title: Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae: A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books)
author:  Bernard McGinn 
description: <b>&quot;Honorable Mention, 2015 Catholic Press Association Book Award, History Category&quot;</b><br /><br />"Introductions to Aquinas abound, but few manage so succinctly to introduce the reader not only to the person and his work, but also to the enduring influence of Aquinas."<b>---Alban McCoy, <i>Tablet</i></b><br /><br />"McGinn's gift is his effort to bring some of the original warmth back into the Summa, first by making it the subject of a biography, reminding us that this great work has had a life of its own. He also argues that the sacra doctrina at the heart of the Summa is best understood in relation to sapientia, or wisdom."<b>---Alden Lee Bass, <i>Englewood Review of Books</i></b><br /><br />"[E]xcellent and beautifully written. . . . There is a long and complicated story to tell here, one in which both friends and foes of Aquinas feature. But McGinn tells it very well while being brief and to the point, and he manages to do so without having a pro-Aquinas or an anti-Aquinas agenda. The result strikes me as a balanced and non-partisan account of considerable value."<b>---Brian Davies, <i>New Blackfriars</i></b><br /><br />"A welcome contribution to Princeton's highly regarded Lives of Great Religious Books series, Bernard McGinn's 'biography' of Thomas's masterwork is a deeply impressive book. Learned, judicious, elegant, a model of expositional economy and analytical clarity, it may be the best brief introduction to the production, structure and content, and reception of the Summa theologiae available in English."<b>---Donald Wood, <i>Religion and Theology</i></b><br /><br />"This biography succinctly covers a vast amount of ground, but it is always accessible and readable and often elegant. It would be an excellent introduction for any newcomer curious about Aquinas's reputation, and it is a handy survey for scholars of the field."<b>---Philip L. Reynolds, <i>Journal of Religion</i></b><br /><br />"A concise yet sweeping introduction to Aquinas's <i>Summa Theologiae</i>. The text successfully weds brevity of content with analytical depth."<b>---Katherine Wrisley Shelby, <i>Religious Studies Review</i></b><br /><br />"This book is a delight to read. It is genuinely extraordinary how much scholarship McGinn managed to distill into this book, which nonetheless remains utterly readable. McGinn has absorbed the best of research, pondered and expounded it, and contributed to it, in a book that must rank as one of the best introductions to Aquinas available."<b>---Rik Van Nieuwenhove, <i>Horizons</i></b><br /><br />"McGinn marvelously presents the context, content, and impact of the <i>Summa theologiae</i> without overwhelming the reader. The book reads delightfully and would be a wonderful introduction for anyone who is interested in, but perhaps intimidated by, Aquinas's massive work."<b>---Rachel Erdman, <i>Sewanee Theological Review</i></b><br /><br />"The <i>Summa theologiae</i> set a defining intellectual mark for the West. Bernard McGinn, in his elegant book, shows how Aquinas's transcendent work resonated through the centuries to remain a necessary measure of thought to this day."<b>James Carroll, author of <i>Warburg in Rome</i></b>
zlib_text: Imogen
  A Pastoral Romance
  William Godwin
  2005
  
  Contents
  Preface
  3
  BOOK THE FIRST
  7
  BOOK THE SECOND
  19
  BOOK THE THIRD
  34
  BOOK THE FOURTH
  45
  BOOK THE FIFTH
  55
  BOOK THE SIXTH
  67
  2
  
  Preface
  3
  
  [By WILLIAM GODWIN]
  The following performance, as the title imports, was originally composed in the Welch lan-
  guage. Its style is elegant and pure. And if the translator has not, as many of his brethren have
  done, suffered the spirit of the original totally to evaporate, he apprehends it will be found to
  contain much novelty of conception, much classical taste, and great spirit and beauty in the ex-
  ecution. It appears under the name of Cadwallo, an ancient bard, who probably lived at least
  one hundred years before the commencement of our common era. The manners of the primitive
  times seem to be perfectly understood by the author, and are described with the air of a man
  who was in the utmost degree familiar with them. It is impossible to discover in any part of it the
  slightest trace of Christianity