The Summa Contra Gentiles is the second of Thomas Aquinas's three great theological syntheses, written after his Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard and before his Summa Theologiae. The Summa Contra Gentiles is commonly thought to be composed with a missionary intention, possibly for the use of Thomas's brethren in their work of explaining the faith to non-Christians, especially Muslims in Spain. This volume contains the third and fourth books of the Summa Contra Gentiles. Book 3 treats of God's providence over all of creation from the perspective of what can be known on the basis of human reason. Book 4 treats of matters of faith surpassing human reason: the Trinity of Persons in God, the Incarnation of the Divine Word, the Work of Salvation, and the Last Things.
Thomas Aquinas was an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Communis.
He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy was conceived as a reaction against, or as an agreement with, his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law and political theory.
The philosophy of Aquinas has exerted enormous influence on subsequent Christian theology, especially that of the Roman Catholic Church, extending to Western philosophy in general, where he stands as a vehicle and modifier of Aristotelianism, which he fused with the thought of Augustine.
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