Aquinas: A Guide For The Perplexed

Thomas Aquinas is the most widely read and arguably most influential of the medieval philosophers. He is famous for his impressive and coherent synthesis of Greek Philosophy and Christian Theology and his magisterial Summa Theologiae is a hugely important, and enduring, text in the history of philosophy. Yet he is also a very difficult thinker and his ideas present a number of challenges to even the most educated of readers.

Aquinas: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of Aquinas's thought, his major works and ideas, providing an ideal guide to the important and complex writings of this key thinker. The book introduces all the key concepts and themes in Aquinas's thought and examines the ways in which they have influenced philosophical and theological thought. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Aquinas's ideas, the book serves as a clear and concise introduction to his philosophy and natural theology. This is the ideal companion to the study of this most influential and challenging of thinkers.

1. Natural Theology
2. Metaphysics
3. Psychology
4. Epistemology
5. Ethics

6. Politics
   Conclusion
   Appendices
   i. Reading the Summa Theologiae
   ii. Glossary
   Annotated bibliography

   Peter S. Eardley is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph, Canada. He has published widely on Medieval Philosophy, in particular Thomas Aquinas, including articles in the Review of Metaphysics, Journal of the History of Philosophy, Vivarium, Mediaeval Studies, and The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages.

   Carl N. Still is Associate Professor of Philosophy at St Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He has co-edited two volumes of papers on Aquinas, Being and Thought in Aquinas (Global Publications, 2004) and Mind and Intellect in Aquinas (forthcoming), and has publications in The Thomist, The American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, and The Canadian Journal of History.