Commentary

[in chronological order]

Thomas Aquinas: A Portrait

- Denys Turner. Thomas Aquinas: A Portrait. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.
Leaving so few traces of himself behind, Thomas Aquinas seems to defy the efforts of the biographer. Highly visible as a public teacher, preacher, and theologian, he nevertheless has remained nearly invisible as man and saint. What can be discovered about… More

Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics

- T. Hoffmann, J. Müller, and M. Perkams. Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Discusses Aquinas’s reception of Aristotle’s work, exploring how Aquinas adopts, corrects or transforms key themes from Aristotle’s ethics

The Natural Law Theory of Thomas Aquinas

- Thomas D. D’Andrea, "The Natural Law Theory of Thomas Aquinas," Natural Law, Natural Rights, and American Constitutionalism -- a project of the Witherspoon Institute.
Thomas D. D’Andrea considers Aquinas’ theory of natural law at the Witherspoon Institute’s Natural Law, Natural Rights, and American Constitutionalism site. Excerpt: Thomas Aquinas is generally regarded as the West’s pre-eminent theorist… More

The Creative Retrieval of Saint Thomas Aquinas: Essays in Thomistic Philosophy, New and Old

- W. Norris Clarke. The Creative Retrieval of Saint Thomas Aquinas: Essays in Thomistic Philosophy, New and Old. New York: Fordham University Press, 2009.
W. Norris Clarke has chosen the fifteen essays in this collection, five of which appear here for the first time, as the most significant of the more than seventy he has written over the course of a long career. Clarke is known for his development of a… More

Aquinas: A Beginner’s Guide

- Edward Feser. Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide. Oxford: Oneworld, 2009.
One of the most influential philosophers and theologians in history, St Thomas Aquinas was the father of modern philosophy of religion, and is infamous for his “proofs” for God’s existence. In this cogent introduction to the great… More

Thomas Aquinas: A Very Short Introduction

- Fergus Kerr. Thomas Aquinas: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Summary: Thomas Aquinas is one of the giants of medieval philosophy, a thinker who had – and who still has – a profound influence on Western thought. Aquinas was a controversial figure in his time who was often engaged in fierce theological… More

Aquinas on Friendship

- D. Schwartz. Aquinas on Friendship. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007.
Daniel Schwartz examines the views on friendship of the great medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas. For Aquinas friendship is the ideal type of relationship that rational beings should cultivate. Schwartz argues that Aquinas fundamentally revises some of the… More

“The Fullness of Being” by Michael Zuckert

- Michael Zuckert. "The Fullness of Being: Thomas Aquinas and the Modern Critique of Natural Law." The Review of Politics 69, no. 1 (2007): 28-47.
Abstract: Interest in natural law theory regularly revives but the question of whether Aquinas’ classic version is viable depends on whether his doctrine has the resources to respond to the classic early modern critiques that were made of it. It is… More

Aquinas, Aristotle and the Promise of the Common Good

- Mary M. Keys. Aquinas, Aristotle, and the Promise of the Common Good. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Aquinas, Aristotle, and the Promise of the Common Good claims that contemporary theory and practice have much to gain from engaging Aquinas’s normative concept of the common good and his way of reconciling religion, philosophy, and politics. Examining… More

A Short History of Thomism

- Romanus Cessario. A Short History of Thomism. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2005.

Aquinas

- Eleonore Stump. Aquinas. New York: Routledge, 2005.
Few philosophers or theologians exerted as much influence on the shape of medieval thought as Thomas Aquinas. He ranks amongst the most famous of the Western philosophers and was responsible for almost single-handedly bringing the philosophy of Aristotle into… More

Aquinas by Ralph McInerny

- Ralph McInerny. Aquinas. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004.
Summary: This lively and highly accessible introduction to the thought of Thomas Aquinas focuses on his philosophy while making clear its openness to theology as reflection on Revelation. Introduces students this great philosopher of the middle ages in one… More

Saint Thomas Aquinas

- Jean-Pierre Torrell. Saint Thomas Aquinas. Translated by Robert Royal. 2 vols. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1996-2003.

“Thomas Aquinas and the Politics of Moses”

- Douglas Kries. "Thomas Aquinas and the Politics of Moses." The Review of Politics 52, no. 1 (2003): 84-104.
In an oft-neglected section of the “Summa Theologiae”, Thomas Aquinas undertakes a detailed, point-by-point comparison of the political regime prescribed by the Mosaic law with the teachings of the then recently translated “Politics”… More

The Ethics of Aquinas

- S. J. Pope. The Ethics of Aquinas. Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press, 2002 [1955].
In this comprehensive anthology, twenty-seven outstanding scholars from North America and Europe address every major aspect of Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of morality and comment on his remarkable legacy. While there has been a revival of interest in… More

The Essential Aquinas: Writings on Philosophy, Religion, and Society

- A. S. Thomas and J. Y. B. Hood. The Essential Aquinas: Writings on Philosophy, Religion, and Society. Westport: Praeger, 2002.
Widely recognized as one of the dominant figures in Western intellectual tradition, Thomas Aquinas has influenced a variety of fields of thought for centuries. This new anthology of his writings, translated from the original Latin by Hood, contains selections… More

Liberty, Wisdom, and Grace: Thomism and Democratic Political Theory

- John Hittinger. Liberty, Wisdom, and Grace: Thomism and Democratic Political Theory. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2002.
Twentieth-century French philosophers Jacques Maritain and Yves R. Simon pioneered new approaches to understanding and defending political democracy in the wake of two world wars. Rather than break from a religious tradition that seemed to struggle against… More

Aquinas on Being

- Anthony Kenny. Aquinas on Being. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000.
Anthony Kenny offers a critical examination of a central metaphysical doctrine of Thomas Aquinas, the greatest of the medieval philosophers. Aquinas’s account of being is famous and influential: but Kenny argues that it in fact suffers from systematic… More

“Thomas Aquinas on Virtuous Warfare”

- D. Cole. "Thomas Aquinas on Virtuous Warfare." The Journal of Religious Ethics 27, no. 1 (1999): 57-80.
Thomas Aquinas, one of the “founding fathers” of just war theory, offers an account of virtuous warfare in practice. The author argues that Aquinas’s approach to warfare, with its emphasis on justice and charity, is helpful in providing a… More

“Marriage, Slavery, and Natural Rights in the Political Thought of Aquinas”

- P. J. Cornish. "Marriage, Slavery, and Natural Rights in the Political Thought of Aquinas." The Review of Politics 60, no. 3 (1998): 545-62.
Recent scholarship has demonstrated that the language of subjective natural rights can be found in a wide variety of medieval juristic and scholastic texts. This is part of a general trend in the study of political ideas that stresses the continuity between… More

Aquinas: Moral, Political, and Legal Theory by John Finnis

- John Finnis. Aquinas: Moral, Political, and Legal Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
This launch volume in the Founders of Modern Political and Social Thought series presents a critical examination of Aquinas’s thought, combining an accessible, historically-informed account of his work with an assessment of his central ideas and… More

The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas

- Norman Kretzmann and Eleonore Stump. The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Among the great philosophers of the Middle Ages Aquinas is unique in pursuing two apparently disparate projects. On the one hand he developed a philosophical understanding of Christian doctrine in a fully integrated system encompassing all natural and… More

A Summa of the Summa

- Peter Kreeft. A Summa of the Summa. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990.
Saint Thomas Aquinas is universally recognized as one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived. His writings combine the two fundamental ideals of philosophical writing: clarity and profundity. He is a master of metaphysics and technical terminology, yet… More

“St. Thomas Aquinas”

- Ernest Fortin. "St. Thomas Aquinas." In History of Political Philosophy, 248-75. Edited by Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.

Aquinas

- Anthony Kenny. Aquinas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.

Index Thomisticus

- Roberto Busa. Index Thomisticus. Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog, 1974-.

St. Thomas Aquinas

- Jacques Maritain. St. Thomas Aquinas. Translated by Joseph W. Evans and Peter O'Reilly. New York: Meridian Books, 1958.

St. Thomas Aquinas

- G. K. Chesterton. St. Thomas Aquinas. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1933.