--- product_id: 1970808 title: "Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae: A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books, 20) Hardcover – May 25, 2014" brand: "bernard mcginn" price: "VT8413" currency: VUV in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/1970808-thomas-aquinass-summa-theologiae-a-biography-lives-of-great-religious store_origin: VU region: Vanuatu --- # Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae: A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books, 20) Hardcover – May 25, 2014 **Brand:** bernard mcginn **Price:** VT8413 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae: A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books, 20) Hardcover – May 25, 2014 by bernard mcginn - **How much does it cost?** VT8413 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/1970808-thomas-aquinass-summa-theologiae-a-biography-lives-of-great-religious) ## Best For - bernard mcginn enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted bernard mcginn brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Full description not available ## Images ![Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae: A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books, 20) Hardcover – May 25, 2014 - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41V+RIx7SUL.jpg) ![Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae: A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books, 20) Hardcover – May 25, 2014 - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41QaiiA6q7L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Four Stars *by E***O on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 30, 2014* OK fine book ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Worth Reading *by L***Z on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 1, 2019* Thorough ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Aquinas Summa Theologica *by G***G on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 2, 2018* Bernard McGinn is in my view at least, the best scholar on Christian spirituality around at the moment. His studies and translations of the works of Meister Eckhart, and his magisterial series 'History of Western Mysticism' remains unsurpassed in depth and scope, and probably will remain so for at least another generation or so. In this shorter work, McGinn aims to give an overview of the 'Summa Theologica,' the masterpiece of Thomas Aquinas that became the outstanding achievement of the intellect in medieval Christendom, and remains extremely influential even today (Aquinas is cited along with Augustine the most times of any non-Papal writer in the recent Catechism and the most recent CDF document makes abundant reference to Aquinas, as have all the Popes in the last century). An illuminating anecdote around Aquinas's canonisation is useful here - when asked what miracles Aquinas had performed through his intercession, the Pope apparently replied that everything Thomas wrote was a miracle. While perhaps hagiographical in origin, there is a solid element of truth to this story.Aquinas is a difficult thinker, though his expression in the ST and other works is clear and dry enough. I have read the entire ST and still often refer to it, and have also read some of Thomas's other works. Overall, as Richard McBrien rightly remarked in one article, Thomas is a genuinely 'Catholic' thinker. His theology has a strong balance between faith and reason, nature and grace, prayer and the sacraments, liturgy and theology, devotion and thought, as well as an intellectual rigor attained by very few in the whole history of the church. Quite rightly the Catholic church at least still requires seminarians to carefully study the angelic doctor and become familiar in his thought.McGinn does a good job of mapping out the ST, which despite its complexity, is also a spiritual journey as well as a didactic work. Thomas follows the Neo-Platonic structure of procession of all things from God as their source in creation and nature, (exitus) and their final return to their final goal through nature and grace. Thomas follows the four-fold structure of Peter Lombard's 'Sentences' with the Triune God coming first, followed by a consideration of the world as God's creation (Part 2), the Incarnation of the Word and the grace of the redeemer (Part 3) and the return of the redeemed creature to God via the church and sacraments (Part 4). Unfortunately, St Thomas died before he was able to complete the fourth part of the Summa and hence compilers attempted to 'complete' his work with extracts from his other works, such as the Commentary on Sentences. In this, Aquinas along with Bonaventure, Eriugena, Augustine, Origen, Pseudo-Dionysius, Meister Eckhart and the Cappadocian Fathers conceived of the world as a great 'river' of sorts emanating from the free will of a loving God, and returns to him in an overarching symphony of movement that reflects (but does not exhaust) the dynamic and fecund nature of God himself. Part of the challenge of the ST is not to just take a snippet here and there to settle some controversial issue, or use it to compile a 'manual' of some kind to purport to give answers to every question (the problem Rahner noted with Neo-Scholastic uses of St Thomas). Fortunately, the more modern readings more accurately place Aquinas and the ST in better context and also with better coherence with Christian fundamental theology about God, the Trinity, the Incarnation, Christ, Salvation, the Sacraments, the Liturgy, prayer, and so on. To try and not understand Thomas as a whole is to not understand him at all, a point I wish more contemporary apologists would take into account. The lack of intellectual rigor I see in many pointless and trivial debates in so-called 'discussion forums' often involves people misquoting or misusing Thomas's ideas to develop a one-dimensional fundamentalist travesty of his thought.This work by McGinn adds to the library of useful Thomistic studies and will hopefully help make the Angelic Doctor better known to the wider public. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vu/products/1970808-thomas-aquinass-summa-theologiae-a-biography-lives-of-great-religious](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/1970808-thomas-aquinass-summa-theologiae-a-biography-lives-of-great-religious) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu* *Store origin: VU* *Last updated: 2026-05-08*