St. Thomas Aquinas on Politics and Ethics (Norton Critical Edition) (Paperback)

~ Aquinas Thomas (Author), Paul E. Sigmund (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

St. Thomas Aquinas on Politics and Ethics contains translations of carefully chosen and central selections from The Summa Against the Gentiles, On Kingship or The Governance of Rulers, and The Summa of Theology. The selections not only include St. Thomas Aquinas’s views on government, law, war, property, and sexual ethics, but also provide the theological, epistemological, and psychological background for his political and ethical thought, including the Five Proofs on the existence of God and Aquinas’s theories of knowledge, the soul, the purpose of man, and the order of the universe. Throughout the book, footnotes explain technical terms and historical, biblical, and classical references.

"Backgrounds and Sources" follows the text, with selections from the writings of Aristotle, St. Augustine, and Dionysius the Areopagite.

"Interpretations" traces Aquinas’s influence on medieval thought, on Roman Catholicism during the Renaissance, on early modern political thought (Richard Hooker and Francisco Suarez), on nineteenth-and twentieth-century papal social thought, and on contemporary Christian Democratic political parties in Europe and Latin America.

The volume concludes with "Contemporary Problems in Thomistic Ethics", which contains eight analyses of the influence of Aquinas's thought on modern debates on war, contraception, and abortion.

A Selected Bibliography is included. .

Language Notes

Text: English, Latin (translation)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st ed edition (November 17, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393952436
• ISBN-13: 978-0393952438
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #219,732 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #20 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Authors, A-Z > ( A ) > Aquinas, Thomas
  #51 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Renaissance

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly excellent anthology of Thomistic thought, August 3, 2000

By	Ernest Brown (Columbia, MO) - See all my reviews

This is a truly excellent selection of Thomistic writing, both by the Angelic Doctor and his critics and modern-day followers. It is not only comprehensive on the subject of Aquinas's politics and ethics but it is a good introduction to Thomism and natural law theory in general. Mortimer Adler's spanking of Bill Moyers on the subject of objective ethics is worth the price of the book just by itself.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Thinner Aquinas, November 8, 2001

By	Kendal B. Hunter (Provo, UT United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is "The Thinner Aquinas," a targeted text specifically focusing on Aquinas's political and ethical writings.

Incluced are obvious selections from Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica (Five Ways of God's Existence and Essay on Law), but also included are excerpts from "De Regimine Principum."

There are hidden treasures in the back, excerpts from backgound sources and essays that influenced and were influenced by Thomisitic thought.

This book is geared towards a poltical scientist and poltical philosopher. For the theologian or the philosopher, however, I would reccomed Penguin Classics "Selected Writings."

PS--Nice picture on the cover!