Summa Theologiae · Christian Writings

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Summa Theologiae

Summa Theologica · Summa

Thomas Aquinas · 1265–1273 (unfinished) · Latin

Cornerstone

Theology & doctrine

Catholic

Scholasticism

Thomism

Philosophy & apologetics

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What it is

Aquinas's unfinished summary of Christian theology for students, organised in three parts: God and creation; the human journey toward God through virtue, law, and grace; and Christ and the sacraments. Every article poses a question, lists objections, cites an authority to the contrary, gives Aquinas's answer, and then replies to each objection.

Why it matters

The most influential work of medieval theology. It joined Aristotle's philosophy to the Christian tradition and became the standard of Catholic theology for centuries.

Reading it

Recommended portion: Part I, qq. 1–13 (sacred doctrine and God), and Part I-II, qq. 1–5 (happiness) and 90–97 (law)

About 300 pages for that portion.

Influenced by9

Built on
Nicomachean Ethics · Aristotle · 4th century BC
Outside this canon
The Summa's treatment of happiness and the virtues is built on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, which it cites constantly, calling Aristotle simply 'the Philosopher'.
Summa Theologiae I-II, qq. 1–5 and 55–67
Built on
Homilies · John Chrysostom · c. 386–407
The Summa's questions on the life of Christ cite Chrysostom's homilies on Matthew again and again.
Summa Theologiae III, qq. 27–59 (e.g. q. 44)
Built on
On the Trinity · Augustine of Hippo · c. 400–420s
The Summa's treatise on the Trinity (Part I, qq. 27–43) relies throughout on Augustine's On the Trinity, including his account of the Holy Spirit as Love.
Summa Theologiae I, qq. 27–43
Built on
The City of God · Augustine of Hippo · 413–426
The Summa's question on peace adopts Augustine's definition from The City of God (XIX.13): peace is 'the tranquillity of order'.
Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 29, a. 1
Built on
Corpus Areopagiticum · Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite · c. 500
The Summa cites Dionysius hundreds of times, especially the Divine Names on how we can speak of God and the Celestial Hierarchy on the angels.
Summa Theologiae I, qq. 13, 50–64, 108
Built on
The Consolation of Philosophy · Boethius · 524
The Summa adopts the definition of eternity from Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy: the whole, simultaneous, and perfect possession of endless life.
Summa Theologiae I, q. 10, a. 1; Consolation V.6
Built on
An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith · John of Damascus · c. 743
The Summa cites John of Damascus ('Damascene') often in its questions on Christ, following his Exact Exposition on how Christ's two natures are united.
Summa Theologiae III, qq. 2–26
Responds to
Proslogion · Anselm of Canterbury · 1077–1078
The Summa rejects the Proslogion's argument: Aquinas denies that God's existence is self-evident from the idea of 'something than which nothing greater can be thought', though he doesn't name Anselm.
Summa Theologiae I, q. 2, a. 1, obj. 2 and ad 2
Built on
Sentences · Peter Lombard · 1148–1151
Aquinas, who had already commented on Lombard's Sentences, wrote the Summa as a better-ordered textbook for beginners than the Sentences, and it still argues with 'the Master' by name.
Summa Theologiae, Prologue; II-II, q. 23, a. 2 (on "the Master" of the Sentences)

Influenced9

Built on it
The Divine Comedy · Dante Alighieri · c. 1308–1321
In The Divine Comedy, Thomas Aquinas speaks among the wise in the heaven of the Sun, and the poem's theology largely follows his Summa.
Paradiso X–XIII
Built on it
Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity · Richard Hooker · Books I–V 1594–1597; VI–VIII posthumous
Book I of Hooker's Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity builds its account of eternal, natural, and human law on the treatise on law in Aquinas's Summa.
Laws I; Summa Theologiae I-II, qq. 90–97
Built on it
Aeterni Patris · Leo XIII · 4 August 1879
Aeterni Patris calls for Catholic philosophy to be restored according to the mind of Thomas Aquinas, 'the chief and master' of the scholastics.
Aeterni Patris 17–31
Built on it
Rerum Novarum · Leo XIII · 15 May 1891
Rerum Novarum cites Aquinas's Summa on the right to private property and the duty to share its use with those in need.
Rerum Novarum 22; Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 66, a. 2
Built on it
A Good Man Is Hard to Find · Flannery O'Connor · 1955
Flannery O'Connor read Aquinas nightly, and the stories of A Good Man Is Hard to Find dramatise a Thomist view of grace working through nature.
O'Connor, The Habit of Being (letters)
Built on it
Letter from Birmingham Jail · Martin Luther King Jr. · April 1963
King's Letter from Birmingham Jail quotes Aquinas's teaching from the Summa: an unjust law is a human law not rooted in eternal and natural law.
Letter from Birmingham Jail; Summa Theologiae I-II, qq. 93–96
Built on it
The Four Cardinal Virtues · Josef Pieper · essays 1934–1953; collected edition 1964–65
Pieper's Four Cardinal Virtues recovers the Summa's account of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
Summa Theologiae II-II
Built on it
Foundations of Christian Faith · Karl Rahner · 1976
Rahner's Foundations of Christian Faith grew from his early reinterpretation of Aquinas's theory of knowledge in the Summa.
Rahner, Spirit in the World (1939)
Built on it
Theology of the Body · John Paul II · 1979–1984
Theology of the Body's account of the person draws on Aquinas's analysis of human action in the Summa, read through modern phenomenology.
Thomas Petri, Aquinas and the Theology of the Body (2016)

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