The Cambridge Companion to the Summa Theologiae
EDITED BY PHILIP McCOSKER AND DENYS TURNER

The weeping and wailing that accompanied the demise of neo-Thomism in the wake of Vatican II has been succeeded by what might have seemed an unlikely development 50 years ago—the unprecedented flourishing in recent decades of the study of Thomas Aquinas and his great work, the Summa Theologiae. As if freed from an ecclesiastical prison, Thomas and the Summa have inspired so many new studies – historical, philosophical, ethical and theological – that even the most dedicated scholars can scarcely keep up with the flood. All have tried to return to the “original” Thomas, however difficult that may be, and certainly far better understand the need to consider Thomas in the context of his times than the ahistorical neo-Thomism regnant between c.1870 and 1960. There remain competing interpretations of Thomas, whether of those who would describe themselves as “Thomists”, or of scholars who eschew labels and study the Dominican simply as one of the premier theologians in the Catholic tradition.

This Thomas revival is evident on a world-wide level, but seems to have been particularly lively in English-language scholarship in recent years, as demonstrated by a number of general monographs on Thomas (by Bauerschmidt, Nichols, Healy, Turner, etc.), as well as several multi-author handbooks.