Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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64 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not a Doubting Thomas!, November 13, 2001
You have to hand it to Kreeft for taking some of the greatest ratiocination ever, and translating it into commonspeak. Thomas Aquinas is one of the greatest minds ever to grace God's green earth, but too often--probably due to his religion--he has been marginalized. Generally, we just read his "Five Ways" that prove God's existence. However, this is much more to Thomism than this one philosophical derringer.For those unaware, Thomas Aquinas was the Catholic scholar who produces two L*A*R*G*E, multi-volume books on Catholic theology: "Summa Contra Gentiles" and "Summa Theologica," the latter being a summation of Catholic theology. This book is a summation of "Summa Theologica," and serves as a handbook and thumbnail for both Catholic Theology and Philosophy and Christian philosophy in general. Aquinas has a sharp mind and can both divide the word and divide a question in a way that few others can. I am not Catholic, but stand in deep admiration for Aquinas's work and mind, and more especially because he minded his work by working his mind. The Book: Kreeft has selected the essential texts and questions that illuminate aspects of Thomistic philosophy/theology. He has the text with explanatory notes in footnotes, which is unusual since we are not reading a summery or rephrasing of Aquinas, but actually reading his words and ideas, unfiltered and undistorted. His chapter divisions follow closely the divisions used in the whole "Summa Theologica," and focus primarily on the first part of part one, and the second part of part two of the "Summa Theologica," and doesn't deal with the latter books that deal with the church and the nature of sacraments. This summation, therefore, would not be offensive to any Christian. The notes are gems, especially with his illustrations--Kreeft has united his analytical left-brain with his creative right brain, so there is no double-mindedness with what he is doing. His pictures save a thousand words! The glossary is helpful for the Latin words and technical terms that have a specialized meaning in Thomism. The Printing: This book uses the "Fathers of English Dominican Province" translation, which bears the Nihil Obstant and Imprimatur, the Roman Catholic "Good housekeeping Seal of Approval" that lets us know the text has passed the censor. It is approved for Catholic consumption! As a non-Catholic, this because important because I do not want distorted doctrine misrepresenting their true beliefs. The type and font are perfect, and I have not seen any typos. The cover is very engaging, with triumphal Thomas with the angels--the Angelic Doctor.
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71 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Summation of Aquinas' Great Work, October 17, 2000
Kreeft does a wonderful job of picking the finer points of Aquinas' massive work - Summa Theologica. This is a condensed text for the beginning reader of St. Thomas' work. The book itself is organized in a way that includes the primary work of the Summa and Kreeft's comments. Thus, this makes for a wonderful read if you are trying to understand what Thomas was communicating in his work. The essential Thomas is present. In other words, Kreeft covers everything one would need to know to get a thorough grasp of Thomistic philosophy. Also, Kreeft does so in such a way that it makes Aquinas very easy to understand. The topics covered are Cosmology, the Nature of God, Aquinas' Epistemology, Proofs, Ethics, etc. This is a wonderful beginning text for anyone who is interested in studying one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived. Moreover, Peter Kreeft is well qualified to handle the Summa since he is a renown philosopher himself (Boston College Professor) and a Thomist of sorts. Keep in mind, that this book is not simply Kreeft's commentary on Aquinas, but it also includes the actual excerpts from Aquinas' Summa. That is one reason why this book stands out from other books about Aquinas. I would recommend this book to anyone.
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86 of 95 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Fine Abridgment That Should Be Used With Care, March 7, 2002
By A Customer
Summa of the Summa (hereafter SS) is a simply wonderful abridgment of Aquinas' Summa Theologica (hereafter ST). Professor Kreeft has done a superlative job of assembling those parts of ST that will be of most interest to readers new to Aquinas' thought. The text is drawn from the Dominican Benzinger Brothers translation of ST, still the most faithful to Aquinas original language and still the most widely available complete edition of ST in English. Kreeft includes a fine glossary of technical terms in ST likely to be unfamiliar to most readers, and a short, readable introductory essay that gives an interesting discussion of the structure of ST. Rather than include a lengthy introductory commentary on the classic text as do many editors, Kreeft includes his comments in footnotes, which appear frequently and are quite extensive. To give one example, to accompany Aquinas' famous "five ways" to prove the existence of God on pp. 57-70, Kreeft provides approximately eight pages worth of footnotes. The footnotes that discuss Aquinas only are nearly always illuminating, and will prove invaluable to readers as they study the primary text. I believe readers of SS will be able to progress more smoothly to the complete ST if they so choose than they could with any other abridgment of ST or other anthology of Aquinas' writings now in print. At the same time, SS is a fine, self-contained introduction to Aquinas' thought.The only disappointing aspect of SS is its discussion of philosophical positions that are at variance with Aquinas. Like many philosophers working in Roman Catholic institutions, Kreeft has a tendency to present false straw-man interpretations of philosophers whose conclusions he disagrees with, and then to "refute" these philosophers by kicking down the straw men. (For the record, I am Roman Catholic.) For instance, on a footnote on p. 522, Kreeft erroneously attributes to Hobbes the view that people are naturally vicious and to Hume the view that knowledge is nothing other than the passive reception and ordering of sense impressions. Kreeft strongly hints to the reader here that Aquinas' own positions are more cogent than those of Hume and Hobbes, but this is misleading since the footnote presents a "straw-man Hobbes" and a "straw man Hume". Kreeft's tendency to misinterpret and then unfairly dismiss certain important philosophical doctrines even leads him to occasionally misrepresent Aquinas. For instance, in a footnote on pp. 430-431 Kreeft claims that Aquinas' example on these pages refutes utilitarianism. In fact, the classical doctrine of utilitarianism as John Stuart Mill and Henry Sidgwick formulated it is designed to show that the very example Aquinas gives is a CONSEQUENCE of utilitarianism. In summation, readers can profit immensely from a careful study of the classic text and supplementary materials in SS, but they should take care not to trust anything said here about philosophers who disagree with Aquinas at face value.
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