St. Thomas Aquinas

The essentials of Catholic doctrine
-- clearly and succinctly presented

Two years before he died, St. Thomas Aquinas -- probably the greatest teacher the Church has ever known -- was asked by his assistant, Brother Reginald, to write a simple summary of the Faith of the Catholic Church for those who lacked the time or the stamina to tackle his massive Summa Theologica.

In response, the great saint quickly set down -- in language that non-scholars can understand -- his peerless insights into the major topics of theology: the Trinity, Divine Providence, the Incarnation of Christ, the Last Judgment, and much more.

Here, then, is not only St. Thomas's concise statement of the key elements of his thought, but a handy reference source for the essential truths of the Catholic Faith.

St. Thomas will show you:

Why, since happiness is so universally sought after, are so many people so miserable? The answer can be found by unpacking the wisdom of two of history's intellectual giants who set out to answer the question that has confounded man from time immemorial: What makes us happy?

Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas existed sixteen centuries apart, yet each reached similar understandings about what makes a person happy and what makes him miserable. In these enlightening pages, Dr. Charles Nemeth synthesizes the judgments of history's two greatest thinkers to present for you a life plan that inevitably leads to a happy human existence, whatever your ethnicity, religion, or citizenship.

You will explore what it means to be happy and will come to understand the limitations of happiness. You'll learn how to live in accordance with your basic nature so that your inclinations will not conflict with that which makes you flourish. And you'll calibrate your compass so that you will be able to

Saint Thomas Aquinas has been admired throughout the ages for his philosophical brilliance and his theological sanity, but author and professor Peter Kreeft thinks the practical spiritual wisdom of Aquinas is just as amazing.

In this book, Kreeft brings together 358 useful, everyday insights from Aquinas' masterpiece the Summa Theologiae. He pairs these easily digestible quotes from the Summa with his own delightfully written commentary in order to answer the kinds of questions real people ask their spiritual directors. These 358 passages from the Summa have helped Kreeft in his own struggles to grow closer to the Lord. His practical, personal, and livable advice is the fruit of his labors to apply the insights of Aquinas to his own quest for sanctity, happiness, and union with God.

G.K. Chesterton's brilliant sketch of the life and thought of Thomas Aquinas is as relevant today as when it was published in 1933. Then it earned the praise of such distinguished writers as Etienne Gilson, Jacques Martain, and Anton Pegis as the best book ever written on the great thirteenth-century Dominican. Today Chesterton's classic stands poised to reveal Thomas to a new generation.

Chesterton's Aquinas is a man of mystery. Born into a noble Neapolitan family, Thomas chose the life of a mendicant friar. Lumbering and shy -- his classmates dubbed him "the Dumb Ox" -- he led a revolution in Christian thought. Possessed of the rarest brilliance, he found the highest truth in the humblest object. Having spent his life amid the vast intricacies of reason, he asked on his deathbed to have read aloud the Song of Songs, the most passionate book in the Bible.

As Albert the Great, Thomas's teacher, predicted, the Dumb Ox has bellowed down the ages to our own day. Chesterton's book will enlighten those who would consign Thomas to the obscurity of medieval times. It will confound those who would use Thomas to bolster arid schemes of Christian rationalism. Rather, it will introduce the wondrous mystery of the man who, after a life of unparalleled genius, was seized by a vision of the Unknown and said, "I can write no more. I have seen things which make all my writings like straw."

In the struggle to find the touchstone between faith and reason, modern psychology is often a very problematic area for Catholics. Why? Because post-Freudian psychology is based on a mistaken idea that moral laws lead to neurosis. It arguesthat we must be freed from morality in order to become psychologically whole.

In this powerful and assuring book, Fr. Brian Mullady examines the nature of a healthy Christian emotional life, and ultimately provides the Catholic answer to the problematic theories of Sigmund Freud.

Made in the image and likeness of God, man is created for communion with the Holy Trinity - to love and be loved. Our immoral and destructive culture, devoid of authentic love, promulgates utilitarian views that in turn give way to various types of emotional illness and unrestrained passions. As you discover how sin damages the moral and emotional life of man, youï1/2ï1/2ï1/2ll come to see that the only source of true happiness is through the acquisition of virtu