St. Thomas Aquinas Reading  

I think you'll find the Aquinas reading a lot easier than what we've been reading so far.  The subject matter is a lot more familiar, the terminology is less specialized, and the arguments are not as compressed.  In addition, you are now going to see the careful, methodical development of a philosophical theory.  The only downside is that the readings will be pretty long.  Here are some suggestions to help you manage the substantial reading load you've now got.

  Read for information!  This is something you should alwasy try to do.  Don't try to absorb and remember everything, because you will end up remembering nothing.  Look at the study questions to have a some specific things in mind you are looking for.  Let me add another question that is not in the study questions:  why does Aquinas think that being blind (e.g.) is evil, but not sinful?

  Pages 3-113 are from the Summa Contra Gentiles, a defense of the faith against unbelievers.   It does have a disputational structure (see below), but that structure is often not visible.  Most of the short chapters read like lists of arguments for the same conclusion.  This means that you don't have to figure out how every argument works.  Find the one or two arguments that make most sense to you, and you will probably learn what you need to know.  Aquinas is kinda throwing everything he can at the unbelievers, hoping that at least one argument will work.

  The rest of the reading assignment is from the Summa Theologica, which is a systematic treatment of theology for believers.  It was intended to be useful to ordinary priests (a sort of compendium of answers to tough questions), and also to beginning students in theology.   It explicitly relies on the disputational method, and that is how it is organized:

1. Initial Question to be answered.
2. Objections to Aquinas' answer to the question.
3. Relevant Authority in support of Aquinas' answer to the question (this always beings with the phrase "On the contrary").
4. Aquinas' Answer to the question and his central argument in defense of his answer.
5. Replies to the objections.

Remember that your primary task is to understand the question, Aquinas' answer, and his basic argument in defense of his answer.  When you have a lot of Aquinas to read in a hurry, you should feel free to skip the objections, replies and the "On the contrary."  The study questions point you to specific questions you should spend more time on, and specific things you should be thinking about, but outside of those, and whatever I mention to you in class, feel free to skip everything except the question, Aquinas' answer and his argument for his answer.