St. Thomas Aquinas and the Mendicant Controversies: Three Translations

Originally published separately as An Apology for the Religious Orders (1902) and The Religious State, the Episcopate, and the Priestly Office (1902), this book presents--for the first time in one volume and in correct historical order--the rare English translations of three key works by Aquinas, who found himself over a fifteen-year period (1256-1271) forced at the University of Paris to defend the fledgling mendicant orders, his own Dominicans and the Franciscans, against the attacks of the established secular or diocesan clergy. The significance of these debates, and Aquinas's participation in them, to the history of western Christendom cannot be overestimated. The sanctity and freedom of the individual person and the social rights and duties of religion, ideas polished by the deft hands of Aquinas, shine in these discourses, which figure prominently, among other places, in modern papal social teaching. Complete with a new introduction and comprehensive new index, this title is required reading in philosophy, political theory, theology, and medieval and church history--and thus be longs in every academic, research, and scholar's library: This volume comprises the following texts: - Against those who attack the religious profession(Contra impugnantes dei cultum et religionem, 1256). - The Perfection of the Spiritual Life (De perfectione spiritualis vitae, 1269-1270). - Against those who would deter men from entering religion (Contra doctrinam retrahentium a religione, 1271-1272).