Summa Contra Gentiles: Book Three: Providence: Part I [Paperback]

St. Thomas Aquinas (Author), Vernon J. Bourke (Translator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 278 pages
• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press (January 31, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0268016860
• ISBN-13: 978-0268016869
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #177,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How a man should live his life, August 24, 2002

By 

Bowen Simmons (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Summa Contra Gentiles: Book Three: Providence: Part I (Paperback)

First things first. "Summa Contra Gentiles: Providence" has been published in two volumes: "Summa Contra Gentiles: Providence, Part 1", and "Summa Contra Gentiles: Providence, Part II", which must be purchased separately. The two volumes absolutely go together - the first volume has the introduction for both volumes, and the second volume has the index for both volumes.

With questions of how to get it out of the way, it remains to be said what "Providence" is about and why it is worth reading.

If you are familiar with Aristotle, the easiest way to describe "Providence" is that it covered much the same ground as Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics". This is true in the same sense that the first book of "Summa Contra Gentiles", "God" covered the same ground as Aristotle's "Physics" and that the second book, "Creation", covered the same ground as Aristotle's "De Anima". That is, it dealt with the same topics, but from a thoroughly Christian perspective.

Of course, if you are not familiar with Aristotle, the above description of "Providence" is not going to be that helpful. In fact, reading that it is about "ethics" can even be misleading. In ordinary modern usage, "ethics" is taken as some set of rules regarding how to treat other people, implicitly dealing with balancing your interests against the interests of others. In traditional philosophy, however, "ethics" is much broader in scope - it covers the entire subject of how a man should live his life. "Providence" concerned ethics in this much broader, traditional sense.

Within the overall framework of "Summa Contra Gentiles", "Providence" was the bridge between the first two volumes ("God" and "Creation"), which were almost entirely philosophical in character, and the last volume ("Salvation"), which was almost entirely theological.

Thomas began "Providence" with a general discussion of the nature of "end", "good", and "evil". His immediate problem was to explain how evil could exist within God's creation, but in spite of the book's title, "Providence" deals with this problem in only general philosophical terms - there is nothing resembling, for example, Augustine's long exposition in his "City of God Against the Pagans" of God's plan as enacted through specific historical events. Thomas's real purpose was not to attempt to explain or justify God's plan in His creation, but to frame the central topic of the book - the problem of the achievement of human happiness.

To this end, Thomas began by considering the things in which people often attempt to find happiness in this life (fame, power, wealth, the pleasures of the body, virtue), and analyzed the inadequacy of those ends, even to the extent that they could be achieved. In contrast, Thomas held up the contemplation of God as an end worthy of human striving, but also held that - through man's own power at least - that it could not be adequately attained. From this, Thomas concluded that it is only through God's grace - that is, as a gift of God - that it could be had and even then not in this life; but only be in a life to come.

Having dealt with the end towards which human beings should strive, and having said that man unaided could not reach it, Thomas in the middle section of "Providence" considered in more detail the respective parts played by God and man in man's life. This discussion largely revolved around the question of human freedom vs. various concepts of fate and predestination. The major concern was a proper delineation between the divine will and human freedom, one that neither assigned so much power to man as to claim for him the ability to do good without God's help, nor so little as to make God responsible for man's sin.

The final section of "Providence" dealt with the question of how this life should be lived. This section drew on the traditions of classical philosophy scarcely at all; it instead drew almost entirely from scripture and Christian theology. Temperance, Courage, Wisdom, and Justice (the pillars of classical ethics) scarcely put in an appearance, but The Law, God's Grace, and Sin were front and center, each receiving an extended discussion.

Because covered the same ground, but drew on it so little, it might be tempting to read Thomas's "Providence" as a rejection of Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics", but this would be an oversimplification. The ethics of Arisotle and classical philosophy were not being rejected per se (Thomas certainly wasn't recommending profilgacy, cowardice, foolishness, and injustice), but instead held as insufficient, both in the end to which they aimed and the means by which they sought to attain that end. Thomas's argument was that while classical ethics were good, Christian ethics were in every way better, indeed that not only better but perfect, in that they aimed at God as the perfect end, and through God had the perfect means for the achievement of that end.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent translation, November 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Summa Contra Gentiles: Book Three: Providence: Part I (Paperback)

Bourke has provided a helpful and elucidating translation of this all-important text of Aquinas. A must for those interested in the thought of this great philosopher.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Seller forgot to ship item for nearly 3 weeks, but item as described, December 24, 2008

By 

C. McBroom - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Summa Contra Gentiles: Book Three: Providence: Part I (Paperback)

Item arrived as described, however seller forgot to ship the item. I e-mailed the seller to inquire about the book when it was expected to arrive and had not (approx 3 weeks later) and was informed that they forgot to ship it. This almost put me in a bind as I was needing the book by a particular date for a gift. The seller did rectify the issue, however, by mailing the item via Priority mail the next day.