Then, Aquinas's Shorter Summa is a book I could read to 'fill out' my knowledge of Thomas's theological views, since Kreeft's book was more about Thomas's over-all philosophy. Kreeft's book is actually a selection of passages from the Summa Theologica with an introduction, a glossary (very helpful) and explanatory notes on the selected texts. Okay, it's a secondary source, I thought, but it might still serve as a good, brief introduction. Here was my thought: Chesterton's book was brief, readily available, and some people I had read recommended it highly as the best brief introduction to Thomas's life and thought. Chesterton (never out of print, but readily available for free on the Internet), and Aquinas's Shorter Summa. I purchased the following three books:Ī Summa of the Summa edited by Peter Kreeft, Thomas Aquinas, The Dumb Ox by G. I hit upon a reading plan that I would recommend to anyone who wants to do their own short course on Thomas Aquinas. So, I looked around for resources that would help me engage the primary sources. That's the very concern I had about secondary sources. Somewhere I encountered the view that Thomas is often easier to understand than his interpreters.

I wanted to know enough to be able to dip into the Summa Theologica and understand what I was reading. I was a little nervous about secondary sources (that is, books about Thomas and his theology) - I didn't want to end up with ones that were primarily an exposition of the author's bias, and I didn't know which ones those were. I searched around on the Amazon site for books on Thomas Aquinas. I happened upon a very good path - which I highly recommend to anyone else out there who wants a basic understanding of Thomas' thought. I wasn't looking to become an expert, I just wanted a basic understanding.

So, I started wondering if there was a way I could gain some degree of mastery of his thought. I knew that Thomas was a great and accomplished thinker, but I found him impenetrable. The few times I dipped into the Summa Theologica I found it incomprehensible. Many years ago (and for reasons I don't really fathom myself) I became dissatisfied with the fact that I had little or no comprehension of the theology of Thomas Aquinas.

A Shorter Summa by Peter Kreeft