a summary) of all known philosophy (and theology) at that time, the medieval author had to economize on words, sometimes to the point that the conclusion of an argument leaves you wanting more exposition because it is not clear or obvious at all. Because the overall plan is to provide a summa (i.e. There are some virtues in this Thomistic style of starting off with questions, followed by objections, an answer, and finally a reply to each of the objections, one of which is that you stay on point and another is that it is extremely orderly. The language can be very terse and abstruse, and the debate format can become tiresome after a while. It certainly doesn't read like anything we are used to in modern philosophy texts. After reading 'A Shorter Summa', and trying very hard at times not to fall asleep, I have to agree 100%. Should I rate Peter Kreeft or Thomas Aquinas? At the beginning of this book, Kreeft states that the Summa was meant to be a reference book, like a dictionary or encyclopedia. I don't know how to rate this book exactly.

Thomas' philosophy with copious aids to understanding them. It contains the most famous and influential passages of St. This little book is designed for beginners, either for classroom use or individually. The Summa Theologica is timeless, but particularly important today because of his synthesis of faith and reason, revelation and philosophy, and the Biblical and the classical Greco-Roman heritages. He is a master of metaphysics and technical terminology, yet so full of both theoretical and practical wisdom. His writings combine the two fundamental ideals of philosophical writing: clarity and profundity. Thomas Aquinas is universally recognized as one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived. In it, there is also much philosophy, which is selected, excerpted, arranged, introduced, and explained in footnotes here by Kreeft, a popular Thomist teacher and writer. The reason for the double shortening is pretty obvious: the original runs some 4000 pages! (The Summa of the Summa was just over 500.) The Summa is certainly the greatest, most ambitious, most rational book of theology ever written. A shortened version of Kreeft's much larger Summa of the Summa, which in turn was a shortened version of the Summa Theologica.

Aquinas's shorter summa