Of God and His Creatures (Summa Contra Gentiles)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Selection or partial work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~380,000 words · 1,788 passages
Cite this work
- APAThomas Aquinas. (n.d.). Of God and His Creatures (Summa Contra Gentiles). Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/thomas-aquinas/of-god-and-his-creatures-summa-contra-gentiles
- MLAThomas Aquinas. Of God and His Creatures (Summa Contra Gentiles). Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/thomas-aquinas/of-god-and-his-creatures-summa-contra-gentiles.
- ChicagoThomas Aquinas. Of God and His Creatures (Summa Contra Gentiles). Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/thomas-aquinas/of-god-and-his-creatures-summa-contra-gentiles.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Four books on God and his creatures. The division is what makes them singular: in the first three Aquinas argues by reason alone, without appeal to Scripture; in the fourth he starts from what is known only by revelation.
Context and history
Written around 1259-1265. An old tradition holds that it was a handbook for missionaries disputing with Muslims and Jews in Spain; modern scholars doubt this and there is no settled view. What is clear is the method: for three quarters of the book Aquinas forbids himself the argument from authority, and it is the work in which one sees best how far he thought unaided reason could reach.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
THE Divine Wisdom, that knows all things most fully, has deigned to reveal these her secrets to men, and in proof of them has displayed works beyond the competence of all natural powers, in the wonderful cure of diseases, in the raising of the dead, and what is more wonderful still, in such inspiration of human minds as that simple and ignorant persons, filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost, have gained in an instant the height of wisdom and eloquence.* By force of the aforesaid proof, without violence of arms, without promise of pleasures, and, most wonderful thing of all, in the midst of the violence of persecutors, a countless multitude, not only of the uneducated but of the wisest men, flocked to the Christian faith, wherein do&rines are preached that transcend all human understanding, pleasures of sense are restrained, and a contempt is taught of all worldly possessions. That mortal minds should assent to such teaching is the greatest of miracles, and a manifest work of divine inspiration leading men to despise the visible and desire only invisible goods. Nor did this happen suddenly nor by chance, but by a divine disposition, as is manifest from the fact that God foretold by many oracles of His prophets that He intended to do this. The books of those prophets are still venerated amongst us, as bearing testimony to our faith. This argument is touched upon in the text : Which (salvation) having begun to be uttered by the Lord, Voas confirmed by them that heard him el>en unto us, Qod joining in the testimony by signs and portents and various distributions of the Holy Spirit (Heb. ii, 3,4).…