TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

This translation of the Compendium theologiae of St. Thomas was undertaken for the benefit of students and readers who are eager to acquaint themselves with the thought of the Angelic Doctor, but who do not feel that they have mastered Latin sufficiently to read his works comfortably in the original. The book should be especially useful for courses in religion or theology for the laity.

             St. Thomas had such readers expressly in mind. As he says in the opening chapter, the work was written for those who might desire a convenient synopsis of Christian teaching. Since he composed it during the last two years of his life, that is, in 1272-73, when he was at the height of his power and had already written the Summa contra Gentiles and most of the Summa theologica, the work possesses a sureness of mastery and an authority that endow it with extraordinary value. It is surpassed in importance only by the two treatises just mentioned and the Scriptum super libros Sententiarum.

             Thus the Compendium, written by St. Thomas in his full maturity, indicates what, to his clear mind, with its comprehensive theological grasp, is most important in theology. Therefore the book can also serve as a key to a fruitful study of his more detailed and copious works.

             Indeed, the remarkable lucidity and brevity of the points treated in the Compendium of Theology enable us to follow the unfolding of the thought of St. Thomas more inerrantly than is possible in any of the larger treatises. Without difficulty we can trace the logical consecutiveness of his deductive processes and see how he infers truth from truth.

             As planned by St. Thomas, the work was to have consisted of three parts, under the headings of faith, hope, and charity. His untimely death prevented him from realizing his plan; he got no farther than the tenth chapter of Part Two. Fortunately he was able to complete Part One, the most important from the theological point of view. This part, on faith, is subdivided into two sections or treatises. The first of these deals mainly with the Blessed Trinity, but opens with a discussion of the unity of the divine nature, and also treats of creation and the different classes of creatures. The second treatise of Part One, after a preliminary discussion of original justice and original sin, takes up the question of Christ's humanity.

             In reading the Compendium of Theology--and the same is true in reading the Summa theologica--we shall do well to advert to the difference between the science of theology as envisaged by St. Thomas and theology as treated in modern manuals. Modern theology, that is, theology as it has developed since the Spanish revival in the sixteenth century, seeks less to explain the intimate nature of supernatural truth than to establish the fact of its existence. Such facts escape our experience; we can have contact with the supernatural world only through revelation. The concern of modern theological treatises is to establish their theses by means of authentic texts painstakingly drawn from the sources of revelation. Undoubtedly the progress of apologetics and positive theology has fixed the data of revelation with greater precision than was the case in the Middle Ages. Undoubtedly, too, such progress is to be highly esteemed, especially in view of the widespread heresy and defection from God that have been striving for centuries to undermine the foundations of the faith. Today we know more accurately than in the past what we are to believe, and have established with all the certitude of the most rigorous scientific method the truths that God has revealed.

             But the danger is that, in our engrossing zeal to safeguard the deposit of revelation, we may neglect to penetrate into the truths of revelation, to assimilate them, to invigorate our charity with them. The fides quaerens intellectum, faith in search of understanding, which was the ideal of medieval theology, may become a faith in search of the motives of credibility.

             The theologian has had to interrupt his proper task, which is the contemplation of the supernatural universe in the light of God's own knowledge, in answer to the call of more pressing needs. He has had to descend to the level of God's enemies and take up battle against them on many fronts. Until completely victorious, theology must continue to engage in controversy. At the same time, it may not lose its high vision. It must replenish its strength in the only atmosphere healthy for it, the atmosphere of serene theological contemplation. Such, not exclusively but at any rate predominantly, is the atmosphere of Thomistic theology.

             For St. Thomas theology was a science: not merely an ascertaining of facts, but a knowledge of facts through their causes. Living in happier days, well called the "Ages of Faith," in spite of the sneers of modern scoffers, he had less need to demonstrate the facts of revelation, which is the domain of positive theology, and so could turn his genius to an investigation of the why and wherefore of the supernatural world disclosed by God. His chief endeavor was to explain, through their causes, the natures of beings already known, of facts whose existence, duly attested by faith, he could presuppose as already ascertained with certitude.

             This being his task, he did not judge that he had to justify his principles by invoking, at every step, the testimony of the inspired writers and their authentic interpreters. Arguments drawn from authority, he held, convince us of the existence of a supernatural truth; they do not give us an intelligence of it. As he points out in Quodlibet IV, a. 18, sometimes we have to dispute with Jews, heretics, or schismatics; then appeal to the authorities admitted by these adversaries is our proper procedure. But if the teacher's aim is not to remove error but to impart instruction that will lead to understanding, he should lay bare the ultimate reasons underlying the truth. "If the teacher settles the question by merely citing authorities, the student will, indeed, be assured that the matter is so; but he will gain nothing of science or understanding, and will depart empty-minded."

             Since arguments from authority cannot convey understanding, theological science bases its conclusions on ontological considerations, drawn from the very nature of the subject investigated. It seeks answers to its questions, not in this or that testimony of Sacred Scripture or the Fathers, but in the very essence of supernatural realities and of the whole supernatural order, as described by revelation. In the causes, especially the final cause, of supernatural realities, it will find the ultimate explanation of their being, their properties, and their actions.

             If we bear in mind this distinction between the scope of medieval theology and that of modern theology, we shall not search the writings of St. Thomas for Christian evidences that are not there, but shall follow him as he gradually unfolds before our eyes the eternal designs of God who loves us in Christ and who has predestined us to be made conformable to the image of His Son. In this advance our faith will acquire some understanding of the sublime truths of revelation. The value of the Summa theologica is the ultimate explanation it endeavors to impart of all things supernatural through their causal connection with God. To a lesser extent, the same is true of the Compendium of Theology.

             The full title by which this work is generally known is Compendium theologiae ad fratrem Reginaldum socium suum carissimum. The original designation seems to have been Brevis compilatio theologiae ad fratrem Raynaldum de Piperno. The title, De fide et spe is a later addition designed to explain its content. The work is sometimes referred to as "Opusculum II," from its serial number in the Piana edition.

             The Compendium theologiae is found in the following standard editions of St. Thomas:

 1. Opera omnia, iussu S. Pii V, 18 vols. in fol. (Rome, 1570-71). Vol. XVII. This is known as the Piana edition, or the first Roman edition, or the editio Vaticana.

 2. Opera omnia, 25 vols. (Parma, 1852-73). Vol. XVI.

 3. Opera omnia, ed. E. Frette and P. Mare, 34 vols. (Paris: Vives, 1871-80). Vol. XXVII.

 4. Opuscula omnia, ed. P. Mandonnet, 5 vols. (Paris: Lethielleux, 1927). Vol. II.

             In making the translation, I have used the last three of these editions. In general, I preferred the Vives text, which seemed to me the best. But in numbering the chapters I have followed Mandonnet's order, which is also that of the Piana edition, as books or articles that refer to the Compendium almost universally cite or quote chapters according to this order.

             The footnotes have been supplied by me; the conventions of medieval scholarship did not impose on St. Thomas the rigors of exact ascertaining of references. In the arduous labor of locating references I found some help in the annotations of the Ottawa edition of the Summa and the Leonine edition of the Contra Gentiles; for which I wish to express my acknowledgments. But in every case I checked the sources cited for accuracy. I have also supplied the verses to scriptural references, generally incorporating them in the text without further indication, so as to avoid needless footnotes. Complete titles of collections and works referred to in the annotations will be found in the Bibliography.

Cyril Vollert, S.J.

St. Mary's College

St. Marys, Kansas