Summa Theologica (Latin)

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.

For those who wish to work directly with the original language, Logos offers the Latin text of the Summa Theologica. With the Logos Latin and English editions of the Summa Theologica, you can use the power of your digital library to read the original language and the translation side-by-side.

In this massive tome, Aquinas outlines the reasons and meaning of all of Christian theology. As a theologian, Aquinas articulates the goals, purpose, and enterprise of theology, and gives theology a prominent place in scholarship, calling theology “the queen of sciences.” As a scholastic, Aquinas sought to understand Christian theology in light of the rediscovery of Aristotle’s works in the twelfth century, and redefined the relationship between revelation and reason, science and theology, and faith and philosophy for the next eight centuries. As a philosopher, Aquinas developed principles of just war and natural law, and outlined an argument for God’s existence from contingency—the intellectual forerunner to the modern Argument from Design. As an aesthetic, Aquinas articulated a vision of God’s beauty, and his aesthetic influence can be felt in the writings of literary figures as diverse as Dante Alighieri, James Joyce, and Umberto Eco.