Summa Contra Gentiles, Books I–IV: English Text

by Thomas Aquinas

Publishers:

Aquinas Institute; Emmaus Academic

, 2018

Overview

The Summa Contra Gentiles is the second of Thomas Aquinas’s three great theological syntheses, written after his Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard and before his Summa Theologiae. The Summa Contra Gentiles is commonly thought to be composed with a missionary intention, possibly for the use of Thomas’s brethren in their work of explaining the faith to non-Christians, especially Muslims in Spain. Book 1 treats of God in himself as reason can know him. Book 2 deals with God’s work of creation from the perspective of what can be known on the basis of human reason. Book 3 treats of God’s providence over all of creation from the perspective of what can be known on the basis of human reason. Book 4 treats of matters of faith surpassing human reason: the Trinity of Persons in God, the Incarnation of the Divine Word, the Work of Salvation, and the Last Things. This resource contains the English translation of the text.

Product Details

• Title: Summa Contra Gentiles, Books I–IV: English Text
• Author: Thomas Aquinas
• Series: Latin/English Edition of the Works of St. Thomas Aquinas: English Text
• Volume: 11–12
• Publishers: Aquinas Institute, Emmaus Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2018
• Logos Release Date: 2022
• Pages: 932
• Era: era:medieval
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Apologetics › Early works to 1800; Theology, doctrinal › Early works to 1800
• ISBNs: 9781623400583, 9781623400590, 1623400589, 1623400597
• Resource ID: LLS:SMMCNTRGNTENG
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:53:48Z

About Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas (1225–7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church. An immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, he is also known within the latter as the Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor Communis. He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology and he argued that reason is found in God. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy developed or opposed his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics, and political theory.

Unlike many currents in the Church of the time, Aquinas embraced the philosophy of Aristotle—whom he called “the Philosopher”—and attempted to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity.

His best-known works are the Disputed Questions on Truth (1256–1259), the Summa contra Gentiles (1259–1265), and the unfinished but massively influential Summa Theologica (1265–1274). His commentaries on Scripture and on Aristotle also form an important part of his body of work. Furthermore, Thomas is distinguished for his eucharistic hymns, which form a part of the Church’s liturgy. The Catholic Church honors Thomas Aquinas as a saint and regards him as the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood, and indeed the highest expression of both natural reason and speculative theology. In modern times, under papal directives, the study of his works was long used as a core of the required program of study for those seeking ordination as priests or deacons, as well as for those in religious formation and for other students of the sacred disciplines (philosophy, Catholic theology, church history, liturgy, and canon law).

Thomas Aquinas is considered one of the Catholic Church’s greatest theologians and philosophers. Pope Benedict XV declared: “This (Dominican) Order . . . acquired new luster when the Church declared the teaching of Thomas to be her own and that Doctor, honored with the special praises of the Pontiffs, the master and patron of Catholic schools.”

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