Summa Theologica ~UPD~

The structure of the work reflects this cyclic arrangement. It begins with God and his existence in Question 2. The entire first part of the Summa deals with God and his creation, which reaches its zenith in man. The First Part, therefore, ends with the treatise on man. The second part of the Summa deals with man's purpose (the meaning of life), which is happiness. The ethics detailed in this part are a summary of the ethics (Aristotelian in nature) that man must follow to reach his intended destiny. Since no man on his own can truly live the perfect ethical life (and therefore reach God), it was necessary that a perfect man bridge the gap between God and man. Thus God became man. The third part of the Summa, therefore, deals with the life of Christ.

Summa Theologica

By repeating a good action, man acquires a moral habit or a quality that enables him to do the good gladly and easily. This is true only of the intellectual and moral virtues (which St. Thomas treats after the manner of Aristotle); the theological virtues are imparted by God to man as a "disposition", from which the acts here proceed; while they strengthen, they do not form it. The "disposition" of evil is the opposite alternative.

The principal work of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Summa Theologica is divided into three parts and is designed to instruct both beginners and experts in all matters of Christian Truth. It discusses topics central to Christian morality, ethics, law, and the life of Christ, providing philosophical and theological solutions to common arguments and questions surrounding the Christian faith. The views presented in this body of writing are currently upheld in large part by the modern doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Interesting references to and insights on ensoulment and embryology, as well as other topics discussed in Summa Theologica, indicate a strong Aristotelian and Augustinian influence.

The Summa Theologica focuses on religious matters pertinent to the organization and doctrine of the Catholic faith, discussions of virtues and the Sacraments, and the nature of the Christian triune God and His creation. St. Thomas Aquinas felt called to serve the Church through scholarship in writing and preaching, and worked on Summa Theologica until shortly before his death. It is said that after a period of ecstasy during mass on 6 December 1273, Aquinas declared he would write no more, as anything he wrote would pale in comparison to what had just been revealed to him. Upon his death on 7 March 1274, Aquinas left his chief theological handiwork incomplete. The third and final section of his writings was later completed by his close friend, Fra Rainaldo da Piperno.

Thomas Aquinas stands among the most important thinkers in the history of Christianity, and his famous Summa Theologica represents the pinnacle of medieval theology and perhaps the most influential theological work in the history of Western Christianity. In the volumes of his writings we find the forerunners of every intellectual development in the eight centuries that followed, and the depth of his understanding of the nature and being of God has left a lasting mark on the enterprise of Christian theological reflection ever since.

With the Logos edition of the Summa Theologica, references to the Church Fathers and other early and medieval texts are also linked, allowing you to click your way through the history of the church and across the theological spectrum. Your digital library also allows you to perform powerful searches and word studies, and Scripture passages are linked to your Hebrew and Greek texts, along with your English translations. That makes the Logos edition of the Summa Theologica a vital tool for research on Aquinas and the preeminent academic standard for both Latin scholarship and English-only studies!

Question 1. Of the Parts of Penance, in Particular, and First of Contrition 2. Of the Object of Contrition 3. Of the Degree of Contrition 4. Of the Time for Contrition 5. Of the Effect of Contrition 6. Of Confession, As Regards Its Necessity 7. Of the Nature of Confession 8. Of the Minister of Confession 9. Of the Quality of Confession 10. Of the Effect of Confession 11. Of the Seal of Confession 12. Of Satisfaction, As to Its Nature 13. Of the Possibility of Satisfaction 14. Of the Quality of Satisfaction 15. Of the Means of Making Satisfaction 16. Of Those Who Receive the Sacrament of Penance 17. Of the Power of the Keys 18. Of the Effect of the Keys 19. Of the Minister of the Keys 20. Of Those on Whom the Power of the Keys Can Be Exercised 21. Of the Definition, Congruity and Cause of Excommunication 22. Of Those Who Can Excommunicate or Be Excommunicated 23. Of Communication with Excommunicated Persons 24. Of Absolution from Excommunication 25. Of Indulgences 26. Of Those Who Can Grant Indulgences 27. Of Those Whom Indulgences Avail 28. Of the Solemn Rite of Penance 29. Of Extreme Unction, As Regards Its Essence and Institution 30. Of the Effect of This Sacrament 31. Of the Minister of This Sacrament 32. On Whom Should This Sacrament Be Conferred and on What Part of the Body? 33. Of the Repetition of This Sacrament 34. Of the Sacrament of Order As to Its Essence and Its Parts 35. Of the Effect of This Sacrament 36. Of the Qualities Required of Those Who Receive This Sacrament 37. Of the Distinction of Orders, of Their Acts, and the Imprinting of the Character 38. Of Those Who Confer This Sacrament 39. Of the Impediments to This Sacrament 40. Of the Things Annexed to the Sacrament of Order 41. Of the Sacrament of Matrimony As Directed to an Office of Nature 42. Of Matrimony As a Sacrament 43. Of Matrimony with Regard to the Betrothal 44. Of the Definition of Matrimony 45. Of the Marriage Consent Considered in Itself 46. Of the Consent to Which an Oath or Carnal Intercourse Is Added 47. Of Compulsory and Conditional Consent 48. Of the Object of the Consent 49. Of the Marriage Goods 50. Of the Impediments of Marriage, in General 51. Of the Impediment of Error 52. Of the Impediment of the Condition of Slavery 53. Of the Impediment of Vows and Orders 54. Of the Impediment of Consanguinity 55. Of the Impediment of Affinity 56. Of the Impediment of Spiritual Relationship 57. Of Legal Relationship, Which Is by Adoption 58. Of the Impediments of Impotence, Spell, Frenzy or Madness, Incest and Defective Age 59. Of Disparity of Worship As an Impediment to Marriage 60. Of Wife-Murder 61. Of the Impediment to Marriage, Arising from a Solemn Vow 62. Of the Impediment That Supervenes to Marriage after Its Consummation, Namely Fornication 63. Of Second Marriages 64. Of the Things Annexed to Marriage, and First of the Payment of the Marriage Debt 65. Of Plurality of Wives 66. Of Bigamy and of the Irregularity Contracted Thereby 67. Of the Bill of Divorce 68. Of Illegitimate Children 69. Of Matters Concerning the Resurrection, and First of the Place Where Souls Are after Death 70. Of the Quality of the Soul after Leaving the Body, and of the Punishment Inflicted on It by Material Fire 71. Of the Suffrages for the Dead 72. Of Prayers with Regard to the Saints in Heaven 73. Of the Signs That Will Precede the Judgment 74. Of the Fire of the Final Conflagration 75. Of the Resurrection 76. Of the Cause of the Resurrection 77. Of the Time and Manner of the Resurrection 78. Of the Term, "Wherefrom" of the Resurrection 79. Of the Conditions of Those Who Rise Again, and First of Their Identity 80. Of the Integrity of the Bodies in the Resurrection 81. Of the Quality of Those Who Rise Again 82. Of the Impassibility of the Bodies of the Blessed after Their Resurrection 83. Of the Subtlety of the Bodies of the Blessed 84. Of the Agility of the Bodies of the Blessed 85. Of the Clarity of the Beatified Bodies 86. Of the Conditions under Which the Bodies of the Damned Will Rise Again 87. Of the Knowledge Which, after Rising Again, Men Will Have at the Judgment Concerning Merits and Demerits 88. Of the General Judgment, As to the Time and Place at Which It Will Be 89. Of Those Who Will Judge and of Those Who Will Be Judged at the General Judgment 90. Of the Form of the Judge in Coming to the Judgment 91. Of the Quality of the World after the Judgment 92. Of the Vision of the Divine Essence in Reference to the Blessed 93. Of the Happiness of the Saints and of Their Mansions 94. Of the Relations of the Saints towards the Damned 95. Of the Gifts of the Blessed 96. Of the Aureoles 97. Of the Punishment of the Damned 98. Of the Will and Intellect of the Damned 99. Of God's Mercy and Justice towards the Damned

Two years before he died, St. Thomas Aquinas, probably the greatest teacher the Church has ever known, was asked by his assistant Brother Reginald to write a simple summary of the faith of the Catholic Church for those who lacked the time or the stamina to tackle his massive Summa Theologica. In response, the great saint quickly set down in language that non-scholars can understand his peerless insights into the major topics of theology: the Trinity, Divine Providence, the Incarnation of Christ, the Last Judgment, and much more.

Thomas' most significant work is his Summa theologiae or 'summary ofTheology,' a gigantic work which attempts to present all of Christian theologyas systematically as possible. Thomas worked on it from 1266 through 1273.Then, when he was nearly finished, he underwent an experience so intense that,as he himself explained, everything he had written seemed like straw. Hecompletely stopped writing and died three months later. Thomas was canonized in1323.

St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, was a Dominican reformer and theologian. Although his baptismal name was Anthony, he was known by the diminutive Antoninus because he was widely beloved. For his theological acumen, he took part in the Council of Florence (1439). Shortly before his death in 1459, he wrote a four-volume Summa Theologica focusing on morality. This work was quite popular. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries several abridged versions were also prepared for use as manuals for confessors and penitents. 041b061a72