Summa Contra Gentiles: Aquinas Institute Book Review

Summa Contra Gentiles: Aquinas Institute Book Review

Matthew Bellisario O.P. 2020

"Let, then, teachers carefully chosen by you do their best to instill the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas into the minds of their hearers; and let them clearly point out its solidity and excellence above all other teaching. Let this doctrine be the light of all places of learning, which you may have already opened, or may hereafter open. Let it be used for the refutation of errors that are gaining ground." Pope Leo XIII, Aeternis Patris, 1879

In 1567 Pope Pius V declared Saint Thomas Aquinas to be a Doctor of the Church. Thomas is arguably the most influential and prolific theologian of the past millennium. In my opinion, we find ourselves in the sub-defective theological era of our time because we neglected the theological and philosophical wisdom of Saint Thomas Aquinas. For over 100 years the papal office spanning from Pope Pius IX to Pius XII warned us of the disastrous results of adopting modern schools of theological and philosophical thought in lieu of the Angelic Doctor's. The seminaries abandoned Saint Thomas and those in the Church largely abandoned God! 

Contrary to popular opinion these days of the many theologians who claim the Church has never endorsed a particular school of theology, the theology of Saint Thomas has been officially endorsed by the Church on more than one occasion. In fact, if you truly believe in the Church's defined dogma of Transubstantiation at Trent, then you must hold to the Thomistic theological/philosophical view on the matter. The Church also frequently makes use of the principles which Aquinas put forth and were later developed and advanced by Thomists to make proper determinations concerning moral theological questions. I will be publishing an article soon on the topic of Aquinas and his importance regarding the dogma of Transubstantiation. In the meantime I wanted to point you in the direction of a more digestible work of Thomas' than the popular Summa Theologica which is sometimes tough going for newcomers to Aquinas. His earlier more succinct theological work begun in 1259 known as the Summa Contra Gentiles is often sadly neglected. This work, however, is a great starting point for those just beginning to embrace the beauty, knowledge, and profound wisdom of the Angelic Doctor. 

Thanks to the Aquinas Institute's Opera Omnia project which has been republishing Aquinas now for many years, we now have a new edition of the Summa Contra Gentiles published in 2019. This edition as with all of their prior publications comes in a nicely bound gold embossed hardcover which has Latin one side of the page and the English translation next to it. A large part of this Summa has been handed down to us from Thomas' very own handwriting! It seems that he began writing it before he left Paris for Italy. Scholars such as Jean-Pierre Torrell believe it was finished sometime between the end of 1264 and the end of 1265 before he traveled to Rome. This work of Saint Thomas was long thought to be an apologetic work to help evangelize those outside the Church and it was therefore for a long time considered a missionary manual. Some theologians such as Thomas Hibbs and Dominic Chenu claim that this work was more extensive and aimed more at enlightening Christians themselves to the beauty of the faith. Setting aside this debate, this is one of the most accessible works of Aquinas for the average reader among his three major theological treatises and serves as a solid basis for presenting the Christian faith to those inside and outside the Church. 

The Summa Contra Gentiles follows a different format than his later more popular work. This is not a question and answer type of format that we see in the Summa Theologica, and Thomas considers this work to be more of a "personal reflection" written in essay format. Thomas combines the wisdom of the Church Fathers, Aristotelian philosophy with the light of Sacred Scripture to offer us an apologetic for the existence of God and the authenticity of Divine Revelation. Thomas eloquently illustrates the proper use and limitation of reason and aways seeks to plumb the depths of Divine Revelation with sound principles. Many topics are covered such as Faith and Reason, God's Attributes, Human Happiness, Divine Law, Divine Providence, and a valuable exploration of the Sacraments which he was not able to finish in his later Summa Theologica. 

The basic structure of this valuable two-volume set is as follows:

Volume 1: The first volume of the Summa Contra Gentiles contains the first two books. In the first book, St. Thomas uses a via negationis to strive to learn about God. In the second book, he shows that creation necessitates a creator and that diversity among creatures is a result of God’s providence. 

(392 Pages)

Volume 2: The second volume contains books three and four. In the third book of the Summa Contra Gentiles, St. Thomas explores God’s providence over the creation that He created. In the fourth and final book, St. Thomas examines the things that are accessible to human reason only because of divine revelation. In short, he considers the Trinity. 

(576 pages)

The source texts are listed as, Leonine 1918 edition, Marietti 1961 edition. 

This work is a pleasure to read and it has a unique type of beauty and personal reflection not found in many of his other works. The absence of Saint Thomas from the minds of Catholics must be overcome one Catholic at a time. This beautifully bound two-volume set which can be purchased for around a hundred dollars is an affordable way to step into the mind of Saint Thomas. It is also a nice way to familiarize yourself with Latin. Let's start illuminating the church by learning from the Angelic Doctor. This set will be one that will be handed on down through your family for years to come. No Catholic home or library should be without it!