Thomas Aquinas in Translation (8 vols.)

Thomas Aquinas possessed excellent knowledge of the commentaries of Origen, John Chrysostom, and Augustine. On the basis of this foundation, he produced his own commentary on the Gospel of John as part of his task as a Master of the Sacred Page. Considered a landmark theological introduction to the Fourth Gospel, these lectures were delivered to Dominican friars when Aquinas was at the height of his theological powers, when he was also composing the Summa Theologiae. For numerous reasons, the Summa has received far more attention over the centuries than has his Commentary on the Gospel of John. However, scholars today recognize Aquinas’ biblical commentaries as central sources for understanding his theological vision and for appreciating the scope of his Summa Theologiae.

The first English translation of Aquinas’ Commentary on the Gospel of John by Fabian Larcher and James Weisheipl, now long out of print, is available to scholars and students once again with this edition. Published in three volumes simultaneously, it includes a new introduction and notes pointing readers to the links between Aquinas’ biblical commentary and his Summa Theologiae. When a verse from the Gospel of John is directly quoted in the Summa Theologiae, the editors note this in the commentary. Aquinas’ patristic sources, including Origen and Augustine, are carefully identified and referenced to the Patrologia Latina and Patrologia Graeca. The commentary’s connections with Aquinas’ Catena Aurea are also identified. This volume contains Aquinas’ commentary on the first five chapters of John’s Gospel.

Thomas Aquinas possessed excellent knowledge of the commentaries of Origen, John Chrysostom, and Augustine. On the basis of this foundation, he produced his own commentary on the Gospel of John as part of his task as a Master of the Sacred Page. Considered a landmark theological introduction to the Fourth Gospel, these lectures were delivered to Dominican friars when Aquinas was at the height of his theological powers, when he was also composing the Summa Theologiae. For numerous reasons, the Summa has received far more attention over the centuries than has his Commentary on the Gospel of John. However, scholars today recognize Aquinas’ biblical commentaries as central sources for understanding his theological vision and for appreciating the scope of his Summa Theologiae.

The first English translation of Aquinas’ Commentary on the Gospel of John by Fabian Larcher and James Weisheipl, now long out of print, is available to scholars and students once again with this edition. Published in three volumes simultaneously, it includes a new introduction and notes pointing readers to the links between Aquinas’ biblical commentary and his Summa Theologiae. When a verse from the Gospel of John is directly quoted in the Summa Theologiae, the editors note this in the commentary. Aquinas’ patristic sources, including Origen and Augustine, are carefully identified and referenced to the Patriologia Latina and Patrologia Graeca. The commentary’s connections with Aquinas’ Catena Aurea are also identified. This volume contains Aquinas’ commentary on chapters 6–12 of John’s Gospel.

Thomas Aquinas possessed excellent knowledge of the commentaries of Origen, John Chrysostom, and Augustine. On the basis of this foundation, he produced his own commentary on the Gospel of John as part of his task as a Master of the Sacred Page. Considered a landmark theological introduction to the Fourth Gospel, these lectures were delivered to Dominican friars when Aquinas was at the height of his theological powers, when he was also composing the Summa Theologiae. For numerous reasons, the Summa has received far more attention over the centuries than has his Commentary on the Gospel of John. However, scholars today recognize Aquinas’ biblical commentaries as central sources for understanding his theological vision and for appreciating the scope of his Summa Theologiae.

The first English translation of Aquinas’ Commentary on the Gospel of John by Fabian Larcher and James Weisheipl, now long out of print, is available to scholars and students once again with this edition. Published in three volumes simultaneously, it includes a new introduction and notes pointing readers to the links between Aquinas’ biblical commentary and his Summa Theologiae. When a verse from the Gospel of John is directly quoted in the Summa Theologiae, the editors note this in the commentary. Aquinas’ patristic sources, including Origen and Augustine, are carefully identified and referenced to the Patriologia Latina and Patrologia Graeca. The commentary’s connections with Aquinas’ Catena Aurea are also identified. This volume contains Aquinas’ commentary on chapters 13–21 of John’s Gospel.

In his sixth-century work commonly known as the De Hebdomadibus, Boethius (ca. 480–524) poses the question of how created things or substances can be good just as they are—that is, good just by existing—without being the same as the source of all goodness, God, who is understood to be Goodness Itself. In his commentary written in the thirteenth century, St. Thomas Aquinas sets out to explain the problem Boethius is treating as well as to explicate Boethius’ solution. In doing so, however, the Angelic Doctor suggests a more developed analysis of goodness, based on his own metaphysical perspective.

The introduction to this translation provides critical historical background, including an account of the influence of Cicero and Augustine, for understanding Boethius’ view of being, or esse. Based on historical and textual analysis, the authors reaffirm the “traditional” interpretation, which holds that, for Boethius, esse indicates form rather than a distinct act of being. In articulating the difference between Boethius’ and Aquinas’ positions on esse and goodness, and hence the relation of esse and goodness, Schultz and Synan show not only that Aquinas was respectful of Boethius’ stance, but that his own position could be seen as a development in harmony with his predecessor’s thought.

This edition presents the English translation with the 1992 Leonine critical edition of Aquinas’ Latin text for easy comparison. The work will be valuable to those interested in the fundamental philosophical and theological questions facing mediaeval thinkers and Aquinas’ metaphysical thought in particular.

In traditional catalogues of Aristotle’s works, On Sense and What Is Sensed and On Memory and Recollection are the immediate sequels to his On the Soul, and the first two books of his so-called Parva Naturalia, or “little works in natural philosophy.” In keeping with this order, Thomas Aquinas began his series of Aristotelian commentaries with a commentary on On the Soul, which he followed with commentaries on On Sense and What Is Sensed and On Memory and Recollection, written in 1268–1270. Until now, these latter two commentaries have never been published in English translation. The translations presented in this volume are based on the critical Leonine edition of the commentaries, which includes the Latin translations of the Aristotelian texts on which Aquinas commented. The volume includes English translations of these Latin translations, allowing the reader to compare Aristotelian text and Thomistic commentary in detail. The translations of both commentaries are furnished with introductions and notes by the translators.

The Book of Causes, highly influential in the medieval university, was commonly, but incorrectly, understood to be the completion of Aristotle’s metaphysics. It was Thomas Aquinas who first judged it to have been abstracted from Proclus’ Elements of Theology, presumably by an unknown Arabic author, who added to it ideas of his own.

The Book of Causes is of particular interest because themes that appear in it are echoed in the metaphysics of Aquinas: its treatment of being (esse) as proceeding from the First Creating Cause; the triadic scheme of being, living, and knowing; and the general scheme of participation in which “all is in all.” Thus, the Book of Causes provides a historical backdrop for understanding and appreciating Aquinas’ development of these themes in his metaphysics.

Thomas’ Commentary on the Book of Causes, composed during the first half of 1272, is a distinct philosophical work in its own right. It provides an extended view of his approach to Neoplatonic thought and functions as a guide to his metaphysics. Though long neglected and, until now, never translated into English, it deserves an equal place alongside his commentaries on Aristotle and Boethius.

In addition to the extensive annotation, bibliography, and thorough introduction, this translation is accompanied by two valuable appendixes. The first provides a translation of another version of proposition 29 of the Book of Causes, which was not known to St. Thomas. The second lists citations of the Book of Causes found in the works of St. Thomas and cross-references these to a list showing the works, and the exact location within them, where the citations can be found.

Among the great works of Thomas Aquinas, the Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard has suffered almost total neglect among translators. Such neglect is surprising, considering that the massive commentary—more than 4,000 pages in the last printed edition—is not only Aquinas’ first systematic engagement with all the philosophical and theological topics on which he expended his energy over the span of a short career, but is also characterized by an exuberance and elaborateness seldom found in his subsequent writings. Although Chenu had already drawn attention decades ago to the importance of studying this youthful tour de force for a fuller understanding of Thomas’ more mature work, the Commentary on the Sentences has remained a closed book for many modern students of Thomistic and medieval thought because of its relative inaccessibility in English or in Latin.

The present volume, containing all the major texts on love and charity, makes available what is by far the most extensive translation ever to be made from the commentary with the added benefit that the better part of the translation is based on the (as yet unpublished) critical edition of the Leonine Commission. The collection of texts from all four books has a tight thematic coherence that makes it invaluable to students of Thomas’ moral philosophy, moral theology, and philosophical theology. In addition, the inclusion of parallel texts from Aquinas’ first (Parisian) commentary as well as from his second (Roman) attempt at a commentary, the recently rediscovered Lectura Romana, makes this edition all the more valuable for those who wish to track the internal development of Thomas’ thinking on these matters.

Thomas Aquinas wrote his Disputed Questions on the Power of God (Quaestiones Disputatae de Potentia Dei) in Rome in 1265–1266. Begun, though probably not completed, before he wrote the first part of his famous work, the Summa Theologiae, the de Potentia Dei considered 10 questions that evoked lively debate in Thomas’ day and continue to do so in our own.

This volume includes a new English translation of Question 3, in which Thomas takes up questions and ideas about divine and human freedom, whether or not the world is created, the problem of evil, the efficacy of creatures, and the status of the developing human embryo. It offers a comprehensive treatment of creation and the metaphysics and anthropology Thomas employs in considering the general creation of the universe and the particular creation of each human being.

Susan C. Selner-Wright’s translation of the critical Leonine edition is intended to make Thomas’ contribution to the current discussion more accessible. It constitutes a focused but extended example of Thomas at the height of his intellectual powers. We find him here in conversation with 50 different source works, engaged with the ideas of pagan, Christian, Islamic, and Jewish thought, and demonstrating his understanding of philosophy and theology as distinct but complementary disciplines. Throughout the text, Selner-Wright directs the reader to Thomas’ own sources, related texts elsewhere in Thomas’ corpus, and secondary sources. Philosophical notes give background for particular claims or arguments and trace important philosophical principles at work throughout the text.