Friar Thomas D'Aquino: his life, thought, and work

James A. Weisheipl

The towering figure of Thomas Aquinas emerges with all his intellectual vitality in this definitive, up-to-date biography. Written by a leading scholar, and based on all the latest known facts of Aquinas's life and works, the book covers the man and his works as we know them today. The author develops the life of Aquinas in the social, political and cultural milieu of his age, eliminating many of the legends that have shrouded the man—legends that served more the needs of canonization than the needs of the true historian. Father Weisheipl stresses the close relationship between all the facets of Aquinas's personality and his intellectual development, thus overcoming any tendency toward separating his "life" from his "thought". The many movements and controversies in which Thomas was embroiled are drawn together with his doctrinal development, thus providing a lucid portrait of the whole man in the age in which he lived and worked. A notable feature of this volume is the author's attentive treatment throughout of the man and his environment as one. A sound understanding of the man requires both an accurate grasp of his teaching and a thorough knowledge of the context in which he lived, moved, and had his being. Included at the end of the text is a "Brief Catalogue of Authentic Works," giving known place and time of composition together with the purposes and content of the work.