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Summa contra Gentiles
The Summa contra Gentiles is one of the best-known treatises by Thomas Aquinas, written as four books between 1259 and 1265.
Whereas the Summa Theologiæ was written to explain the Christian faith to theology students, the Summa contra Gentiles is more apologetic in tone. While the last book deals with topics of revealed theology such as trinity, incarnation, and the sacraments, the first three books limit themselves to natural theology: Arguments on the basis of reason, Thomas believes, will be understood also by those who do not believe in Christian revelation.
The conventional title Summa contra Gentiles, found in some of the earliest manuscripts, is sometimes given in the variant Summa contra Gentes. The title is taken from chapter I.2, where Thomas states his intention as the work's author:
I have set myself the task of making known, as far as my limited powers will allow, the truth that the Catholic faith professes, and of setting aside the errors that are opposed to it. To use the words of Hilary: 'I am aware that I owe this to God as the chief duty of my life, that my every word and sense may speak of Him' (De Trinitate I, 37).
A longer title is also given as Tractatus de fide catholica, contra errores infidelium, meaning "Tractate on the universal faith, against the errors of the pagans".[better source needed]
The work was written over a period of several years, between 1259 and 1265.
In the spring of 1256 Thomas was appointed regent master in theology at Paris and one of his first works upon assuming this office was Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem, defending the mendicant orders, which had come under attack by William of Saint-Amour. During his tenure from 1256 to 1259, Thomas wrote numerous works, and he was working on Summa contra Gentiles by the time he left Paris. From Aquinas's autograph, Torrell (1996) identified the first 53 chapters of Book I as having been written in Paris based on studies of the parchment and the ink used.
According to a tradition that can be traced to shortly after Thomas's death, the Summa contra Gentiles was written in response to a request, made in 1259, for a book that would help the Dominican missionaries in Spain to convert the Muslims and Jews there. The request was made by Raymond of Peñafort, a Dominican friar and advisor to James I of Aragon. Raymond had been active in the Christian defense against the Moors (Muslims) and Jews in the kingdom of Aragon since the 1240s. To this end, Raymond instituted the teaching of Arabic and Hebrew in several houses of the friars, and he also founded priories in Murcia (then still under Muslim rule) and in Tunis. Additionally he went to help establish the Church in the recently conquered island of Mallorca. Raymond's request to Thomas was transmitted by fellow Dominican Ramón Martí, one of eight friars appointed to make a study of oriental languages with the purpose of carrying on a mission to Jews and Moors. The historicity of this account has been questioned in modern scholarship. Arguments adduced include the lack of an explicit dedication to Raymond, the evidence that substantial portions of book 1 were complete by mid-1259 (suggesting that Thomas started work on the book as early as 1257), and the suggestion that the work makes no effort to address tenets of Islam specifically.
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Summa contra Gentiles
The Summa contra Gentiles is one of the best-known treatises by Thomas Aquinas, written as four books between 1259 and 1265.
Whereas the Summa Theologiæ was written to explain the Christian faith to theology students, the Summa contra Gentiles is more apologetic in tone. While the last book deals with topics of revealed theology such as trinity, incarnation, and the sacraments, the first three books limit themselves to natural theology: Arguments on the basis of reason, Thomas believes, will be understood also by those who do not believe in Christian revelation.
The conventional title Summa contra Gentiles, found in some of the earliest manuscripts, is sometimes given in the variant Summa contra Gentes. The title is taken from chapter I.2, where Thomas states his intention as the work's author:
I have set myself the task of making known, as far as my limited powers will allow, the truth that the Catholic faith professes, and of setting aside the errors that are opposed to it. To use the words of Hilary: 'I am aware that I owe this to God as the chief duty of my life, that my every word and sense may speak of Him' (De Trinitate I, 37).
A longer title is also given as Tractatus de fide catholica, contra errores infidelium, meaning "Tractate on the universal faith, against the errors of the pagans".[better source needed]
The work was written over a period of several years, between 1259 and 1265.
In the spring of 1256 Thomas was appointed regent master in theology at Paris and one of his first works upon assuming this office was Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem, defending the mendicant orders, which had come under attack by William of Saint-Amour. During his tenure from 1256 to 1259, Thomas wrote numerous works, and he was working on Summa contra Gentiles by the time he left Paris. From Aquinas's autograph, Torrell (1996) identified the first 53 chapters of Book I as having been written in Paris based on studies of the parchment and the ink used.
According to a tradition that can be traced to shortly after Thomas's death, the Summa contra Gentiles was written in response to a request, made in 1259, for a book that would help the Dominican missionaries in Spain to convert the Muslims and Jews there. The request was made by Raymond of Peñafort, a Dominican friar and advisor to James I of Aragon. Raymond had been active in the Christian defense against the Moors (Muslims) and Jews in the kingdom of Aragon since the 1240s. To this end, Raymond instituted the teaching of Arabic and Hebrew in several houses of the friars, and he also founded priories in Murcia (then still under Muslim rule) and in Tunis. Additionally he went to help establish the Church in the recently conquered island of Mallorca. Raymond's request to Thomas was transmitted by fellow Dominican Ramón Martí, one of eight friars appointed to make a study of oriental languages with the purpose of carrying on a mission to Jews and Moors. The historicity of this account has been questioned in modern scholarship. Arguments adduced include the lack of an explicit dedication to Raymond, the evidence that substantial portions of book 1 were complete by mid-1259 (suggesting that Thomas started work on the book as early as 1257), and the suggestion that the work makes no effort to address tenets of Islam specifically.
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