and are hard to read through.

[Katerina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thomas Aquinas is difficult, slow reading, but he is also rewarding if one perseveres. I read a small selection from this book.

[Lucy Samuelsen]

On the Teacher: February 6, 2014

[Andrew Noselli · Rating 3 out of 5]

The synchronicity here was that, in the middle of reading this book, I picked up Felix Perani's Introducing the Universe, which mentioned Aquinas in its review of important pre-modern cosmological systems. I started to like the format of Aquinas' writing more and more as I got deeper into this volume, which dealt with questions like whether virtue is to be found in the mechanical arts, the sciences or the humanities and whether Jesus Christ was Man in God form or God in Man form, as well as dozens of other questions. It should be noted that, for both positive and negative answers, Aquinas gives a voice to evidence asserting the contrary position, so one is left to conclude that the Dominicans and Franciscans of Aquinas' age could accept either side of what were essentially open-ended exercises in judgment and refutation.

[E Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit, this was another "brag book". I can now say I have actually read Thomas Aquinas' "Summa Theologica", at least major portions of it. I really can't say I was able to comprehend every thing this brilliant man was saying.
Aquinas is one of the most fascinating people in history. His understanding of philosophy and science and their nexus with theology is truly amazing. It took me a few months to work my way through this collection of his work, but I can say I'm happy I did. Only recommend to those with a real interest in medieval history, the progression of philosophy, or those with way too much time on their hands.