Thomas Aquinas: A Portrait

by Denys Turner

Leaving so few traces of himself behind, Thomas Aquinas seems to defy the efforts of the biographer. Highly visible as a public teacher, preacher, and theologian, he nevertheless has remained nearly invisible as man and saint. What can be discovered about Thomas Aquinas as a whole? In this short, compelling portrait, Denys Turner clears away the haze of time and brings Thomas vividly to life for contemporary readers—those unfamiliar with the saint as well as those well acquainted with his teachings.

Building on the best biographical scholarship available today and reading the works of Thomas with piercing acuity, Turner seeks the point at which the man, the mind, and the soul of Thomas Aquinas intersect. Reflecting upon Thomas, a man of Christian Trinitarian faith yet one whose thought is grounded firmly in the body’s interaction with the material world, a thinker at once confident in the powers of human reason and a man of prayer, Turner provides a more detailed human portrait than ever before of one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in all of Western thought.

Genres: Theology, Philosophy, Biography, Religion, History, Medieval, Spirituality

312 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Denys Turner is the Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology at Yale University, a position which he has held since 2005. He previously was the Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University. He received his B.A. and M.A. from University College, Dublin, and his D.Phil from the University of Oxford.

Turner's work covers several areas within the history of Christianity, with a special focus on mysticism and medieval thought. He has also published two works on Marx and the relationship between Marxism and Christianity.

Reviews

[Andrew Marr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is a poetic description of the theological vision of Thomas Aquinas. A contradiction in terms? For decades I have found his structured exploration into divine mystery poetic but it is Denys Turner who has really made the poetry flower, a feat accomplished over a century ago by G.K. Chesterton. There is hardly any theological jargon, which is a big help to the reader lacking the terminology of medieval theology but the probing of Thomas' subtle insights into the nature of God takes some careful reading. What comes across most strongly is the materialistic element of Thomas' thought. Not materialist in a reductionist sense, of course, but a materialism that embraces the material world because God so embraces it and gives the material world a world of meaning.

[Justin Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great, great book of its type; this reminded me of the books people wrote about philosophers in the mid-twentieth century. It's clear, it's convincing, Turner has a command of the details but doesn't need to prove it at ever turn. He chooses idiosyncratic ways into Thomas's thought (the fact that he didn't finish the Summa Th, his thoughts on prayer, his thought on friendship), and uses them to create a great picture of both thought and man (though, of necessity, the picture of the man is pretty vague). My only complaint is about his discussion on Thomas's view of free will. Against libertarian understandings, Turner argues, we have to see that for Thomas a free act is both entirely my doing, and entirely God's doing. Seems plausible, in some way. But he glides over the fairly obvious problem that, in this case, sin must either be unfree--and therefore we are not morally culpable--or it is of God's doing, and therefore He is morally culpable for our sins. I suspect this is the result of setting the argument up as one between Thomas and the libertarian. The solution is fairly simple (our good acts are both ours and God's, entirely; our sins are only ours), but perhaps there are good Thomistic reasons for not wanting to say that. Turner would certainly have something intelligent and convincing to say in response.

[Alina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want an introduction to St. Thomas, there’s no better place to start than here. Denys Turner has written a deeply compelling portrait of a humble but brilliant theologian. This is both an intellectual history and a hagiography. Countless books have been written about Aquinas’ thought, but not many contextualize it. Turner demonstrates the close link that always existed between Aquinas the scholar and Aquinas the Dominican.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, a warning—though the subtitle of the book is “A Portrait” it is really a portrait (if you can call it that) of Aquinas as a theologian and teacher. I’d call it an intellectual biography.
Turner must be an excellent teacher. For obvious reasons, I know little about Catholic theology except what I picked up from reading books that touch on the subject tangentially. He has an amazing ability to build homely analogies to explain complex topics. I struggled with the chapter on the Eucharist but I may have just been getting tired since it was the end of the book. I hadn’t realized how many were the debates among religious who considered themselves, and their opponents, Catholic.

[Conor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply put: one of the most remarkable books I've ever read. Turner has put together a masterpiece that helps one come to know St. Thomas Aquinas. I have a whole new and deeper appreciation for Aquinas.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book so much I'm now starting it again. At first I thought it was going to be a struggle to find my way into it. Looking back, I wonder now why I thought so. Occasionally Turner writes a sentence that needs a bit of unpacking, but beyond that he's wonderfully clear, and when necessary provides good analogies for some of the more difficult patches.
I'd read Chesterton's 'biography' of Aquinas last year, but have already forgotten most of it. Yet at the time it gave me an enthusiasm for Aquinas that I'd never previously had. Turner recommends Chesterton's book in spite of its datedness and hurried writing (typical of Chesterton, of course, a man who seemed to write a book a month). He sees value in its way of getting to grips with the person of Aquinas. Turner's own book isn't intended to be for academics and great minds: it's intended for such as me, the kind of people who never make it to a philosophy class, but are interested in knowing more about it; never make it to a theology class, but read theology continually in various forms.
Turner does a great job at expounding Aquinas' thinking, and this is where the book really struck home for me. The earlier part, where he gives some background to Thomas' life, didn't grab me quite so much, but that may be because at that point I was looking for something different from the book.
As he explores Thomas' philosophical teaching, Turner opens up all manner of ways of thinking about theology, about God, and humanity, and who we are.
This is the reason I'm going back through it again. I started reading the library copy, and couldn't mark anything in it (it was too new-looking to do that!) but I bought a Kindle copy when I was about a third of the way through, and it's heavily highlighted. No doubt it will be more so by the time I've re-read it.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, theological reflection on the life and thought of Thomas Aquinas, though, admittedly, not for the beginner. The chapters on Thomas' materialism and doctrine of God were my favorites.

[elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turner writes with astonishing clarity, and has a unique gift for analogy--i'm thinking of the simultaneous holiness and humanness of jesus as represented by a square that is both a square and yellow, rather than a square that is both a square and a circle, illuminating the utter lack of shared traits between the two genus, to use thomas's term; the 1844 understanding of the word "virus" as a placeholder for the discoveries that would take place under the microscope 40 years later as analogous to the sticky term "transubstantation; the football-becomes-rugby analogy by which an impromptu breaking of the former's rules becomes a new set of rules which define the genesis of the latter, this all being equivalent to the resurrection with regard to the eucharist; and the N/S highway analogy for the trinity. turner also writes with unbelievable clarity on matters of the soul (augustinian-platonic=tripartite understanding in which the divine intellectual soul is appended to the vegetative and spirited soul; knowledge comes from a murky understanding of the divine platonic truth to which the intellectual soul is a moderately obstructed conduit. but then why does this soul get trapped to a body in the first place? vs. the aristotelian/thomistic understanding wherein divinity permeates all matter, thus meaning knowledge comes from the joining of the divine knowledge within the human soul to the divine knowledge of objects without, thus paving the way for the simultaneous matter/divine embodiment that so defines to much of christian theology. this theory of knowledge stands, in turn, against the cartesian view of knowledge; it also stands against the lockean conception, equally well-explained by turner--namely that knowledge comes from a top-down, parsing-until-the-lowest-common-denominator-is-reached understanding v. a thomistic bottom up synthesis-of-attributes approach.) for thomas, divinity and grace always come from above and below, meeting in the material world. it was also interesting learn that aristotle came to thomas through arabic translations.

that said, some questions are left unanswered. unsurprisingly, the trinity was scarcely dealt with conclusively here. and if jesus wasn't freed from the fetters of mortality until his death and resurrection, then how do the rules of the eucharist, which were set out before his death, escape that entombment and begin to apply to the unfettered post-res jesus? or maybe that's just my weak theology game showing.

no conversion lightning-bolts just yet, but even from the outside looking in, this book was a pleasure to read--distinctly english--and was enlightening in ways that extend beyond religion.

"for meals are episodes of eating that are drawn into a language..." that 'drawn into a language' almost sounds like delillo. good stuff.

the standing-out-of-the-light, intentionally-leaving-ST-unfinished eulogistic flourish at the beginning was nicely done, as well.

[Humberto Ballesteros · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this book immediately after finishing Peter Brown's masterful biography of Saint Augustine proved a disappointment. Turner eulogizes Aquinas' invisibility as a writer, and eloquently advocates for its intellectual and theological value: The saint is humbly silent so that the truth might shine forth all the brighter. I wish that Turner had followed his subject's example, but sadly, where Aquinas is selfless and erudite, Turner seemed to me caustic and arrogant. Several times in this short work he uses the theological profile that he's writing as a platform for launching attacks against "Augustinian-Platonists" or "atheistic materialists", among others; and he focuses his analysis of Aquinas' thought precisely on the subjects that will allow him to disprove the views that he so clearly despises. Granted, his characterization of Aquinas as a 'materialist' is intelligent and illuminating, and those pages alone justified reading his profile of the great theologian; but many other passages left me puzzled and tired on account of their tendentious bile. My impression is that Turner used Aquinas as a pretext to talk about himself and his own views.

[Charles Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason I thought I wrote about this book. I finished it in early 2014. I had been looking for a great book about Aquinas that I could actually understand. But this is not a light read by the author does great summaries on key points that even when you think you might be a bit lost you find your way again. Actually I've tried easy to read books and then I realized that Aquinas was not simple. Though it is amazing how much of the Summa, his master work, can be read with a bit of instruction. I wouldn't say this book is for the absolute beginner but for anyone with a bit of theological knowledge and a bit of philosophy. I think as a Catholic I really needed to understand one of the greatest thinkers of Church history and this book did the job.

[Graychin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Aquinas himself is remarkably easy. Flannery O’Connor liked to boast that she read a little bit of the Summa each night before bed. Reading others on Aquinas, however, is often less easy. At his best here, Denys Turner gives us an eloquent survey of Aquinas’s Christian materialism, broadening our view of theological possibilities beyond the ossified divide of materialist science vs. supernaturalist faith. At his worst, Turner bogs down in hagiographical fawning, academic quibbles, and repetitions. Not a bad book by any means, but Chesterton’s bio of “The Dumb Ox” makes for a better and more illuminating introduction.

[Peter Blair]

The section on God's action/freedom and ours, as well as the section on the divine oneness and the Trinity, are both excellent and super helpful. Some parts are occasionally less compelling/I have questions about them (which may or may not arise from my own ignorance as from any errors on his part). However, I have it on good authority his treatment of Aquinas' theology of the Eucharist gets at least part of Aquinas' thought wrong.

[Matt Moser · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful little theological biography of Thomas. Turner's prose is crisp and clear, illuminating a few major themes of Aquinas's thought in a way that brings out the beauty and prayer that animates it.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book to read while I awaited my copy of Chesterton's A Dumb Ox to arrive. I read the Introduction and first chapter and really liked it, but I'll move on to Chesterton's book. I may come back.

[Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first real exposure to the thought of Aquinas--Turner provides a good summary of the primary arguments (and methods) of Thomas's philosophy in an approachable format. The biographical portions are negligible.

[Nick Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impressive and clear

[Joel Zartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best yet.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve turned off the TV for a few hours during this
Corona crisis....next update is my evening with BBC World News 8 pm.
So who do I want to spend the day with....without contagion?
This man, Thomas Aquinas.

To give an idea what Thomas did to his aristocratic parents in 1244.
Thomas was only 19yrs when he refused to join the
Benedictine “Ivy League” monastery
and signed up for the Dominicans
....sort of “Peace Corps” who preached to the poor.
Mom and dad were not amused!

The book starts out well...but gets weighted down with
discussions about "the soul" and "grace".
I just cannot be give this book the concentration it deserves.
I never heard of the Trinity being described with the analogy of
I-95 highway between Maine and Florida USA!

Denys Turner reveals little about Thomas himself in this biography.
It feels like a chore to push myself through the book.
All I wanted was a glimpse of the man behind the pen
......but got a theological tutorial.
#Meh

[JJS. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book's subtitle 'a portrait' is very fitting, since this book is not much of a biography. It is, as the author himself describes it, an 'outline' of Aquinas' theological thought. Since Aquinas is a central figure of Catholic and Protestant theology, as well as western philosophy in general, he is a subject of interest. It is quite an eloquent book. Admittedly, a lot of this book did go over my head, so I won't pretend that Denys Turner helped me understand the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. Still, it was a really good book for getting started with understanding his thought, or just getting some of the ideas. Both the ideas themselves as well as how the author presents them are still dense, so I would only recommend this book to someone who is already interested in understanding the theological thought of St. Thomas Aquinas - but if you are interested, I do highly recommend that you read this.

[Tynan Brooks]

Not the mainstream reading of Thomas, I know, but I found it helpful and agreable. Thomas as concerned with material life and language accords w/ much of my thinking, and it reinforced to me the importance of monotheism for us.

[Dougald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot about Aquinas in this book. I did not know that his family was against him becoming a monk, nor did I know the steps they took to keep him from doing so.

[Mattfouracre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good, simple overview of Thomas Aquinas' thoughts on God, Soul, Jesus Christ and the Eucharist. Would recommend to anyone who wants to know more about Thomas Aquinas.

[james r piper · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overwritten and overdone. Makes me want to read a real intellectual again, like St. John the Apostle: “In the beginning was the Word... and the Word was God.

[Sarah Hui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Need to go back and finish the rest of it

[Niamh]

Overall, a rather charming introductory text on Aquinas. I will definitely keep note of it in case someone asks for a good book to get acquainted with Aquinas.

[Matt Pitts · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at Thomas by an exceptional writer

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas' Summa was written in the 13rh century as a curriculum to prepare Dominican friars for their ministry as preachers. As such it is not scintillating reading. But it is an all-time classic of Western theology, brilliant in its clarity and directness and astounding in the power of its logic. Turner succeeds in making its main topics completely engaging by using concrete examples that light up the most challenging of its concepts.