Summa Theologica (Complete & Unabridged)

The Summa Theologica is all about God. "Quid sit deus?" That question absorbed the mind and heart of Thomas. The Summa is all about God, His Church, the Sacraments, the Commandments, Christian Morality. It is all so logical, so clearly stated. But it is deep- ever so deep. If you find yourself saying: this is clear and simple, be certain you have not found the pearl of great price!! The Teaching on Human Knowledge- the questions in the 80"s!!! marvellous, absorbing, liberating. If you don't find it so- sorry, you have yet to begin. Thomas takes you back to the Greeks. But please remember: Thomas is a Christian theologian. His mind, heart- absorbed in Eternity, God, Christ. Religion is both simple and abstruce. Thomas is a man the modern world needs- the modern world is yet to learn that Religion is a joy. Read Thomas- he will give you some clues. Not an easy question: Quid sit Deus?" Ignotus

Small font yet perfectly readable, has the whole text, fast international shipping

Before beginning this review, it's necessary to say outright that the Summa Theologica can't be looked at in the same way as a normal text. For one thing, reading it for entertainment is pretty much right out. The Summa is a dense and enormous theological text, complete with Aristotelian theological jargon. While not incoherent in the way that some philosophical texts can be (Hegel, for instance, has passages for which there are no universally agreed upon explanations), St. Thomas Aquinas' writing is certainly not light. With that said, the impact of Aquinas on the western world's philosophy and theology alone merit a five star review. Regardless of your religious or philosophical leanings, there is absolutely no denial of the fact that this book is important. To understand the Catholic (and majority Protestant) idea of God in exacting detail, for instance, or to gain a knowledge of fine theological points, there are few books of greater value than the Summa. That said, there may be better books for any particular individual, given the sheer scale and the highly technical nature of this book. The text was written to educate theology students in the 13th century, and as such, can read like a textbook (ie., it isn't a page turner). The Kindle edition has a brief biography of St. Thomas, and summary of his philosophy. Different articles are easily accessible via the "go to" function. The biography is somewhat interesting. The "go to" function is indispensable.

Many theologians and philosophers more learned than I have written introductions to Aquinas. I’ve only read the first two hundred and forty questions (out of 631) and am not an expert but hopefully I can provide some twenty first century perspective on the Summa. Aquinas’s project was to use the Christian doctrine and natural philosophy of his day, primarily Aristotle and his commentators, to create a science of theology. He achieved a monumental synthesis, a structure so well built that it stood as a pinnacle of learning for some two hundred and fifty years. His grasp of Aristotle and the Church Fathers was equally profound. His powers of common sense ratiocination and synthesis make the Summa into possibly the greatest intellectual achievement of the thirteenth century. Of course, much of it is wrong. Aquinas had an intuition that the world was knowable, that its finest details were accessible by common sense. Thus, he could reason about the condition of potential children of an unfallen Adam and Eve as as well as similar esoterica like the exact hierarchy of angels. We now know, however, that the world is not understandable by common sense. Quantum physics, molecular biology and many other scientific advances are true but not reachable by reflection on Christian doctrine and Aristotle. So reading Aquinas is more for understanding Catholic doctrine and the history of ideas than for new insights into reality. For example, one really cannot understand what Luther objected to in making a science of theology unless one reads this seminal text. And, one must bear in mind that the greatest insights of the twentieth century, like Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem or Quantum Electrodynamics, may themselves be in future centuries simply cultural artifacts. So, while it’s easy to sneer at the credulousness of Aquinas for believing in Adam and Eve, it’s more appropriate to marvel at the synthesis he achieved between the secular and religious knowledge of his day. In short, it’s truly one of the great intellectual achievements of humankind.

Tomas de Aquino era pesimo con los subtitulos y los indices.

This will defintely be a good book in your library. Recieved the copy as shown exactly in the advertisements.

This book is very old, so, for me, it is absurd to review it at this time because it has already stood the test of time. What more can I say? St. Thomas Aquinas is a great thinker, and definitely a pillar of the Church, which is why he is the Angelic Doctor. For this Kindle Version, it's very great, easy to use on my phone with the Kindle app, and it is definitely worth the price.

Mit seiner Summa gibt Thomas von Aquin das ges. Credo der Katholischen Kirche in einer umfassenden und bis ins kleinste Detail aufgefächerten Darstellung kath. Glaubens wieder. Es versteht sich von selbst, dass das Studium der Summa als Grundlage theologischer Ausbildung, auch anderer als katholisch, dient. Immer wieder greifen spätere Autoren auf die Summa zurück und bestimmen diese damit zum Canon des Glaubens und der Auslegung der zugrundeliegenden hl. Schriften. Mag das Erarbeiten dieser Schrift Schwierigkeiten bereiten, so gibt sie doch, nach eingehenderem Studium, den Blick frei für den grossen Kosmos christlichen Glaubens.

Completa ed economica