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 Man

2 : Of the Author's Purpose

3 : That the Truths which we confess concerning God fall under two Modes or Categories

4 : That it is an Advantage for the Truths of God, known by Natural Reason, to be proposed to men to be believed on Faith

5 : That it is an Advantage for things that cannot be searched out by Reason to be proposed as Tenets of Faith

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

10 : Of the Opinion of those who say that the Existence of God cannot be proved, being a Self-evident Truth

11 : Rejection of the aforesaid Opinion and Solution of the aforesaid Reasons

12 : Of the Opinion of those who say that the Existence of God is a Tenet of Faith alone and cannot be demonstrated

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

15 : That God is Eternal

16 : That in God there is no Passive Potentiality

18 : That in God there is no Composition

20 : That God is Incorporeal

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

31 : That the Plurality of Divine Names is not inconsistent with the Simplicity of the Divine Being predicated of God and of other Beings

32 : That nothing is predicated of God and of other Beings synonymously

33 : That it is not at all true that the application of common Predicates to God and to Creatures involves nothing beyond a mere Identity of Name

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

43 : That God is Infinite

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

52 : Reasons to show how the Multitude of Intelligible Ideal Forms has no Existence except in the Divine Understanding

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

60 : That God is Truth

61 : That God is Pure Truth

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

72 : That God has a Will

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

77 : That the Multitude of the Objects of God's Will is not inconsistent with the Simplicity of His Substance

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

91 : That there is Love in God

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

95 : That God can will no Evil

96 : That God hates nothing

97 : That God is Living

98 : That God is His own Life

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 before

4 : 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

14 : That the Predication of many Relations of God is no prejudice to the Simplicity and Singleness of His Being

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

22 : That God is Almighty

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

29 : How in the production of a creature there may be found a Debt of justice in respect of the Necessary Sequence of something Posterior upon something Prior

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

34, 37 : Reasons alleged for the Eternity of the World on the part of the fact of its Production, 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

46 : That it was necessary for the Perfection of the Universe that there should be some Intellectual Natures

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

56, 69 : How a Subsistent Intelligence may be United with a Body, with a Solution of the Arguments alleged to prove that a Subsistent Intelligence cannot be United with a Body as its Form

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

60 : That a Man is not a member of the Human Species by possession of Passive Intellect, but by possession of Potential Intellect

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

69 : Solution of the Arguments alleged to show that a Subsistent Intelligence cannot be united with a Body as the Form of that Body

73 : That the Potential Intellect is not One and the Same in all men

74 : Of the Opinion of Avicenna, who supposed Intellectual Forms not to be preserved in the Potential Intellect

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

77 : That it is not Impossible for the Potential and the Active Intellect to be united in the one Substance of the Soul

78 : That it was not the Opinion of Aristotle that the Active Intellect is a separately Subsistent Intelligence, but rather that it is a Part of the Soul

79 : That the Human Soul does not perish with the Body

80, 81 : Arguments of those who wish to prove that the Human Soul perishes with the Body, with Replies to the same

82 : That the Souls of Dumb Animals are not Immortal

83, 84 : Apparent Arguments to show that the Human Soul does not begin with the Body, but has been from Eternity, with Replies to the same

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

99 : That Intelligences Subsisting apart know Material Things, that is to say, the Species of Things Corporeal

100 : That Intelligences Subsisting apart know Individual Things

101 : Whether to Separately Subsisting Intelligences all parts of their Natural Knowledge are simultaneously present


Book III: God the End of Creatures

1 : Preface to the Book that follows

2 : 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

38 : That Human Happiness does not consist in such Knowledge of God as is common to the Majority of Mankind

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

49 : That the Knowledge which Pure Spirits have of God through knowing their own Essence does not carry with it a Vision of the Essence of God

50 : That the Desire of Pure Intelligences does not rest satisfied in the Natural Knowledge which they have of God

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

99 : How God can work beyond the Order laid down for Creatures, and produce Effects without Proximate Causes

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

106 : That the Subsistent Intelligence, which lends Efficacy to Magical Performances, is not Good in both Categories of Being

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

112 : That Rational Creatures are governed by Providence for their own sakes, and other Creatures in reference to them

113 : That the acts of the Rational Creature are guided by God, not merely to the realisation of the Specific Type, but also to the realisation of the Individual

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

122 : Of the reason for which Simple Fornication is a Sin by Divine Law, and of the Natural Institution of Marriage

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

129 : That the things commanded by the Divine Law are Right, not only because the Law enacts them, but also according to Nature

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

151 : That the aforesaid Assistance is called 'Grace,' and what is the meaning of 'Grace constituting a State of Grace'

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

160 : That it is reasonably reckoned a Man's own Fault if he be not converted to God, although he cannot be converted without Grace

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 : Preface

2 : Of Generation, Paternity, and Sonship in God

3 : That the Son of God is 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

21 : Of the Effects attributed to the Holy Ghost in Scripture in the way of Gifts bestowed on the Rational Creature

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

44 : That the Human Nature, assumed by the Word, was perfect in Soul and Body in the instant of Conception

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

56 : Of the Need of Sacraments

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

68 : The Explanation of a Text

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

74 : Of the Sacrament of Order

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

90 : How Incorporeal Subsistent Spirits suffer from Corporeal Fire, and are befittingly punished with Corporeal Punishments

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

96 : Of the Last judgement

97 : Of the State of the World after the judgement


Afterword