jjares reviewed Thomas Aquinas: A Life from Beginning to End (Biographies of Christians) on + 3297 more book reviews
Certainly, this author has humanized Thomas Aquinas and explained the time in which Aquinas was active. What I thought was a bit lacking was an explanation of WHAT and WHY Aquinas' works were so important. To this day, Aquinas is considered one of the most important doctors of his faith; yet this book doesn't really explain what was so astounding about his writing.
This book did a fine job of explaining that much of Thomas Aquinas' work was based on or in contrast to Aristotle's work. But I was left hanging, wondering what all the ruckus was about. Because Thomas Aquinas lived in the 1200s, perhaps he answered questions that theologians were grappling with during those times. But I didn't get a sense of just what Aquinas stood for and why he was different from what came before.
This book did a fine job of explaining that much of Thomas Aquinas' work was based on or in contrast to Aristotle's work. But I was left hanging, wondering what all the ruckus was about. Because Thomas Aquinas lived in the 1200s, perhaps he answered questions that theologians were grappling with during those times. But I didn't get a sense of just what Aquinas stood for and why he was different from what came before.
