8 must-read philosophy books like Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas

Cover of Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas

Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica

By: Thomas Aquinas

4.14

Format: 432 pages, Paperback

Two years before he died, St. Thomas Aquinas probably the greatest teacher the Church has ever know…

"The objection we are dealing with argues from the standpoint of an agent that presupposes time and acts in time, but did not institute time. Hence the question about 'why God's eternal will produces an effect now and and not earlier' presupposes that time exists; for 'now' and 'earlier' are segments of time. With regard to the universal production of things, among which time is also to be counted, we should not ask, 'Why now and not earlier?' Rather we should ask: 'Why did God wish this much time to intervene?' And this depends on the divine will, which is perfectly free to assign this or any other quantity to time. The same may be noted with respect to the dimensional quantity of the world. No one asks why God located the material world in such and such a place rather than higher up or lower down or in some other position; for there is no place outside the world. The fact that God portioned out so much quantity to the world that no part of it would be beyond the place occupied in some other locality, depends on the divine will. However, although there was no time prior to the world and no place outside the world, we speak as if there were. Thus we say that before the world existed there was nothing except God, and that there is no body lying outside the world. But in thus speaking of 'before' and 'outside,' we have in mind nothing but time and place as they exist in our imagination."

-Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica

"The objection we are dealing with argues from the standpoint of an agent that presupposes time and acts in time, but did not institute time. Hence the question about 'why God's eternal will produces an effect now and and not earlier' presupposes that time exists; for 'now' and 'earlier' are segments of time. With regard to the universal production of things, among which time is also to be counted, we should not ask, 'Why now and not earlier?' Rather we should ask: 'Why did God wish this much time to intervene?' And this depends on the divine will, which is perfectly free to assign this or any other quantity to time. The same may be noted with respect to the dimensional quantity of the world. No one asks why God located the material world in such and such a place rather than higher up or lower down or in some other position; for there is no place outside the world. The fact that God portioned out so much quantity to the world that no part of it would be beyond the place occupied in some other locality, depends on the divine will. However, although there was no time prior to the world and no place outside the world, we speak as if there were. Thus we say that before the world existed there was nothing except God, and that there is no body lying outside the world. But in thus speaking of 'before' and 'outside,' we have in mind nothing but time and place as they exist in our imagination."

-Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica

"Human nature inclines us to have recourse to petition for the purpose of obtaining from another, especially from a person of higher rank, what we hope to receive from him. So prayer is recommended to men, that by it they may obtain from God what they hope to secure from Him. But the reason why prayer is necessary for obtaining something from a man is not the same as the reason for its necessity when there is question of obtaining a favor from God. Prayer is addressed to man, first, to lay bare the desire and the need of the petitioner, and secondly, to incline the mind of him to whom the prayer is addressed to grant the petition. These purposes have no place in the prayer that is sent up to God. When we pray we do not intend to manifest our needs or desires to God, for He knows all things. The Psalmist says to God: "Lord, all my desire is before Thee" and in the Gospel we are told: "Your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things." Again, the will of God is not influenced by human words to will what He had previously not willed. For, as we read in Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed"; nor is God moved to repentance, as we are assured in 1 Kings 15:29. Prayer, then, for obtaining something from God, is necessary for man on account of the very one who prays, that he may reflect on his shortcomings and may turn his mind to desiring fervently and piously what he hopes to gain by his petition. In this way he is rendered fit to receive the favor."

-Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica

"Human nature inclines us to have recourse to petition for the purpose of obtaining from another, especially from a person of higher rank, what we hope to receive from him. So prayer is recommended to men, that by it they may obtain from God what they hope to secure from Him. But the reason why prayer is necessary for obtaining something from a man is not the same as the reason for its necessity when there is question of obtaining a favor from God. Prayer is addressed to man, first, to lay bare the desire and the need of the petitioner, and secondly, to incline the mind of him to whom the prayer is addressed to grant the petition. These purposes have no place in the prayer that is sent up to God. When we pray we do not intend to manifest our needs or desires to God, for He knows all things. The Psalmist says to God: "Lord, all my desire is before Thee" and in the Gospel we are told: "Your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things." Again, the will of God is not influenced by human words to will what He had previously not willed. For, as we read in Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed"; nor is God moved to repentance, as we are assured in 1 Kings 15:29. Prayer, then, for obtaining something from God, is necessary for man on account of the very one who prays, that he may reflect on his shortcomings and may turn his mind to desiring fervently and piously what he hopes to gain by his petition. In this way he is rendered fit to receive the favor."

-Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica

If you liked the philosophy plot in Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas , here is a list of 8 books like this:

Cover of The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine

1. The Age of Reason

By: Thomas Paine

4.12

Format: 180 pages, Paperback

The Age of Reason represents the results of years of study and reflection by Thomas Paine on the pl… read more

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"One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests."

-Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

"The world is my country, mankind are my friends, to do good is my religion."

-Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

"A multiplication of beliefs acts as a division of belief; and in proportion as anything is divided, it is weakened."

-Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

"It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man."

-Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

Cover of City of God by Augustine of Hippo, Henry Bettenson

2. City of God

By: Augustine of Hippo , Henry Bettenson

3.93

Format: 1186 pages, Paperback

No book except the Bible itself had a greater influence on the Middle Ages than Augustine's City of… read more

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  • philosophy
  • religion
  • nonfiction
  • catholic
"There are wolves within, and there are sheep without."

-Augustine of Hippo, City of God

"A wholesome fear would be a fit guardian for the citizens."

-Augustine of Hippo, City of God

"Humility raises us not by human arrogance but by divine grace."

-Augustine of Hippo, City of God

"He that becomes protector of sin shall surely become its prisoner."

-Augustine of Hippo, City of God

Cover of The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, William Benham, Richard Challoner, D.D.

3. The Imitation of Christ

By: Thomas à Kempis , William Benham , Richard Challoner, D.D.

4.32

Format: 632 pages, Paperback

Only the Bible has been more influential as a source of Christian devotional reading than The Imita… read more

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  • religion
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Cover of Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan

4. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

By: John Bunyan

4.22

Format: 88 pages, Paperback

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners is one of the great classic autobiographies, part of the Ch… read more

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  • classics
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  • christianity
  • religion
  • nonfiction

5. The Consolation of Philosophy

By: Boethius , None

4.27

Format: 24 pages, Paperback

Boethius was an eminent public figure under the Gothic emperor Theodoric, and an exceptional Greek … read more

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Cover of Confessions by Augustine of Hippo, Henry Chadwick, Albert Cook Outler

6. Confessions

By: Augustine of Hippo , Henry Chadwick , Albert Cook Outler

3.41

Format: 400 pages, Paperback

Augustine's Confessions is one of the most influential and most innovative works of Latin literatur… read more

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Cover of Purgatorio (The Divine Comedy, #2) by Dante Alighieri, Robert M. Durling

7. Purgatorio (The Divine Comedy, #2)

By: Dante Alighieri , Robert M. Durling

3.33

Format: 170 pages, Paperback

In the early 1300s, Dante Alighieri set out to write the three volumes which make the up The Divine… read more

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  • religion
Cover of The Abolition of Man & The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, Robert Whitfield

8. The Abolition of Man & The Great Divorce

By: C.S. Lewis , Robert Whitfield

4.82

Format: 174 pages, Audio CD

Here are two classics of moral philosophy from one of the most revered Christian voices of our time… read more

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Cover of Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics by Immanuel Kant, James W. Ellington, Paul Carus

9. Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics

By: Immanuel Kant , James W. Ellington , Paul Carus

4.12

Format: 29 pages, Paperback

This edition of Prolegomenaincludes Kant's letter of February, 1772 to Marcus Herz, a momentous doc… read more

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Cover of The Upanishads: Translations from the Sanskrit by Anonymous, Juan Mascaró

10. The Upanishads: Translations from the Sanskrit

By: Anonymous , Juan Mascaró

4.00

Format: 199 pages, Paperback

The Upanishads, the earliest of which were composed in Sanskrit between 800 and 400 bce by sages an… read more

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  • classics
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  • spirituality
Cover of On Loving God by Bernard of Clairvaux

11. On Loving God

By: Bernard of Clairvaux

4.49

Format: 288 pages, Paperback

Perhaps Bernard's most delightful tract, On Loving God posits that everything good in human persons… read more

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Cover of A Letter Concerning Toleration: Humbly Submitted by John Locke, None

12. A Letter Concerning Toleration: Humbly Submitted

By: John Locke , None

3.41

Format: 549 pages, paper

John Locke's subtle and influential defense of religious toleration as argued in his seminal Letter… read more

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Cover of Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Thérèse of Lisieux, John Clarke

13. Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

By: Thérèse of Lisieux , John Clarke

4.42

Format: 306 pages, Paperback

This book, first published in 1898 in a highly edited version, quickly became a modern spiritual cl… read more

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"Love lives only by sacrifice"

-Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

"I have at last found my vocation; it is love!"

-Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

"Love will consume us only in the measure of our self-surrender."

-Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

"and I realized that real nobility is in the soul, not in a name."

-Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

14. On the Incarnation

By: C.S. Lewis , Athanasius of Alexandria , None

3.29

Format: None pages, Paperback

A universally acknowledged masterpiece of fourth-century patristic theology. As C. S. Lewis observe… read more

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15. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

By: John Locke

4.07

Format: None pages, Paperback

John Locke is widely regarded as the father of classical liberalism. This essay was groundbreaking … read more

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16. Metaphysics

By: Aristotle , Joe Sachs

3.00

Format: None pages, Paperback

Metaphysics (Greek: ta meta ta phusika) is one of the principal works of Aristotle & the first majo… read more

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17. The Guide for the Perplexed

By: Maimonides

4.44

Format: 224 pages, Paperback

This is the full, unabridged text of one of the greatest philosophic works of all time. Written by … read more

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18. Saint Thomas Aquinas

By: G.K. Chesterton , Anton C. Pegis

4.45

Format: None pages, Paperback

G.K. Chesterton's brilliant sketch of the life and thought of Thomas Aquinas is as relevant today a… read more

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19. The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas

By: Peter Kreeft

3.66

Format: 325 pages, Audible Audio

An enthusiastic admirer of the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, professor and philosopher Peter Kreeft… read more

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20. The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus/Antigone (The Theban Plays, #1–3)

By: Sophocles , Robert Fitzgerald , Dudley Fitts , None

5.00

Format: 400 pages, Paperback

(1939 translation) read more

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Cover of Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas

21. Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica

By: Thomas Aquinas

4.14

Format: 432 pages, Paperback

Two years before he died, St. Thomas Aquinas probably the greatest teacher the Church has ever know… read more

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"The objection we are dealing with argues from the standpoint of an agent that presupposes time and acts in time, but did not institute time. Hence the question about 'why God's eternal will produces …"

-Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica

"Human nature inclines us to have recourse to petition for the purpose of obtaining from another, especially from a person of higher rank, what we hope to receive from him. So prayer is recommended to…"

-Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica

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