“Endeavoring to avoid these and other like faults, we shall try, by God's help, to set forth whatever is included in this sacred doctrine as briefly and clearly as the matter itself may allow” [1]. With these words, Thomas Aquinas concluded his brief introduction to his Summa theologica (written between 1265 and 1274), which remains one of the most important documents in the history of Christianity. In the text, Aquinas applied Aristotelian philosophy to Catholic theology, outlining a philosophical framework supporting Catholic belief. Brandeis is fortunate to hold a beautiful example of the third part (Tertia pars) of the Summa. This part of Aquinas’s text treats the subjects of the incarnation and life of Christ, explicating the Catholic mystery of the union of the divine and the human, before turning to a philosophical defense of the sacraments. This mid-fifteenth century manuscript of the Summa contains one hundred fifty-seven leaves written in a single hand, and spent several centuries in the library of a Carthusian monastery in Bavaria. It was donated to Brandeis by Peter H. Brandt [2].
Aquinas (1225-1274) was a Dominican friar and theologian who created the Summa to aid beginning theology students. His text is highly structured, a masterwork of the scholastic method. It is divided into questions, each of which is discussed through a series of objections to that question, followed by an answer to the question and answers to each objection. As it dealt with the whole of Catholic theology, this approach provided a philosophical, logical basis for Catholic belief, and represented a monumental shift in Catholic theology. Aquinas, of course, did not exist in a vacuum. The general structure of his philosophy was Aristotelian; while much of the classical tradition had been largely lost in the West, it had been preserved in the Islamic world. Aristotelian thought in particular played an important role in the intellectual life of the Muslim world. There it had become a subject of study for numerous scholars, some of whom are cited in the Summa (most notably the Andalusian polymath Averroes, referred to as “the commentator” by Aquinas). Because of the novel intellectual exchanges taking place between the Christian and Muslim worlds occurring as a part of the Reconquista of Spain, Aquinas was able to take advantage of newly accessible Aristotelian literature and commentary.
Description by Sean Beebe, doctoral student in History and Archives & Special Collections assistant.
Notes:
[1] For English translations of the Summa, see http://www.logoslibrary.org/aquinas/summa/1001.html or http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7489
[2] For a detailed description of the manuscript and its history, see the Spotlight by Adam Rutledge, “The First Bookplate,”
[3] Pope Pius X, Doctoris Angelici, 29 June 1914. http://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/doctoris.htm
[4] Torrell, Jean-Pierre. Aquinas’ Summa: Background, Structure, and Reception. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2005, p. 132.
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