Book Review: Thomas Aquinas

The Spiritual Master (A Bite-Sized Review)

Book Title:

Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master by Robert Barron.

I have been attempting to read more about Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy. It is something I have wanted to do for several years, but I kept pushing it.

I am finally getting some mileage here.

I have read some parts of Ed Feser’s Aquinas – which is really good, by way – but then I figured out I need to go a little bit lower in terms of the technicality of the content, before stepping it back up again. Bishop Barron’s Thomas Aquinas turns out – amongst some others – to be very beginner friendly.

Bishop Barron started the book with a light introduction to the life and writings of the Saint. St. Aquinas was one of the most influential thinkers of the medieval period – he was also a Dominican friar and priest.

Aquinas was born in Italy in 1225, and he completed what we can call his undergraduate studies in philosophy at the University of Naples. He joined the Dominican Order – not without many hindrances from his family –  and continued his studies at the University of Paris.

His signature style was the amalgamation of Aristotle’s philosophy and Christianity.

Here is the book:

“Thomas combined in his person the two great radicalities of his day: Aristotelianism and Gospel simplicity. As an Aristotelian radical, he was opting for this world, for science, for reason, for the beauty of the senses; and as a Gospel radical, he was opting for the life of the spirit, for trust, for deep faith in the love of God.”

Aquinas is well known for his book, Summa Theologiae (ST), where he sought to provide a comprehensive summary of Christian theology. He produced several other important works, including the Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard and the Disputed Questions on Truth. On his way to the Council of Lyon in 1274, he fell ill and died on March 7 in the Cistercian abbey at Fossanova.

In this book, Bishop Barron discusses Aquinas's mode of theology, his most potent (spiritual) critiques, and, of course, his exegesis of various subjects. Including but not limited to the incarnation – the belief that God became man in the form of Jesus Christ; divine simplicity – the doctrine that God is a being without parts; theodicy – the aspect of theology that deals with the problem of evil; happiness; beauty; and many others.

All of these, in just 130 pages. What else could one ask for?

The book is a fine introductory text to Aquinas's thought, much easier to read than the actual ST (format). Another thing to add is that it has a more Christology (and spiritual) flavor.