Book One of the Summa Contra Gentiles series studies God's existence, nature, and substance, his perfect actuality, the autonomy of his knowledge, the independence of his will, the perfection of his life, and the generosity of his love. The Summa Contra Gentiles is not merely the only complete summary of Christian doctrine that St. Thomas has written, but also a creative and even revolutionary work of Christian apologetics composed at the precise moment when Christian thought needed to be intellectually creative in order to master and assimilate the intelligence and wisdom of the Greeks and the Arabs. In the Summa Aquinas works to save and purify the thought of the Greeks and the Arabs in the higher light of Christian Revelation, confident that all that had been rational in the ancient philosophers and their followers would become more rational within Christianity. Book 2 of the Summa deals with Creation; Book 3, Providence; and Book 4, Salvation.
The Summa Contra Gentiles is not merely the only complete summary of Christian doctrine that St. Thomas has written, but also a revolutionary work of Christian apologetics composed at the moment when Christian thought needed to master and assimilate the intelligence and wisdom of the Greeks and the Arabs.
