Thomas Aquinas in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes (Audio))

Strathern, Paul

ISBN 10: 0786185260 ISBN 13: 9780786185269

Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks, 2004

Synopsis

We see our age as the greatest in human history, filled with seemingly unending originality. Yet such dynamism is not a necessary characteristic of great eras. Among the most long-lasting and stable civilizations was that of medieval Europe. There stasis was achieved, and with it a stability that permitted the development of structured thought and intellectual embellishment of unparalleled degree. Like the vast Gothic cathedrals of western Europe, certainties of thought were part and parcel of the medieval age. Its monument of the intellect was the largely static, cumulative philosophy of Scholasticism. And the acknowledged maestro of Scholastic philosophy was Thomas Aquinas. In Thomas Aquinas in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Aquinas' life and ideas and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world. The book also includes selections from Aquinas' work, a brief list of suggested readings for those who wish to delve deeper, and chronologies that place Aquinas within his own age and in the broader scheme of philosophy.

About this title

Review:

In yet another of his popular books explaining the ideas of the great philosophers in accessible language, Paul Strathern takes on "a shadowy figure amongst the incense clouds of theology," who also happens to be "the finest philosophical mind in Europe for a thousand years (since St. Augustine)," St. Thomas Aquinas. Strathern applies his trademark humor to the Summa Theologica ("Christianity's answer to the Talmud") and the Summa Contra Gentiles, whose "imaginary reader is generally reckoned to be an intellectual Arab. After being subjected to hundreds of pages demonstrating the incontrovertible truth of the Christian religion, it is assumed that he has no alternative but to forswear Islam and embrace Christianity. How many intellectual Arabs subjected themselves to this grueling experience and reached the same conclusion is unknown." Underneath the gags, however, you'll gain a reasonable summation of Aquinas's impact on the scholasticism of his era and the validity of his continued, if somewhat diminished, relevance to present-day philosophy.

About the Author:

Paul Strathern earned a degree in philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin, and has lectured in philosophy and mathematics. The author of many nonfiction books and of articles for numerous publications, he has also written several novels and has won the Somerset Maugham Prize. He lives and writes in London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0786185260
• ISBN 13: 9780786185269
• Binding: Audio CD
• Number of pages: 2