Summa Theologica

Author:

Thomas Aquinas

Edition:

Peter Kreeft, Ignatius Press; a edition (April 1, 1993)

Summary:

Overall the Summa Theologica contains 604 main questions, each with several subquestions, totaling over three thousand. Methodically Aquinas raises a question and develops objections to his position before he cites an authority who held the position he then develops in the body of the article. At the end he replies to the initial objections. The massive set of questions, objections, and replies allows us to glimpse the lively debates of the universities at that time. Thus we should see the Summa as a continually evolving organism, responding to questions that emerge, and not as a finished cathedral, chiseled in stone.

A key principle in the Summa is that faith presupposes a rational nature that it helps to perfect. Theology is an attempt to “make sense” out of faith– to see how what is revealed in Scripture relates to what we know through our experience, both in everyday lie and in science.

The organization of the Summa follows a two step process. First Aquinas draws on both Aristotelian and Platonist sources to explore philosophy independent of Christian revelation. He then extends and perfects philosophy by incorporating revelation.

– Robert E. Wood, Thomas Aquinas: Summa theologica. In Louise Cowan & Os Guinness (Eds.), Invitation to the Classics.