Carl Trueman had an interesting post on the Reformation 21 blog about Thomas Aquinas. While no expert, I can confirm that it is pleasant to read Aquinas.
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Not just Aquinas, either. Same applies to, for example, Karl Barth - if you know how to keep the meat and throw away the bones.
Philip, you might want to let the fine folks at the Aquinas Colleges in Grand Rapids or Tennessee know your rule - or how about F.C. Copleston? In his book titled Aquinas he writes, "Aquinas was a Christian before he became a metaphysician."
Philip, you might want to let the fine folks at the Aquinas Colleges in Grand Rapids or Tennessee know your rule - or how about F.C. Copleston? In his book titled Aquinas he writes, "Aquinas was a Christian before he became a metaphysician."
Yes, but if you speak Italian, it does sound really odd. (I don't speak Italian, but it still sounds strange to me). Its like calling Gabriel Gracia Marquez, "Marquez." It pegs you as a non-native speaker every time. (And I'm shallow enough to care about that).
Trueman: "Reading a great theologian is always productive, and often no more so than at those points of disagreement where our own thinking is made necessarily sharper and clearer." Amen.
Not just Aquinas, either. Same applies to, for example, Karl Barth - if you know how to keep the meat and throw away the bones.
I tried to read Thomas Aquinas: Being and Essence which had me going in circles. Then I tried to read An Aquinas Reader selections from his work did not fare much better. So I packed up Saint Thomas Aquinas and put him away. A nun tried to give me his Summa Theologica I think it was 6 volumes but it was all in Latin. I explained to her I could not understand Thomas in English no way in Latin.
I tried to read Thomas Aquinas: Being and Essence which had me going in circles. Then I tried to read An Aquinas Reader selections from his work did not fare much better. So I packed up Saint Thomas Aquinas and put him away. A nun tried to give me his Summa Theologica I think it was 6 volumes but it was all in Latin. I explained to her I could not understand Thomas in English no way in Latin.
Try reading sections of the Summa. He really is very straightforward because of his dialectic format of question-objection-answer and his extensive source citations. I actually find Thomas to be easier reading than Calvin!
Ruben, I've just had the whole name thing beaten into me by several people who had it beaten into them by Thomists. It's the same reason why art students refer to Leonardo da Vinci as "Leonardo" not "Da Vinci."
philosophy (theology?)
we had to learn the meanings of several words/concepts, i.e., "substance", "accidens," "matter"
I tried to read Thomas Aquinas: Being and Essence which had me going in circles. Then I tried to read An Aquinas Reader selections from his work did not fare much better. So I packed up Saint Thomas Aquinas and put him away. A nun tried to give me his Summa Theologica I think it was 6 volumes but it was all in Latin. I explained to her I could not understand Thomas in English no way in Latin.
The one book I did enjoy was Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox by G.K. Chesterton.