Treatise on the Divine Nature

Brian J. Shanley, O.P., is Professor of Philosophy, Providence College, of which he is also the President.Robert Pasnau is Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder.

There are some notable introductions to Aquinas currently available, but these inevitably have to pass over Summa Theologiae I, 1-13 fairly quickly. There is a mountain of scholarly literature on I, 1-13, but most of this presupposes a lot of knowledge of Aquinas in its readers, or is too dense and technical for beginners. The present volume is, therefore, most welcome. For, as well as providing a new translation of all of Summa Theologiae I, 1-13, it offers a substantial commentary on this text, one which presupposes no previous familiarity with Aquinas as a thinker. It should prove very helpful to anyone teaching Summa Theologiae I, 1-13 at both the undergraduate and graduate level. I would also expect it to be especially useful to people studying Summa Theologiae I, 1-13 entirely on their own. Fr Shanley's translation is clear, idiomatic, and accurate. A particular virtue of the translation is that it frequently indicates along the way which Latin terms are being rendered into English as Fr Shanley renders them. This kind of flagging will help readers to get a better sense of what Aquinas is saying than they might otherwise do. . . . [The] commentary is lucid, well informed, clearly written, and, given its word count, very comprehensive. Fr Shanley homes in on just what one would look for in a volume like the present. Hence we find him explaining Aquinas's technical terms and showing how bits of Summa Theologiae I, 1-13 connect with each other. He also relates Aquinas to previous and contemporary thinkers with whom Aquinas is engaging. The end product is something that can be warmly recommended to anyone looking for what Fr Shanley has tried to provide. --Brian Davies, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews