Jean Pierre Torrell Aquinas's Summa Background, Structure, And Reception.

2018·0.62 MB·English

by  Jean Pierre Torrel

Aeterni Patris and its Consequences 
’
Summa
Background,Structure,
& Reception
Y
Jean-Pierre Torrell,O.P.
’
AQUINAS S
Summa
Background, Structure, & Reception
Y
Translated by
Benedict M.Guevin,O.S.B.
The Catholic University of America Press
Washington,D.C.
Copyright © 
The Catholic University of America Press
All rights reserved
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standards for Information Science—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library materials,ansi z.–.
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Torrell,Jean-Pierre.
[Somme de theologie de saint Thomas d’Aquin.English]
Aquinas’s Summa :background,structure,and reception / Jean-Pierre
Torrell ;translated by Benedict M.Guevin.— st ed.
p.mcm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 13:----(pbk.:alk.paper)
isbn 10:---(pbk.:alk.paper)
.Thomas,Aquinas,Saint,?–.Summa theologica.m
.Theology,Doctrinal.m.Catholic Church—Doctrines.mI.Title.
bx.tt
.—dc

Contents
Y
Foreword / ix
I.The Author and His Work / 
Early Formative Years 
First Teaching Experience at Paris (–) 
Returnto Italy:Orvieto (–) 
Stay in Rome (–) 
Return to Paris (–) 
Naples:The Last Months and Death (–) 
II.The Summa: Structures and Content I / 
The First Part / 
“Sacra Doctrina” 
God 
God in His Work 
The Second Part / 
ACircular Plan 
The Second Volume 
Human Acts 
Lawand Grace 
III.The Summa: Structures and Content II / 
The Virtues and the Vices 
AMorality ofVirtues 
vi Contents
Major Themes of This Second Stage / 
The Theological Virtues 
The Queen of the Cardinal Virtues 
The Connection of the Virtues 
Particular Situations 
The Third Part / 
AReview of the Structure of the Summa 
Christ / 
Reasons of Appropriateness 
The Humanity of Christ 
The “Mysteries”of Christ’s Life 
The Sacraments / 
ASanctifying Reality 
Body and Spirit 
The Uncompleted End / 
IV.The Literary and Doctrinal Milieu / 
LiteraryPanorama / 
“Lectura” 
Questions and Quodlibets 
Sentences 
Summas 
The Christian Sources / 
The Bible 
The Fathers 
Greeks,Jews,and Arabs/ 
Aristotle 
Medieval Neoplatonism 
The Stoics 
Avicenna 
Averroës 
Maimonides 
Contents vii
V.The Summa through History / 
First Period (–)/
First Polemics 
The Beginnings of Thomism 
Second Period (–)/
The Advent of the Summa 
Cajetan 
Vitoria and the School of Salamanca 
John of St.Thomas 
The Jesuits and the Carmelites 
VI.The Summa in the Twentieth Century / 
Aeterni Patrisand Its Consequences / 
First Fruits 
Renewal 
Translations 
Vatican II and Its Immediate Aftermath 
Thomism and Medievalism 
The Current State of Affairs / 
Publications 
Three Institutions 
Conclusion / 
Annotated Bibliography / 
Index / 
Aeterni Patris and its Consequences 
Foreword
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T
     is such that it can over-
shadow their authors and the rest of their writings as
well.The Summa theologiae is probably the most striking
example of this. It is well known that Saint Thomas Aquinas
wrote the Summa theologiaeand that he lived in the Middle Ages.
But fewreaders know what kind of man he was,the kind of life
he led,or his other writings.The renown of the title of his major
work is such that we may be surprised to learn that he wrote a
second Summa, the Summa contra Gentiles, and that several other
authors,Thomas’s nearest contemporaries,also wrote their own
“Summas.”
In order to understand the Summa theologiae better, one
should certainly become familiar with its content. But it is of
equal importance to situate it in its historical,literary,and doc-
trinal settings.Only in doing this can we come to appreciate its
originality.Thomas Aquinas was not like Melchisedek of the
Bible—without ancestry. He had a history that was both per-
sonal and intellectual.He drew from a number of other authors:
writersinspired bythe Bible or by the ancient world;pagans and
Christians;Greek,Jewish,and Arab philosophers;theologians of
the Latin tradition that either preceded him or were contempo-
raneous with him;as well as eminent theologians of the Greek
and Eastern churches.Aquinas’s strong personality brought unity
to all of these sources,as a great river unites its numerous tribu-
ix
x Foreword
taries. Traces of these currents remain throughout his work,
however,and it is important to know what they are.
The enduring quality of an author’s thought is measured in
part by its permanence over time and by its capacity not,as is
sometimes said,to answer questions it never even asked,but to
inspire solutions to problems for future generations because of
the breadth of the great intuitions that govern it.Therein lies,no
doubt,the major reason for the Summa’s lastingness and its en-
during fruitfulness.The Summa is,of course,a work of its time,
that is, of the Scholastic period, with its own tools and tech-
niques.It is important to know how to handle and make use of
them,which is not so easy at first.But once we gain a certain
mastery,we come to discover the validity of the method and the
richness of the content.
Sylvester of Ferrara, an enthusiastic disciple of Aquinas’s,
wrote of him that he was a man “for all hours.”Only the future
will be able to tell us whether the Summa,nowmore than seven
hundred years old,is a book “for all ages.”With,it must be ad-
mitted, varying degrees of success, Aquinas’s disciples have
strived to penetrate his thought and to bring it into dialogue
with the problems of their own time.We can even marvel that
his thought has been able to withstand generations of imitators.
There are signs in our own day and age that show that Thomas’s
thought is still alive.
Aeterni Patris and its Consequences 
’
Summa
Background,Structure,
& Reception
Y