St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica (translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province) (5 Volu
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St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica (translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province) (5 Volu Deluxe
Author Company: Christian Classics
St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica (translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province) (5 Volu Deluxe 5 stars (Better than the Oxford Blackfriars) - Of course, the Oxford
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St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica (translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province) (5 Volu Deluxe - 5 stars (Better than the Oxford Blackfriars)
St Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica (translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province) (5 Volume Set) review:5 stars (Better than the Oxford Blackfriars) - Of course, the Oxford Blackfriar's 60-volume edition would bankrupt most of us by it's sheer expense. But if one wants an English translation opposite the Latin original, it's certainly the reference work that many scholars prefer.
For the rest of us, the English Dominican Fathers' translation of the early 20thC. is very, very good indeed. It's single virtue is that the same translation of words is used consistently throughout, even if the particular choice of words might not strike 21stC. readers in quite the same way. Some of the language is beginning to show its wear and tear, but once one is in the mindset, the reading is exceptionally clear.
For those new to Aquinas, his methodology may strike some readers as odd. It's really a simple, yet elegant, system. First, Aquinas poses a question to be answered. Then he gives a variety of answers from others in the past. When you see, "but I reply," then you know you're getting to nugget of Aquinas' gems. After his reply, he responds to each of the previous author's opinions, stating why or how they are in any way deficient.
Several features become instantly obvious. Aquinas had an encyclopedic mind and a good knowledge of Patristic and Aristotlean thought. Whenever possible, his answers are an a priori synthesis of the best Patristics and the best of Aristotle. These five, dense volumes in this edition illustrate the majestic scope of his enterprise. (His Summa Contra Gentiles is very similar.) There isn't really a subject or vantage that Aquinas doesn't cover. All his Summas are really magisterial (in the non-ecclesiastical sense). Lastly, Aquinas' command of the syllogism is unparalleled in human history. This is at once both its strength and its weakness. Strength in the sense of deductive logic, weakness in the sense of inductive logic. I'm convinced one can use the syllogism to argue just about anything, and if Aquinas is an example, he's an example of this mastery.
The critical question every reader must answer for himself is whether such an enterprise amounts to very much. Yes, Aquinas literally speaks volumes, but about what? Angels dancing on the head of a pin? I don't mean to detract from his keen arguments for the existence of God, his hermeutical theory (I, 1, 10), or his natural law theory. But at some point one has to ask is all this really relevant to our lives? Much of it still speaks to us today, but much of it is nothing more than armchair speculation.
If one starts with the wrong theory of nature (Aristotle's), weeds out the weakest of the Patristics, confines one's self to the syllogism, and sets out to explain everything under the sun (that's not the center of the solar system), then the modern reader is going to find Aquinas, despite his bravura, is often impotent. Even his (not Suarez's) natural law theory is highly tendentious by confusing "is" for "ought" (the naturalistic fallacy). And if one follows Aquinas' logic, then the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is wrong on all points.
So what's the value of Aquinas for today's reader? I can no longer answer that important question. I can point to Aquinas' encyclopedic mind, his illustrative use of the syllogism, and cite his potency for nearly six centuries. In the end, though, he no longer seems relevant, and in spite of his magisterial accomplishment, one needs to ask: To what end? So before buying the whole set, pick up an Aquinas "reader" to see if he still speaks to you. If he does, then splurge on this wonderful set.
Lastly, every master benefits from secondary sources, and an excellent companion to Aquinas' Summa in Paul Glenn's "Tour of the Summa." It simply distills Aquinas' nuggets. Another excellent companion is Brian Davies' "The Thought of Thomas Aquinas." This is one masterpiece of Western intellectual thought that demands a commentary and assistance. Both these books will be of immense help.5 stars (Review of Summa theologiae) - For a theology student, having my own copy of the Thomas' masterpiece, the Summa theologiae, proves invaluable. It is a work that underpins so much Christian dogma. This edition is well-presented, though the translation is a little dated and extra margins could have aided its readability.5 stars (Uni versus, god as the ultimate end of all creation) - The Summa Theologica is the masterwork of an indefatigable outstanding man who, having what is reputed to be the most prodigious mind of his time, pursued the mind of God (mens Dei) as his philosophical goal. He could have opted instead to follow (rather lamely it must be said) a militar career as his brothers did, or a bishopric in a rich country in northern Italy near the state of his rich father, supported by his family wealth and background, being akin to the most important men of his time (he was nephew to Frederick II, privy to Saint Louis, king of France, and many others potentates of his epoch). But he decided to be simply a humble Dominican friar , sloughing of all the perquisites of wealth, to be totally devoted to settling down the most intricate points in the Catholic doctrine, to be equaled only by Saint Augustine in doctrinal preeminence, his rulings being adopted as authoritative enough to be perused by popes and religious scholars inside and outside of the church for the next centuries. His access to the library of the University of Paris, where he studied for many years and where he got the nickname the Dumb Ox, that was to be his personal trademark for eternity, was instrumental to his reading of ALL that had to be read at the time, being his mastering of Greek a plus he had against Saint Augustine, who never got familiar enough with that language.
The importance Plato had for Saint Augustine, Aristotle had for Thomas Aquinas, who respectfully called him The Philosopher (sic). The Summa Theologica is an attempt by Aquinas to solve the most troublesome points in doctrine, a monumental task tried before by many who attempted to conciliate the Greek Church and Roman Church rulings (cannons), the then powerful philosophical Arabic influence, being the Arabic philosophers the first who rescued Aristotle from the ashes of Augustianism, the efforts of Albert Magnus - who was praeceptor of Aquinas - to evolve science from Alchemy etcetera. It is interesting to note here that the name science(from scio in Latin) , as happens with many others names used in the book , had a very different meaning then , as compared with the meaning it had since the beginning of the development of modern sciences.
Using primarily an Aristotelian toolbox and terminology, but always faithfull to the Holy Scripture - and thus entangled in a rather sly explanation of Creationism - being the Bible authoritative enough to him as the own word of God, Aquinas establishes a rather apt hierarchical order in the world between all being (ens) and creatures (criaturae), some of them only possesed of material substance, some immaterial (angelus), and some with intermediate properties, being both material and immaterial (humans). To him, the soulless (sine animae) material being was always oriented to the soulful material being and then to the immaterial as its superior, e.g., stone to plants, plants to irrational animals and the latter to the rational ones, that is, to human beings, who by means of his intelect could reach na understanding of God trough His output (effects), that is, the created world.
Being both material and immaterial, homo naturaliter orientatur ist ad superiorem in the hierarchical order (ordo) that is, the angels, who were the supreme creatures of God. But what is God? Sorry, but there is no answer to this question: according to Aquinas, we only know that He is (quid est) trough His works, but will never know what He is (qui est), being the final contemplation of God the Supreme Good (sumum bonum) and the final goal of man. His explanation of good (bonum) as created by God and evil (malum) as a deprivation of good instead of its antipodal opposite, thus making man responsible for his acts via liber arbitrium, and quenching Manicheism - who affirmed that God created the immaterial beings and the Devil the material one - is magistral and is worthy the effort of reading a so difficult and voluminous book.
His explanation of God as an ens composed of three coeternal persons in just one substance and living out of time (per se subexistente, a tempori non mensuratur) gives the reader sheer ecstasy in getting contact with one of the most prodigious philosophers of all times, no matter what the reader's creed. The sheer independence (but not indiference) of God as regarding human beings, because God loves himself preeminently (quia Dominus seipsum amat) is also notewhorthy.
To sum it up, what you have in your hand is the work of the most genial man of his time, who sent rippling waves of influence troughout the world as no other philosopher (or ox) did for many centuries to come.
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