The Summa Theologica Created by St. Thomas Aquinas

Summa Theologica was the best known work created by St. Thomas Aquinas. It was never completed, and yet is considered a classic of the history of philosophy. He presents reasoning of Christian Theology in the West and Theological Teachings of the Catholic Church. Which was divided into three categories. Part one, whether existence of God is self evident. Part two, whether is can be demonstrated that God exists. Part three, whether God exists.

The Summa, Part 1, God rules in the world, and has predesigned that some will be guaranteed eternal life and some will fall short. However reprobation is instated, in which anyone is capable of sin; which is why we have “saving grace”. Nothing in this world is accidental or free. Since God has only the capacity of thinking and willing, this assist in establishing the relations of the beings on the trinity. It must be considered real since there are no accidents with God but substance. “The relation really existing in God is the same as the essence according to the thing. “Man is opposite to God; consisting of a soul and body.

As an intellectual soul, it carries passive and active. It is made of an immaterial substance, and can be found in not just one and is the same in all men. Because the mind is already installed wither certain abilities, St. Thomas believed that a form conscience “Synderesis”, is inborn in people. The Summa, Part 2, part 2 is divided into parts, the first made of 114 questions and the second part 189. Points made in part 2 include: unbelief is the worst sin. The greatest happiness of off, the ultimate good, consists in the beatific vision. Collecting interest on loans and selling a thing more or less than its worth is unlawful and forbidden.

Accentemplative life is greater than an active life. The Summa, Part 3, part 3 consists of 90 questions, concerns a wide variety of issues related to Christ, such as his nature, his life, the resurrection, the sacraments, and the penance. St. Thomas teaches that christ is to be regarded as redeemer after his human nature but in such way that the human nature produces divine effects as organ of divinity. The effect of the sacraments is to infuse justifying grace into men. The sacraments are the instruments through which this operation of christ’s humanity passes over to men.

Eschatology, is the part of theology concerned with what are believed to be the final events. Everlasting blessedness consists in the vision of God; this vision consists not in an abstraction or in a mental image supernaturally produced, but the divine substance itself is beheld, and in such manner that God himself becomes immediately the form of the beholding intellect. Summa Theologica in Short: This order is cyclical. It begins with God and his existence in Question 2. The entire first part of the Summa deals with God and his creation, which reaches its zenith in man. The First Part, therefore, ends with the treatise on man. The second part of the Summa deals with man’s purpose (the meaning of life), which is happiness.

The ethics detailed in this part are a summary of the ethics (Aristotelian in nature) that man must follow to reach his intended destiny. Since no man on his own can truly live the perfect ethical life (and therefore reach God), it was necessary that a perfect man bridge the gap between God and man. Thus God became man. The third part of the Summa, therefore, deals with the life of Christ. In order to follow the way prescribed by this perfect man, in order to live with God’s grace (which is necessary for man’s salvation), the Sacraments have been provided; the final part of the Summa considers the Sacraments.