Disputed Questions on the Soul, on Spiritual Creatures, on the Virtues, on the Union of the Incarnate Word, Vol. 26. This item is unavailable.Disputed Questions on the Soul, on Spiritual Creatures, on the Virtues, on the Union of the Incarnate Word, Vol. 26

The four collections of disputed questions in this volume come from two periods in Aquinas's life. The disputed questions On the Soul and On Spiritual Creatures were likely composed, respectively, around 1265–1266 and 1267–1268, during Aquinas's stay in Rome, where he was tasked with setting up a studium at Santa Sabina. The disputed questions On the Virtues and On the Union of the Incarnate Word, on the other hand, were composed toward the end of Aquinas's second teaching period in Paris, around 1271–1272. ""Disputed questions"" are considerably edited reports of school debates, or disputationes, on various questions or topics, in which supporting and opposing arguments on a given theme were discussed and then resolved by the presiding master. These four groups of disputed questions cover a wide variety of topics and reflect many of the important issues that Aquinas was thinking about; since at this point he was also in the midst of composing his Summa theologiae, there are many parallels in these disputed questions to his treatments therein.

An intellectual giant of the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas is best known for the clarity of thought in his philosophical and theological writings. His primary occupation at the University of Paris was as a theologian and a commentator on Sacred Scripture, and his philosophical work was always at the service of his Scriptural meditations. The writings of Thomas Aquinas remain widely influential to this day. “In his thinking, the demands of reason and the power of faith found the most elevated synthesis ever attained by human thought.” - John Paul II, Fides et Ratio