Summa Theologiae

Main ideas

• Questions argued through objections, replies, and careful distinctions.
• Aristotelian nature and Christian revelation held together.

Important themes

Reading context

A teaching text for beginners in theology, written in the 1260s and 1270s, setting out objections, a reply, and answers to each objection. The form is a record of live disputation.

How to approach it

Do not read it whole. Take single questions, such as the five ways or the treatment of law. Read the objections first and take them seriously: Aquinas often states them better than his opponents did.