Publication date:

30 November 2005

Length of book:

290 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

235x186mm
7x9"

ISBN-13: 9780742543423

Thomas Aquinas (1224/6-1274) was first and foremost a Christian theologian. Yet he was also one of the greatest philosophers of the Middle Ages. Drawing on classical authors, and incorporating ideas from Jewish and Arab sources, he came to offer a rounded and lasting account of the origin of the universe and of the things to be found within it, especially human beings.

Aquinas wrote many works, but his greatest achievement is undoubtedly the Summa Theologiae. This presents his most mature thinking and is the best introduction to his philosophical (and theological) ideas. Few secondary books on Aquinas focus solely on the Summa, but the present volume does just that. Including work by some of the best Aquinas scholars of the last half decade, it provides a solid introduction to one of the landmarks of western thinking.
Brian Davies has brought together a judicious selection of the finest essays of the last half century on Aquinas—one which illustrates both the range of Aquinas's work and the variety of approaches that can usefully be brought to it. Newcomers to Aquinas will find plenty here to stimulate their interest and deepen their understanding, whilst specialist scholars will be pleased to have so many central discussions conveniently collected in a single volume.