Jacques Maritain Center: Readings
Of God and His Creatures
An Annotated Translation (With some Abridgement) of the Summa Contra Gentiles of Saint Thos Aquinas by Joseph Rickaby, S.J., M.A. Lond: B.Sc. Oxon., Author of "Aquinas Ethicus" etc. etc. (London: Burns and Oates, 1905).Piae memoriae Leonis XIII Sacerdotis Magni qui in vita sua suffulsit domum et in diebus suis corroboravit templum.
Translator's Preface
Book I: Of God As He Is In Himself
1: The Function of the Wise Man3: That the Truths which we confess concerning God fall under two Modes or Categories
6: That there is no Lightmindedness in assenting to Truths of Faith, although they are above Reason
7: That the Truth of Reason is not contrary to the Truths of Christian Faith
8: Of the relation of Human Reason to the First Truth of Faith
9: The Order and Mode of Procedure in this Work
11: Rejection of the aforesaid Opinion and Solution of the aforesaid Reasons
13: Reasons in proof of the Existence of God
14: That in order to a Knowledge of God we must proceed by the method of Negative Differentiation
16: That in God there is no Passive Potentiality
18: That in God there is no Composition
21: That God is His own Essence
22: That in God Existence and Essence are the same
23: That in God there is no Accident
24: That the Existence of God cannot be characterised by the addition of any Substantial Differentia
25: That God is not in any Genus
26: That God is not the Formal or Abstract Being of all things
28: That God is Universal Perfection
29: How Likeness to God may be found in Creatures
30: What Names can be predicated of God
32: That nothing is predicated of God and of other Beings synonymously
34: That the Things that are said of God and of Creatures are said analogously
35: That the several Names predicated of God are not synonymous
36: That the Propositions which our Understanding forms of God are not void of Meaning
38: That God is His own Goodness
39: That in God there can be no Evil
40: That God is the Good of all Good
42: That God is One
44: That God has Understanding
45: That in God the Act of Understanding is His very Essence
46: That God understands by nothing else than by His own Essence
47: That God perfectly understands Himself
48: That God primarily and essentially knows Himself alone
49: That God knows other things besides Himself
50: That God has a Particular Knowledge of all things
51: Some Discussion of the question how there is in the Divine Understanding a Multitude of Objects
53: How there is in God a Multitude of Objects of Understanding
54: That the Divine Essence, being One, is the proper Likeness and Type of all things Intelligible
55: That God understands all things at once and together
56: That there is not Habitual Knowledge in God
57: That God's Knowledge is not a Reasoned Knowledge
58: That God does not understand by Combination and Separation of Ideas
59: That the Truth to be found in Propositions is not excluded from God
62: That the Truth of God is the First and Sovereign Truth
63: Arguments of those who wish to withdraw from God the Knowledge of Individual Things
64: A list of things to be said concerning the Divine Knowledge
65: That God knows Individual Things
66: That God knows things which are not
67: That God knows Individual Contingent Events
68: That God knows the Motions of the Will
69: That God knows Infinite Things
70: That God knows Base and Mean Things
71: That God knows Evil Things
73: That the Will of God is His Essence
74: That the Object of the Will of God in the first place is God Himself
75: That God in willing Himself wills also other things besides Himself
76: That with one and the same Act of Will God wills Himself and all other beings
78: That the Divine Will reaches to the good of Individual Existences
79: That God wills things even that as yet are not
80: That God of necessity wills His own Being and His own Goodness
81: That God does not of necessity love other things than Himself
82: Arguments against the aforesaid Doctrine, and Solution of the same
83: That God wills anything else than Himself with an Hypothetical Necessity
84: That the Will of God is not of things in themselves Impossible
85: That the Divine Will does not take away Contingency from things
86: That Reason can be assigned for the Divine Will
87: That nothing can be a Cause to the Divine Will
88: That there is Free Will in God
89: That there are no Passions in God
90: That there is in God Delight and Joy
92: In what sense Virtues can be posited in God
93: That there are in God the Virtues which regulate Action
94: That the Contemplative (intellectual) Virtues are in God
99: That the Life of God is everlasting
100: That God is Happy
101: That God is His own Happiness
102: That the Happiness of God is most Perfect, and exceeds all other Happiness
Book II: God The Origin of Creatures
1: Connexion of what follows with what has gone before4: That the Philosopher and the Theologian view Creatures from different Standpoints
5: Order of matters to be treated
6: That it belongs to God to be to other Beings the Principle of Existence
7: That there is in God Active Power
8: That God's Power is His Substance
9: That God's Power is His Action
10: In what manner Power is said to be in God
11: That something is predicated of God in relation to Creatures
12: That the Relations, predicated of God in regard of Creatures, are not really in God
13: How the aforesaid Relations are predicated of God
15: That God is to all things the Cause of their being
16: That God has brought things into being out of nothing
17: That Creation is not a Movement nor a Change
18: Solution of Arguments against Creation
19: That Creation is not Successive
21: That it belongs to God alone to create
23: That God's action in creation is not of Physical Necessity, but of Free Choice of Will
24: That God acts by His Wisdom
25: In what sense some things are said to be Impossible to the Almighty
26: That the Divine Understanding is not limited to certain Fixed Effects
28: That God has not brought things into being in discharge of any Debt of justice
30: How Absolute Necessity may have place in Creation
31: That it is not necessary for Creatures to have existed from Eternity
32, 35: Reasons alleged for the Eternity of the World on the part of God, with Answers to the same
33, 36: Reasons alleged for the Eternity of the World on the part of Creatures, with Answers to the same
38: Arguments wherewith some try to show that the World is not Eternal, and Solutions of the same
41: That the Variety of Creatures does not arise from any Contrariety of Prime Agents
44: That the Variety of Creatures has not arisen from Variety of Merits and Demerits
45: The real Prime Cause of the Variety of Creatures
47: That Subsistent Intelligences are Voluntary Agents
48: That Subsistent Intelligences have Free Will
49: That Subsistent Intelligence is not Corporeal
52: That in Created Subsistent Intelligences there is a Difference between Existence and Essence
53: That in Created Subsistent Intelligences there is Actuality and Potentiality
55: That Subsistent Intelligences are Imperishable
57: Plato's Theory of the Union of the Intellectual Soul with the Body
58: That Vegetative, Sentient, and Intelligent are not in Man Three Souls
59: That the Potential Intellect of Man is not a Spirit subsisting apart from Matter
61: That the aforesaid Tenet is contrary to the Mind of Aristotle
62: Against the Opinion of Alexander concerning the Potential Intellect
64: That the Soul is not a Harmony
65: That the Soul is not a Body
66: Against those who suppose Intellect and Sense to be the same
67: Against those who maintain that the Potential Intellect is the Phantasy
68: How a Subsistent Intelligence may be the Form of a Body
73: That the Potential Intellect is not One and the Same in all men
75: Confutation of the Arguments which seem to prove the Unity of the Potential Intellect
76: That the Active Intellect is not a separately Subsisting Intelligence, but a Faculty of the Soul
79: That the Human Soul does not perish with the Body
82: That the Souls of Dumb Animals are not Immortal
85: That the Soul is not of the Substance of God
86: That the Human Soul is not transmitted by Generation
87: That the Human Soul is brought into being by a Creative Act of God
88, 89: Arguments against the Truth of the Conclusion last drawn, with their Solution
91: That there are Subsistent Intelligences not united with Bodies
93: That Intelligences Subsisting apart are not more than One in the same Species
94: That an Intelligence Subsisting apart and a Soul are not of one Species
96: That Intelligences Subsisting apart do not gather their Knowledge from Objects of Sense
97: That the Mind of an Intelligence Subsisting apart is ever in the act of understanding
98: How one Separately Subsisting Intelligence knows another
100: That Intelligences Subsisting apart know Individual Things
Book III: God the End of Creatures
1: Preface to the Book that follows2: That every Agent acts to some End
3: That every Agent acts to some Good
4: That Evil in Things is beside the Intention of the Agent
5, 6: Arguments against the Truth of the Conclusion last drawn, with Solutions of the same
7: That Evil is not a Nature or Essence
8, 9: Arguments against the aforesaid Conclusion, with Answers to the same
10: That the Cause of Evil is Good
11: That Evil is founded in some Good
12: That Evil does not entirely swallow up Good
14: That Evil is an Accidental Cause
15: That there is not any Sovereign Evil, acting as the Principle of all Evils
16: That the End in view of everything is some Good
17: That all things are ordained to one End, which is God
18: How God is the End of all things
19: That all things aim at Likeness to God
20: How things copy the Divine Goodness
21: That things aim at Likeness to God in being Causes of other things
24: That all things seek Good, even things devoid of Consciousness
25: That the End of every Subsistent Intelligence is to understand God
26: That Happiness does not consist in any Act of the Will
27: That the Happiness of Man does not consist in Bodily Pleasures
28, 29: That Happiness does not consist in Honours nor in Human Glory
30: That Man's Happiness does not consist in Riches
31: That Happiness does not consist in Worldly Power
32: That Happiness does not consist in Goods of the Body
34: That the Final Happiness of Man does not consist in Acts of the Moral Virtues
37: That the Final Happiness of Man consists in the Contemplation of God
39: That Happiness does not consist in the Knowledge of God which is to be had by Demonstration
40: That Happiness does not consist in the Knowledge of God by Faith
41 - 45: [That we cannot find happiness in this life by sharing an angel's natural knowledge of God]
46: That the Soul in this Life does not understand itself by itself
47: That we cannot in this Life see God as He essentially is
48: That the Final Happiness of Man is not in this Life
51: How God is seen as He essentially is
52: That no Created Substance can of its Natural Power arrive to see God as He essentially is
53: That a Created Intelligence needs some influx of Divine Light to see God in His Essence
54: Arguments against the aforesaid Statements and their Solutions
55: That the Created Intelligence does not comprehend the Divine Substance
56: That no Created Intelligence in seeing God sees all things that can be seen in Him
57: That every Intelligence of every Grade can be partaker of the Vision of God
58: That one may see God more perfectly than another
59: How they who see the Divine Substance see all things
60: That they who see God see all things in Him at once
61: That by the Sight of God one is made partaker of Life Everlasting
62: That they who see God will see Him for ever
63: How in that Final Happiness every Desire of Man is fulfilled
64: That God governs things by His Providence
65: That God preserves things in Being
66: That nothing gives Being except in so much as it acts in the Power of God
67: That God is Cause of Activity in all Active Agents
68: That God is everywhere and in all things
69: Of the Opinion of those who withdraw from Natural Things their Proper Actions
70: How the Same Effect is from God and from a Natural Agent
71: That the Divine Providence is not wholly inconsistent with the presence of Evil in Creation
72: That Divine Providence is not inconsistent with an element of Contingency in Creation
73: That Divine Providence is not inconsistent with Freedom of the Will
74: That Divine Providence is not inconsistent with Fortune and Chance
75: That the Providence of God is exercised over Individual and Contingent Things
76: That the Providence of God watches immediately over all Individual Things
77: That the arrangements of Divine Providence are carried into execution by means of Secondary Causes
78: That Intelligent Creatures are the Medium through which other Creatures are governed by God
81: Of the Subordination of Men one to another
88: That other Subsistent Intelligences cannot be direct Causes of our Elections and Volitions
89: That the Motion of the Will is caused by God, and not merely by the Power of the Will
90: That Human Choices and Volitions are subject to Divine Providence
91: How Human Things are reduced to Higher Causes
92: In what sense one is said to be Fortunate, and how Man is aided by Higher Causes
93: Of Fate, whether there be such a thing, and if so, what it is
94: Of the Certainty of Divine Providence
95, 96: That the Immutability of Divine Providence does not bar the Utility of Prayer
96: That God does not hear all Prayers
97: How the Arrangements of Divine Providence follow a Plan
100: That the things which God does beyond the Order of Nature are not contrary to Nature
101: Of Miracles
102: That God alone works Miracles
103: How Separately Subsisting Spirits work certain Wonders, which yet are not true Miracles
104: That the Works of Magicians are not due solely to the Influence of the Heavenly Spheres
105: Whence the performances of Magicians derive their Efficacy
107: That the Subsistent Intelligence, whose aid is employed in Magic, is not Evil by Nature
109: That in Spirits there may be Sin, and how
108, 110: Arguments seeming to prove that Sin is impossible to Spirits, with Solutions of the same
114: That it was necessary for a Law to be given to Man by God
115: That the main purpose of the Divine Law is to subordinate Man to God
116: That the End of the Divine Law is the Love of God
117: That by the Divine Law we are directed to the Love of our Neighbour
118: That by Divine Law men are obliged to a Right Faith
119: That by certain Sensible Rites our mind is directed to God
120: That the Worship of Latria is to be paid to God alone
121: That the Divine Law directs man to a Rational Use of Corporeal and Sensible Things
123: That Marriage ought to be Indissoluble
124: That Marriage ought to be between one Man and one Woman
125: That Marriage ought not to take place between Kindred
126: That not all Sexual Intercourse is Sin
127: That of no Food is the Use Sinful in itself
128: How the Law of God relates a man to his Neighbour
130: That the Divine Government of Men is after the manner of Paternal Government
131: Of the Counsels that are given in the Divine Law
132, 135: Arguments against Voluntary Poverty, with Replies
133, 136: Of various Modes of Living adopted by the Votaries of Voluntary Poverty
134: In what the Good of Poverty consists
137: Arguments against Perpetual Continence, with Replies
139: Against those who find fault with Vows
140: That neither all Good Works nor all Sins are Equal
141: That a Man's Acts are punished or rewarded by God
142: Of the Difference and Order of Punishments
143: That not all Punishments nor all Rewards are Equal
144: Of the Punishment due to Mortal and Venial Sins respectively in regard to the Last End
145: That the Punishment whereby one is deprived of his Last End is Interminable
146: That Sins are punished also by the experience of something Painful
147: That it is Lawful for judges to inflict Punishments
148: That Man stands in need of Divine Grace for the Gaining of Happiness
149: That the Divine Assistance does not compel a Man to Virtue
150: That Man cannot merit beforehand the said Assistance
152: That the Grace which constitutes the State of Grace causes in us the Love of God
153: That Divine Grace causes in us Faith
154: That Divine Grace causes in us a Hope of future Blessedness
155: Of Graces given gratuitously
156: That Man needs the Assistance of Divine Grace to Persevere in Good
157: That he who falls from Grace by Sin may be recovered again by Grace
158: That Man cannot be delivered from Sin except by Grace
159: How Man is delivered from Sin
161: That a Man already in Mortal Sin cannot avoid more Mortal Sin without Grace
162: That some Men God delivers from Sin, and some He leaves in Sin
163: That God is Cause of Sin to no Man
164: Of Predestination, Reprobation, and Divine Election
Book IV: Of God in His Revelation
1: Preface2: Of Generation, Paternity, and Sonship in God
4, 9: The Opinion of Photinus touching the Son of God and its Rejection
5: Rejection of the Opinion of Sabellius concerning the Son of God
6: Of the Opinion of Arius concerning the Son of God
7: Rejection of Arius's Position
8: Explanation of the Texts which Arius used to allege for himself
12: How the Son of God is called the Wisdom of God
17: That the Holy Ghost is true God
18: That the Holy Ghost is a Subsistent Person
20: Of the Effects which the Scriptures attribute to the Holy Ghost in respect of the whole Creation
22: Of the Effects attributed to the Holy Ghost in the attraction of the Rational Creature to God
23: Replies to Arguments alleged against the Divinity of the Holy Ghost
24: That the Holy Ghost Proceeds from the Son
26: That there are only Three Persons in the Godhead, Father and Son and Holy Ghost
27: Of the Incarnation of the Word according to the Tradition of Holy Scripture
28: Of the Error of Photinus concerning the Incarnation
29: Of the Error of the Manicheans concerning the Incarnation
32, 33: Of the Error of Arius and Apollinaris concerning the Soul of Christ
34: Of the Error of Theodore of Mopsuestia concerning the Union of the Word with Man
35: Against the Error of Eutyches
36: Of the Error of Macarius of Antioch, who posited one Operation only and one Will only in Christ
39: The Doctrine of Catholic Faith concerning the Incarnation
41: Some further Elucidation of the Incarnation
40, 49: Objections against the Faith of the Incarnation, with Replies
45: That Christ was born of a Virgin without prejudice to His true and natural Humanity
46, 47: That Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost
54: Of the Incarnation as part of the Fitness of Things
55: Points of Reply to Difficulties touching the Economy of the Incarnation
50: That Original Sin is transmitted from our First Parent to his Posterity
51, 52: Arguments against Original Sin, with Replies
57: Of the Difference between the Sacraments of the Old and of the New Law
58: Of the Number of the Sacraments of the New Law
59: Of Baptism
60: Of Confirmation
61: Of the Eucharist
63: Of the Conversion of Bread into the Body of Christ
64: An Answer to Difficulties raised in respect of Place
65: The Difficulty of the Accidents remaining
66: What happens when the Sacramental Species pass away
67: Answer to the Difficulty raised in respect of the Breaking of the Host
69: Of the kind of Bread and Wine that ought to be used for the Consecration of this Sacrament
70: That it is possible for a man to sin after receiving Sacramental Grace
71: That a man who sins after the Grace of the Sacraments may be converted to Grace
72: Of the need of the Sacrament of Penance, and of the Parts thereof
73: Of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction
75: Of the Distinction of Orders
76: Of the Episcopal Dignity, and that therein one Bishop is Supreme
77: That Sacraments can be administered even by Wicked Ministers
78: Of the Sacrament of Matrimony
79: That through Christ the Resurrection of our Bodies will take place
81: Some Points of Reply to Difficulties on the Resurrection
82: That Men shall rise again Immortal
83: That in the Resurrection there will be no use of Food or Intercourse of the Sexes
84: That Risen Bodies shall be of the same Nature as before
85: That the Bodies of the Risen shall be otherwise organised than before
86: Of the Qualities of Glorified Bodies
88: Of Sex and Age in the Resurrection
89: Of the Quality of Risen Bodies in the Lost
91: That Souls enter upon Punishment or Reward immediately after their Separation from their Bodies
92: That the Souls of the Saints after Death have their Will immutably fixed on Good
93: That the Souls of the Wicked after Death have their Will immutably fixed on Evil
94: Of the Immutability of the Will of Souls detained in Purgatory
95: Of the General Cause of Immutability in all Souls after their Separation from the Body
97: Of the State of the World after the judgement
Afterword