The Cambridge Companion To Aquinas

Introduction 1 AquinasÆs philosophy in its historical setting Jan A. Aertsen 2 Aristotle and Aquinas Joseph Owens 3 Aquinas and Islamic and Jewish thinkers David B. Burrell 4 Metaphysics John F. Wippel 5 Philosophy of mind Norman Kretzmann 6 Theory of knowledge Scott MacDonald 7 Ethics Ralph McInerny 8 Law and politics Paul E. Sigmund 9 Theology and philosophy Mark D. Jordan 10 Biblical commentary and philosophy Eleonore Stump

This new Companion to Aquinas features entirely new chapters written by internationally recognized experts in the field. It shows the power of Aquinas's philosophical thought and transmits the worldview which he inherited, developed, altered, and argued for, while at the same time revealing to contemporary philosophers the strong connections which there are between Aquinas's interests and views and their own. Its five sections cover the life and works of Aquinas; his metaphysics, including his understanding of the ultimate foundations of reality; his metaethics and ethics, including his virtue ethics; his account of human nature; his theory of the afterlife; his epistemology and his theory of the intellectual virtues; his view of the nature of free will and the relation of grace to free will; and finally some key components of his philosophical theology, including the incarnation and atonement, Christology, and the nature of original sin.

Featuring essays from both specialists in Aquinas' thought and constructive contemporary theologians, this Companion provides an accessible, comprehensive guide to his main mature theological work, the Summa Theologiae. The authors demonstrate how to read the text effectively and how to relate it to past and current theological issues.

Table of contents

The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Philosophy, first published in 2003, takes its readers into one of the most exciting periods in the history of philosophy. It spans a millennium of thought extending from Augustine to Thomas Aquinas and beyond. It includes not only the thinkers of the Latin West but also the profound contributions of Islamic and Jewish thinkers such as Avicenna and Maimonides. Leading specialists examine what it was like to do philosophy in the cultures and institutions of the Middle Ages and engage all the areas in which medieval philosophy flourished, including language and logic, the study of God and being, natural philosophy, human nature, morality, and politics. The discussion is supplemented with chronological charts, biographies of the major thinkers, and a guide to the transmission and translation of medieval texts. The volume will be invaluable for all who are interested in the philosophical thought of this period.

This second edition of the Companion has been thoroughly revised and updated with eleven new chapters and a new bibliography.

Offers historical and topical chapters on the whole range of medieval ethical thought in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic philosophy.

Offers a full discussion of all significant aspects of this medieval philosopher's thought.