Thomas Aquinas’s «Summa contra gentiles»: a Mirror of HumanNature
By (author) M. Kostelecky
The Summa contra gentiles is perhaps the most peculiar work of St. Thomas Aquinas, due to Thomas’s decision to structure the work first according to what humans can say about God without revelation and then what humans can say about God once revelation is explicitly introduced. Such an approach to the human pursuit of the divine is otherwise unheard of in Thomas’s own day, and this unusual structure has provided a fertile seedbed for a wide range of interpretations.
The Summa contra gentiles is perhaps the most peculiar work of St. Thomas Aquinas, due to Thomas’s decision to structure the work first according to what humans can say about God without revelation and then what humans can say about God once revelation is explicitly introduced. Such an approach to the human pursuit of the divine is otherwise unheard of in Thomas’s own day, and this unusual structure has provided a fertile seedbed for a wide range of interpretations. Matthew Kostelecky’s book shows the integral relationship between the conceptions of human nature and God operative throughout the Summa contra gentiles such that the text is always in a twofold movement, at once describing what humans can say about God while also reflecting human nature back on itself by delineating its limits and capabilities with respect to the possible human knowledge of God. As a result, the Summa contra gentiles is presented as a mirror of human nature as that nature is directed to its most noble object.
- By (author) M. Kostelecky
Other Titles in this Series
Divine Transcendence and Immanence in the Work of Thomas Aquinas
A Collection of Studies presented at the Third Conference of the Thomas Instituut te Utrecht, December 15-17, 2005
Volume 13
The Three Rings
Textual Studies in the Historical Trialogue of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Volume 11
The Enduring Significance of Thomas Aquinas
Essays in Honor of Henk Schoot and Rudi te Velde
Volume 21
Initiation and Mystagogy in Thomas Aquinas
Scriptural, Systematic, Sacramental and Moral, and Pastoral Perspectives
Volume 19
Thomas Aquinas on the Beatitudes
Reading Matthew, Disputing Grace and Virtue, Preaching Happiness
Volume 18
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