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Cover of Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas

Summa Theologica

  • 227 pages · about 4 hours
  • 277 editions
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1 About this book

The Summa Theologiae or Summa Theologica (transl. 'Summary of Theology'), often referred to simply as the Summa, is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main theological teachings of the Catholic Church. Presenting the reasoning for almost all points of Christian theology in the West, topics of the Summa follow the following cycle: God; Creation, Man; Man's purpose; Christ; the Sacraments; and back to God.

Although unfinished, it is "one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature". It remains Aquinas's "most perfect work, the fruit of his mature years, in which the thought of his whole life is condensed".

The Summa is a more structured and expanded version of Aquinas's earlier Summa contra Gentiles, though the two were written for different purposes.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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  • Anthropology
  • Christian ethics
  • Ethics
  • Happiness
  • History of doctrines
  • Philosophy
  • Political science
  • Politics

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3 About Thomas Aquinas

1225–1274

Thomas Aquinas ( ə-KWY-nəs; Italian: Tommaso d'Aquino, lit. 'Thomas of Aquino'; c. 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest, theologian, and philosopher. He is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Catholic theology and Western philosophy. He is the father of a school of thought (encompassing both theology and philosophy) known as Thomism.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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