Thomas Aquinas in 50 Pages by Taylor R. Marshall

Thomas Aquinas in 50 Pages: A Layman’s Quick Guide to Thomism by Dr Taylor R. Marshall is pretty much what the title states it is. It is a text about the basics of how St Thomas Aquinas thought and what he taught.

The text is organized into 12 sections, excluding the introductory note and endnotes (references). The last section before the endnotes is a helpful glossary.

The main text is over fifty pages if one includes this but it is still a very short book. It is an excellent, succinct introduction to Thomistic thought; it just goes through the bare minimum but it is enough to serve as a primer and help one appreciate the saint’s writings.

Below are the 12 sections. The headings are self-explanatory but a brief description is provided.

“The Life of Thomas of Aquino” – A biographical sketch of Thomas who was born in 1225, near Aquino, to nobility, the Count of Aquino and the Countess of Theate. His uncle, Sinibald, was the Abbot of Monte Cassino, the first monastery established by St Benedict. Although his parents intended Thomas to one day take that prestigious position, he instead became a Dominican.

Amongst other things, he is known for his intellect and is the author of Summa Theologiae. He died on 7 March 1274 and was canonized fifty years after his death.

“How Is Philosophy Different from Theology?” – Philosophy means “love of wisdom” and is about truth known by reason. Theology is the “study of God” and is broader for that requires divine revelation. The two are distinct but do not exclude each other. For St Thomas, philosophy is the “handmaiden” of theology.

“How to Think Like Thomas Aquinas” – The section covers epistemology, which is the “study of knowing”. Amongst other things, it covers the concept of form and matter which came from Plato. His student Aristotle developed it into four, hence St Thomas’s four causes: formal cause, material cause, efficient cause, final cause.

“Does God Exist?” – Covers the famous quinque viae (“five ways”) that demonstrate the existence of God: Argument from Motion, Argument from Efficient Causes, Argument from Possibility, Argument from Degrees of Being, Argument from Design. In short, everything is caused by something else and ultimately requires a “first cause” that does not need to be caused; that is, God.

“Can We Know God?” – Since God is invisible and infinite, we cannot entirely know God since we require our senses and we are finite. However, this does not mean we cannot know something about God. We can know God by reason in two ways: negation and analogy.

Marshall considers this section to be the important of the book as he explains the three philosophical terms: univocal, equivocal and analogical. Univocal (x is y) can be overly simplistic whilst equivocal (x is not really y but…) is technically correct but annoying. St Thomas, like Scripture, uses the analogical (x is like y).

There is the distinction between existence and essence (what something is). For God, however, this is the same thing as His essence is his existence (“I AM”).

“The 8 Attributes of God” – This section covers eight general attributes of God that follow from the previously mentioned “five ways” such as the simplicity of God, the immutability of God, the omnipresence of God etc.

“What Is an Angel?” – St Thomas wrote a lot about angels, parsing what is found in Scripture and the Church Fathers. This section covers a few basic points of angels, that they have no bodies and they are of “form” only as if each is a distinct species, and that they are ranked in 9 choirs in three hierarchies.

“Humans: Are We Angels Or Beasts?” – Having body and soul, the human is a “rational animal” that is lower than the angels but higher than a mere animal. According to Aristotle, the soul is the “life-principle of any living thing”. So a human has a human soul, a dog has a dog soul and a tree has a tree soul with that hierarchy.

The human soul also has a hierarchy: intellect, will and the passions. [Interestingly, although memory is also a power of the soul, it is not mentioned.] The passions are in two categories: concupiscible appetite (desire and aversion etc) and irascible appetite (hope and despair etc). Marshall illustrates this using Plato’s image of the horse-drawn chariot:

The man in the chariot is the intellect. The chariot is pulled by two winged horses—one horse is the concupiscible appetite and the other horse is the irascible appetite. The will is the reins in the hand of the charioteer. If the charioteer uses the reins correctly, he can steer the horses wherever he desires. If he lets go of the reins (lets go of his will), then the horses will go crazy and drag his chariot all over the place.

“How Can You Become Virtuous?” – The section begins with the definition of “virtue”. In short, virtue is a good habit or pattern, and vice is a bad habit or pattern.

It then covers the four natural or cardinal virtues, which are tied to the hierarchy of the soul: Prudence (intellect), Justice (will), Fortitude (irascible appetite), Temperance (concupiscible appetite). This is followed by a brief treatment of the supernatural or theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity.

“Natural Law and Government” – This is a brief section explaining Natural Law and its relationship to government and human laws.

Natural law is the way in which rational animals (human beings) participate in God’s eternal law.

Marshall uses the analogy of an “inner software” (Natural Law) that is always working and cannot be entirely suppressed. However, the data fed into it through the five senses can be bad. So, whilst it “provide the basis in every human soul for a moral code”, it is insufficient on its own.

“List of Books on Aquinas for Beginners” – A list of 8 recommended texts with two, not surprisingly, by Peter Kreeft.

“Your Vocab List for Thomas Aquinas” – A short glossary of terms used by St Thomas. This is helpful without being too technical since the words are commonly used but can be used differently in contemporary English.

The text is freely available for download at: https://nsti.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Thomas-Aquinas-in-50-Pages-Final.pdf

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