The University of Notre Dame Press believes in the power of books to change the world by advancing knowledge and impacting lives. As part of our 75th anniversary celebration, we want to highlight foundational authors on our list that have been instrumental in that advancing of knowledge and continue to impact so many lives. St. Thomas Aquinas is one of Catholicism’s greatest theologians and philosophers, and we are proud to have so many of his works on our list.
St. Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar and Roman Catholic priest as well as an influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism. Canonized in 1323 by Pope John XXII, Aquinas was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology and the father of Thomism. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius V for his theological and philosophical study and writings.
Part of our mission as a University Press is to make scholarly works available so that valuable knowledge from centuries ago can continue to enlighten us and fuel conversations today. Our translations of Aquinas’s original Latin preserve the integrity of his words while allowing more people to read them. His Summa Theologiae and Summa Contra Gentiles are some of his most famous works, and he has written on topics across philosophy and theology.
Below we highlight two of Aquinas’s works, On Evil and On Faith.
On Evil
by St. Thomas Aquinas
Translated by John A. Oesterle and Jean T. Oesterle
Many great thinkers have wrestled with the topic of evil. St. Thomas Aquinas’s disputed question On Evil merges as the longest and most comprehensive study on the subject of evil available.
This long-awaited translation is based on the critical edition of the Latin text published by the Leonine Commission in 1982. The disputed question De malo (On Evil) was first presented as a series of oral debates at the University of Paris (1263-1272) and subsequently recorded in the form in which it now appears. The length of the work and the thoroughness of the treatment is eloquent testimony of the importance St. Thomas attached to this topic.
“This is a major milestone in translation and a welcome addition to the opus of the great saint available in translation. Highly recommended.”
—The Reader’s Review
“Those who have the required time and tenacity will be richly rewarded by [Aquinas’s] treatment of a perennial problem.”
—Books and Culture
On Faith:
Summa Theologiae 2-2, qq. 1–16 of St. Thomas Aquinas
by Thomas Aquinas
Translated by Mark D. Jordan
The organization of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae is a remarkable feat of clarity in comparison with its predecessors. Although Aquinas incorporates materials from very different theological traditions he reduces all of these topics to a concise and clear plan. Mark D. Jordan’s translation, On Faith, captures this clarity, Aquinas’ most characteristic achievement. v. 1. On faith, Summa theologiae, part 2-2, questions 1-16 of St. Thomas Aquinas.
“Jordan’s translation of the treatise on faith meets an important need. . . . The notes and index of authoritative sources . . . help the student appreciate how much Aquinas depended on his theological and cultural forerunners. [Jordan’s] brief introduction to each ‘key authority’: Scripture, Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, Gregory the Great . . . provides the essentials which a beginner in medieval studies requires to read Aquinas’s own text intelligently. . . . Those who teach the theological virtues will welcome this volume as a textbook for classroom use.”
—The Thomist
“By avoiding the obscure Latinate English that plagues other translations and, instead, rendering Thomas into felicitous English with due attention to the sources, Jordan’s translation well reflects the accessibility of the original.”
—Review of Metaphysics