Aquinas 101: Lesson Five

Saint Thomas Aquinas by Carlo Crivelli, downloaded from Wikipedia

Lesson 5: Why Is The Summa Important?

The video provides an excellent overview of the Summa Theologiae, and explains the well known "joke" that the Summa is for beginners. Hopefully we're prepared to step into this adventure, or that the Thomistic Institute will supply what we're missing. Let's proceed with the hope that it will get easier as we progress in the lessons.

The selected reading is from the Summa. The following is a good summary of the intentions of Aquinas, and how the Summa would be organized.

Because the chief aim of sacred doctrine is to teach the knowledge of God, not only as He is in Himself, but also as He is the beginning of things and their last end, and especially of rational creatures, as is clear from what has been already said, therefore, in our endeavor to expound this science, we shall treat: (1) Of God; (2) Of the rational creature's advance towards God; (3) Of Christ, Who as man, is our way to God.

The audio lecture is "A Brief introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas and the Summa" by Fr. John Harris, OP. Fr. Harris covered the same material as the video. He also included a few markers that a person might remember along the way when studying the Summa. For example, he explained that the common belief that we'll be turned into angels in heaven is false. What follows are a few short quotes from the lecture.

Sinful humanity is not humanity, it's less than humanity.
Graced humanity is greater than humanity... It's not human to sin.

There are a few nuggets of wisdom like this scattered throughout the lecture, emphasizing that God created the world good, our existence is good, and that God intends that human beings be good. One interesting point is when Fr. Harris offered the opinion that the Summa was providentially unfinished so that we might realize that however well we may learn the lessons St. Thomas taught us, God and his redemptive work remains a mystery, not that we're in the complete dark about it, but rather we'll never know it all in this lifetime. And the fact that the Summa was unfinished is a good reminder of that.