The Summa Illuminated

“This book is the ordinary reader’s clearest introduction to the Summa Theologica. It illuminates the obscure and enlivens the dispassionate arguments of St. Thomas Aquinas. You’ll not only get Thomas’s point; you’ll know why it’s important. The Summa is a book that can change your mind and your life for the better. The Summa Illuminated is the book that will make your reading possible and enjoyable. Everyone should be reading St. Thomas, and I can’t imagine a better guide than Fr. Cajetan
Cuddy.”

“The Summa Illuminated offers a clear, straightforward road map to first-time readers of Aquinas’s most famous and enduringly influential work. Fr. Cuddy’s short summaries of the main themes in each group of questions are helpful in orienting the reader to the basics of Aquinas’s system. This is certainly a book you want by your side as you begin to explore the wonderful world of the Summa Theologica.”

“The Summa Illuminated gives invaluable assistance to those who want to know the thought of St. Thomas but are stymied by unfamiliar vocabulary and procedure. Fr. Cuddy has provided a way for the ‘educated nonexpert’ to acquire the treasures of the Summa.”

“Fr. Cajetan Cuddy’s The Summa Illuminated offers a penetrating and accessible overview of Aquinas’s Summa, presenting its overarching structure and key questions with clarity. The final section on the sacraments is especially rich, inviting deeper reflection and union with Jesus Christ.”

“In my study of St. Thomas Aquinas, I have learned such a great deal from Fr. Cajetan Cuddy. His sober appreciation for the most pertinent principles and his great facility in theological discourse make him an excellent teacher and guide. The Summa Illuminated will certainly prove of great service to all with an appetite for wisdom.”

“To the newcomer, the Summa Theologica can be daunting, mysterious, puzzling. In The Summa Illuminated, Fr. Cuddy aims to make Aquinas’s theological masterpiece more readily accessible. Fr. Cuddy succeeds in his task. Writing in a straightforward, unaffected style, he lays bare the Summa’s structure and purpose and the driving concerns of its main parts. The Summa Illuminated is a reliable guide, one that will go a long way to making engagement with arguably the greatest presentation and investigation of the Catholic faith even more fruitful and rewarding.”