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Rating:  - This is a good commentary--and it was in pretty decent shape.
Good commentary from what I've seen; of course, Dr. Kreeft's work is always magnificent. Pretty decent condition, quick shipping. I'm well pleased.
Rating:  - The Skinny on the Dumb Ox
Should you buy this book? Yes, if it is for you as a newbie Catholic, or if you have a child in a secular Junior High or High School. You may also be like Oswald Sobrino, who said, "Ironically, I was cheated at a Catholic university of exposure to Aquinas!" Cleary the victim of theological malpractice.
You need to `Know Your Religion,' and this book is a great place to start. Kreeft's plain English explanation of Catholic high Orthodoxy makes this book worth its weight in gold. The introductory essay on Aquinas alone justifies its publication, and the glossary for the technical terms Thomas uses is a gem.
By all means, the Angelic Doctor is must for any Catholic. If you are not aggressively studying Catholicism from approved sources, then your faith will be at the mercy of Jack Fertig and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Or to negligent teachers, which is why Christ spoke of the Parable of the Lost Coin.
If you are into philosophy, Law, History, Political Science, or some combination of the above, however, then I suggest getting the fuller version of the book A Summa of the Summa. Both are summaries of the Summa, but the mid-sized version gets into more detail that college-level students would need.
If you couple either summaries with Aquinas: Selected Writings (Penguin Classics), then you have all that is necessary for a Thomistic non-technician. However, do not confuse this book with Aquinas's Shorter Summa: Saint Thomas's Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica. This is Aquinas's own summery of his opus magnum. Since he died midway through writing his own summary, the book is not as helpful as we would like.
As a non-Catholic, I'm surprised at how much I enjoy Thomas's writings. His mind is sharp, his logic sound, and he was blessed with a heavy does of both abstract thought and common sense. Even when he gets it wrong (from the point-of-view of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ), we still love him for his effort.
Rating: - Thomas Aquinas's Greatest Hits
Kreeft has reduced the most important parts of the Summa Theologica into about 130 pages in "A Shorter Summa". I appreciated the Glossary in the Introductory pages that provided the philosophical definitions of words like "accident", "essence," and "nominal", which Thomas Aquinas uses. If I came across a word I wasn't sure about later in the book, I could always refer back to the Glossary.
The basic structure of the Summa is for St. Thomas to state a question such as "Can it be demonstrated that God exists?" Then St. Thomas provides the main objections to that idea and provides his own answer, while refuting the main objections. Kreeft has omitted some of the more arcane objections that philosophers no longer hold to be valid or important to keep the book as short as possible.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that the existence of God can be known through the "natural light of human reason". St. Thomas is a good source to refer to in this struggle. He lays out the rational proofs of the existence of God in this book and doesn't appeal to emotions; he only asks you to use your reasoning skills. It's refreshing to see faith in God coming from reason rather than coming from the emotion of an altar call or jailhouse conversion.
Kreeft has done a favor for amateur theologians who don't have the time to make it through the full Summa. While the reading can be bit dry at times, this is still a theological classic.
Rating: - It has Aquinas, it HAS to be good!
This very short book gives some of the most essential philosophical passages (as selected and footnoted by Kreeft) of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica.
For anyone who wishes to delve into Aquinas, but does not feel able to tackle the material by itself or even to try Kreeft's much longer "Summa of the Summa," then this book is perfect.
"A Shorter Summa" allows you to stick you big toe in to test the water of Thomistic thought. No doubt you will find it to your liking, and wish to dive head-first into first-hand Aquinas with no footnotes!
Rating: - A Welcome Tutorial on Aquinas
Peter Kreeft of Boston College has performed a work of mercy for those of us who were cheated in college by being kept in blithe ignorance of the greatest Christian philosopher. Ironically, I was cheated at a Catholic university of exposure to Aquinas! But Peter Kreeft has provided selections of Aquinas with generous footnotes explaining and enlightening various passages and even including diagrams for those of us trying to catch up. I can comfort myself with the thought that a well annotated book by Kreeft, who is also a skilled Catholic apologist, is assuredly better than what I probably would have received anyway as an undergraduate in a decidedly confused Catholic university.
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