Holy Teaching: Introducing the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas Paperback – July 1, 2005

This is an excellent introduction and Bauerschmidt is a wise guide. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Thomas and the Summa. By the way, I don't understand the 3 star review that says this is "useful" but then doesn't explain why it only receives 3 stars (we must also disregard the 1 star review for 3rd party packaging problems).

Good book

Great seller, fast hipping, and book in real y good condition, totally recommended!!!!!!!!!!Thank you so much for the everything!

First of all, Bauerschmidt has done all students of theology a tremendous service in compiling this summa of the Summa. He extracts the most instructive parts and complements them with copious erudite footnotes that illuminate the Angelic Doctor’s meaning. This is a truly wonderful resource for anyone setting out into the deep waters of Thomas’s theology.The publishing quality of this excellent text, however, is a travesty. Brazos ought to be ashamed of putting together something so cheaply and still charging as much for it as they have! The text on the page is pixelated and blurry. The paper and cover feel extremely cheap. The glue used on the binding likewise feels extremely cheap, and I would be extremely wary of cracking the spine, as I’m reasonably confident the book would start shedding pages.In short, I know of few better introductory texts for the Summa. Bauerschmidt puts you into contact with the text immediately rather than providing a bunch of writing about the text. His footnotes, again, are a treasure. But shame on Brazos for doing such a disservice to such a great work.

This splendid book takes a slightly different angle than most modern compendiums. While the Summa is most often treated as a philosophical work, St. Thomas Aquinas' title itself, The Summa Theologiae (the summary of theology) shows it to be first and foremost a theological book. With this in mind, Bauerschmidt concentrates on the theological passages of the Summa, with special attention given to Aquinas' Christological understandings.The footnotes are extremely helpful, allowing even a beginner to slowly make his/her way through this book. With the help of Bauerschmidt, even a beginner can come to understand one of the most profound thinkers in the history of mankind.Recommended with this book is Peter Kreeft's Summa of the Summa, which deals the philosophical passages of the Summa.

This book has been an excellent place to begin for a study of Aquinas' theology! Bauerschmidt does an excellent job in paring down the vastness of Aquinas' thought and in providing helpful footnotes. The topics covered are wide and provide a good sampling of the Summa.In general, as a protestant, my direct interaction with Catholic theology has been fairly limited, so when I had the opportunity to read some of Aquinas' works I jumped at it. Bauerschmidt provided a helpful diving off point for me as I sought to better understand some classic Catholic theology. Especially in places where I lacked helpful context, Bauerschmidt's footnotes were especially helpful. He is informative without being too longwinded and is clear in his explanation.The one troublesome thing about the work is what has been mentioned in another review, the publishing quality is not great. It almost looks like the typesetting was not adjusted correctly or that the paper that was used to print the book had some problems. It did occasionally make it hard for me to read the text but did not deter me enough to not finish the book.All in all, a very helpful resource.

This was a required textbook for a Historical Theology class. I found it unreadable - when the footnotes are longer than the text on the page there is a problem. The book Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae : a guide and commentary by Brian Davies is much more useful.

(If anyone is starting this book and wants to form a discussion group, please get in touch with me as I am starting this book as well (Feb 2011). My email address is on the web.)Prologue to the Summa theologiae 27The first partQuestion 1 The nature of holy teaching 31Question 2 The existence of God 45Question 3 The simplicity of God 57Question 12 Knowledge of God 61Question 13 The names of God 66Question 27 The procession of the divine persons 73Question 29 The divine persons 80Question 32 Knowledge of the trinity 86Question 36 The person of the holy spirit 93Question 45 The way in which things come forth from the fist principle 101The first half of the second partQuestion 3 What is happiness? 109Question 4 Those things that are required for happiness 112Question 5 The attainment of happiness 116Question 91 The various kinds of law 119Question 109 The necessity of grace 122The second half of the second partQuestion 2 The act of faith 133Question 17 Hope 145Question 19 The gift of fear 148Question 23 Charity 152Question 174 Different kinds of prophecy 156The third partQuestion 1 The fittingness of the incarnation 163Question 2 The mode of union of the word incarnate 176Question 8 The grace of Christ, as he is the head of the church 182Question 9 Christ's knowledge in general 187Question 16 What is fittingly said of Christ 192Question 17 Christ's unity with regard to his existence 198Question 27 The sanctification of the blessed virgin 204Question 40 Christ's way of living 209Question 42 Christ's teaching 219Question 46 The suffering of Christ 223Question 47 The efficient cause of Christ's suffering 237Question 48 What Christ's suffering did 240Question 53 Christ's resurrection 245Question 59 Christ's power as judge 249Question 61 The need for the sacraments 253Question 62 The sacraments' principle effect, which is grace 258Question 63 The other effect of the sacraments, which is a seal 263Question 65 The number of the sacraments 267Question 66 The sacrament of Baptism 274Question 68 Those who receive baptism 278Question 75 The conversion of the bread and wine 285Question 80 Receiving the Eucharist 297Question 83 The rite of this sacrament 302