An Aquinas Reader: Selections from the Writings of Thomas Aquinas [Paperback]

Mary T. Clark (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0823212068 | ISBN-13: 978-0823212064 | Publication Date: April 1, 1988 | Edition: 2

This new edition of An Aquinas Reader contains in one closely knit volume representative selections that reflect every aspect of Aquinas's philosophy. Divided into three section - Reality, God, and Man - this anthology offers an unrivaled perspective of the full scope and rich variety of Aquinas's thought. It provides the general reader with an overall survey of one of the most outstanding thinks or all time and reveals the major influence he has had on many of the world's greatest thinkers. This revised third edition of Clark's perennial still has all of the exceptional qualities that made An Aquinas Reader a classic, but contains a new introduction, improved format, and an updated bibliography.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Latin (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Mary T. Clark is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Manhattanville College where she continues to teach. Among her authored books are Augustine, Philosopher of Freedom; Augustinian Personalism, and, most recently, Augustine: An Introduction. She is a former president of the Metaphysical Society of America, the Society of Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, and the American Catholic Philosophical Association, and a recipient of the latter association's Aquinas Medal for eminence in philosophy.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 780 pages
• Publisher: Fordham University Press; 2 edition (April 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823212068
• ISBN-13: 978-0823212064
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,955,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sliced and Diced Aquinas, January 1, 2000

By 

Timothy Gregg - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Aquinas Reader: Selections from the Writings of Thomas Aquinas (Paperback)

This is an unfortunate example of the sort of thing which academics produce and then force undergraduates to wade through. The author has found all the similar passages in Aquinas' many works and has collected them together in snippets varying from a paragraph to two to three pages in length. This results in great repetition, and the beauty of the sweeping logical development which is presumably present in the original, is lost.

A word of warning to anyone who would approach Aquinas: read your Aristotle first.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not well designed as an introduction to Acquinas., April 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: An Aquinas Reader: Selections from the Writings of Thomas Aquinas (Paperback)

This book suffered from three weaknesses, the first of which may be idiosyncratic. 1. A "reader," I presumed, would be an introduction to Acquinas, one I could read without attending a class. Not so. This book assumed a lot of familiarity with Acquinas's terminology and intellectual heritage. 2. The book is organized by topics, with brief excerpts from Thomas's works yanked out of context to fit the editor's topic selection. A sequential selection from Thomas's principal writings would have better preserved the integrity of the works and allowed the reader better to follow Thomas's reasoning. 3. Finally, the editor needed an editor. Her writing is cumbersome. She seems to have forgotten how to write a simple declarative sentence.

I find Moses Maimonides no more approachable than Thomas Acquinas, but Isadore Twersky's "A Maimonides Reader" is far more approachable than Mary Clark's Acquinas reader.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A more balanced view of this book, January 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: An Aquinas Reader: Selections from the Writings of Thomas Aquinas (Paperback)

I have just finished this book. I just took five minutes to tell the customers of Amazon that it is very interesting. It is well presented by Mary Clark with very interesting introductions to the five chapters. This presentation really makes St Thomas Aquinas very readable today. What the Saint focuses on is so important and so relevant to our understanding of our modern world and yet he wrote in the 13th century. When I read the book I tried to always think about how it applies to my life today. Don't be put off by reviews that sound a little bit over the top and too harsh.