More than nine hundred years after it was first written, this unfinished work of a scholar saint still has the power to move our minds and hearts and set us thinking on the really important questions of life.
Summa Theologica or simply the Summa as it is known, was written some time between 1265-74. It is a work that has had a profound and enduring influence on Western thought and literature. Designed to provide answers to Catholic theologians about the teachings of the Church, Thomas Aquinas' book instead goes far beyond its stated purpose.
The most famous tenet that the book contains is the Five Ways or Five Arguments for the Existence of God. This in spite of the fact that this tenet is contained in a mere five pages out of the total three thousand five hundred plus pages of the Summa! Such is the power of some of the ideas contained herein.
Thomas Aquinas was a deeply learned Dominican monk, philosopher, teacher and scholar. His path-breaking ideas encompassed sources as diverse as those contained in Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, Augustine of Hippo, Apostle Paul and many others, along with Christian, Muslim, Eastern and Oriental texts. There are many references in the Summa to the great teachers who influenced Thomas Aquinas.
Prima Pars (First Part) Questions 1-26 is intended mainly for lay clergy or beginners. Here, many basic premises of Christianity, the Creation and the Existence of God are discussed. The knowledge of God, How God is Known to Us, ideas of Truth and Falsity, The Book of Life, the Power and Beatitude of God, the nature of Man, and many more are some of the metaphysical questions discussed. The Summa deeply influenced contemporary artists and writers like Dante.
This book would be ideal as a daily meditation text.
A magnificent work of spirituality that seeks answers to some of our most complex yet basic questions.
