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The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas (Five Volumes)

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St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica is the premier work of Catholic theology, studied at all major Catholic universities and seminaries, as well as by theologians and philosophers of religion of all denominations. Of St. Thomas' many works, this 5-volume masterpiece presents a systematic and organic treatment of several thousand important theological questions, ranging from God, the Trinity, and the nature of Christ, to the nature and psychology of the human person and the nature and mission of the Church. St. Thomas considers creation in its natural light, as well as under the operations of grace, including discussions of morality, redemption, the sacraments, and the operation of divine providence. The scope of topics is enormous, and these few hardly do justice to the contents.

The format of this work is arranged into individual articles for easy reading of St. Thomas' answers to individual questions, but there is a continuity to the way questions are raised and answered that makes the work a unified whole -- not simply a theological manual or encyclopedia, but also a profound read from cover to cover. A leading biographer of Thomas (O'Meara) has called the Summa "a cathedral of thought," which is perhaps the best description for such a short space here.

This translation has been prepared by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. This information is not evident in the on-line description, but it should be, since it is very important that the translation of the Latin is accurate and in conformity with modern usage. (I found out by searching the ISBN at the Library of Congress website). There are many translations of the Summa available, but not all are good. The English Dominican Father's translation is one of the best editions available, and widely recommended in scholarly circles.

While the Summa Theologica is available at libraries and on the internet, it is very convenient to own your own copy of such a large work. This edition is sturdily bound with decent margins for notes, with each of the 5 volumes of a portable size and weight. (The earlier two-volume editions are large and unwieldy.)

I heartily recommend this work and this particular edition of the Summa in English

The Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas is without doubt one of the greatest works in the history of the Christian faith. The logical order and progression is simply amazing and the scope of the work monumental.

This translation is generally very close to the sense of the Latin original, although in a few cases I have noticed some strange differences. For example, in Pt. 1 Q.1 A. 4. The Dominican Fathers translate the Latin (which reads "Magis tamen est speculativa quam practica") as ". . . speculative rather than practical" although the Latin reads ". . . speculative MORE than practical." This is a substantial change in the meaning which ends up creating confusion in the next article when Thomas says that theology is ". . . partly speculative and partly practical". There are other variations from the Latin throughout the rest of the work, some more and less important.

I urge those who are interested in a serious study of Saint Thomas to use this text as an aid to a deeper study with the Latin. If this is not possible for you, this translation will nevertheless give you a good introduction and tool for an introductory and intermediate understanding of Saint Thomas's thought.

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.

The people of his time and culture knew him as "Tommaso D'Aquino." We know him as Thomas Aquinas ... but we also know him as probably the greatest, most systematic thinker that Christianity has ever produced. This five-volume work is the classic Dominican translation of his SUMMA THEOLOGIAE and is probably the most widely used English translation of the work. (As an aside, you may enjoy the encyclical of Pope Leo XIII that sought to rebuild Roman Catholic philosophy and theology on the work of Aquinas; it is included in this edition.) If your love is classic catholic theology, you need a copy of this work in your library. All of Roman Catholic theology was firmly based upon it for centuries and it remains an important foundation for modern catholic theology. Whether you buy it new or get yourself a used copy, you will enjoy the clear thinking process that Aquinas used as he explored the issues and questions of faith. Laid out question by question as Aquinas originally intended, this classic version of his work will endure for as long as the church endures. Though Aquinas seems to have suffered a breakdown at the end of his life and though he pronounced all of his work "but straw," I doubt that you'll agree with that assessment when you venture into this masterpiece.

I purchased this Five-volume set after taking a couple of philosophy courses, which I feel like I should recommend to anyone starting to dive into this hefty text. If you don't feel like taking a class, perhaps some of the secondary texts written by philosophers about Aquinas will help in reading this fantastic set of info.
Aquinas forms his arguments in a way that is almost flawless. I am not Catholic, yet I find this to be an explanation of Catholic doctrine that makes me almost want to convert. For anyone from the atheist to the devout catholic, this text is a window into one of the greateast natural and revealed theologians to ever document his thoughts. Footnotes are aplenty to send you on your way to other documents, especially Augistine, so be prepared for an obsession.

Mike Yandell

How can one over-emphasize the role St. Thomas Aquinas 'Summa Theologica' has played in the modern mind, let alone the Christian one? Whether you are Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox, Thomas' masterwork is a must for anyone who is seriously interested in systematic or historical theology, the history of philosophy or philosophy generally, and anyone who would like to know what one of the most erudite minds in the history of Western Christendom has said on the nature of God, humankind, and everything in between.

That said, it is not for the casual reader. The precision and depth of Thomas' inquiries suppose a background in philosophy (at least Aristotle), but are not prohibitive for someone who is interested in mining the insights of St. Thomas on particular theological questions. Philosophical insight makes this inquiry easier, but the Summa can speak for itself nonetheless.

Greetings all,

I purchased this set because it is one of the best works in theology, philosophy and ethics that has ever been written. Unfortunately, the publishers don't see it that way.

These books have NO inside margins, so all the text close to the binding is obliterated. To add insult to injury- when I returned the books to Amazon- all in the original packaging and still in mint condition- they charged me a 50% return fee! I lost over $80 on the purchase of this set. Suffice it to say, I will never buy ANYTHING from Amazon.com again and I will never buy another book published by Christian Classics again.

Do yourself a great service and AVOID this set completely.

Sincerely,

Sean P. Colfer

Looking for an answer to the problem of evil? Aquinas answers it, and more questions than most people think to ask. If you've never read Aquinas, get Kreeft's concise edition. If you're looking for a permanent reference for your library, this is the one.

There is no doubt that this is one of the most important theological works in the history of western civilization, or that the Fathers of the English Dominican Province did a marvelous job in translating this work. So, I am not going to add to the praise of Thomas' brilliance, which has constituted nearly every review thus far. I would only be an echo.

Instead, I have one critique for this edition: the margins are too small. This is not to say that there is no room for taking notes (there is a little--precious little, but there is a little). Instead, this edition lets the print go too far into the center binding. There are some pages where I can barely discern the letters closest to the center. I understand that it is hard to make everything fit into 5volumes, but I think that slightly wider margins would have made reading this book much more enjoyable...The Summa is hard enough without small margins.

I am not sure that this critique is true for every copy, but it is true for mine.

One of the, if not the, greatest books on Theology ever written. Not only does it strike accord with Roman Catholics it transcends to all religions.