The Metaphysics of Creation: Aquinas's Natural Theology in Summa contra gentiles II

About Aquinas: St Thomas Aquinas lived from 1224/5 to 1274, mostly in his native Italy but for a time in France. He was the greatest of the medieval philosopher/theologians, and one of the most important of all Western thinkers. His most famous books are the two summaries of his teachings, the Summa contra gentiles and the Summa theologiae. About this book: Norman Kretzmann expounds and criticizes Aquinas's natural theology of creation, which is `natural' (or philosophical) in virtue of Aquinas's having developed it without depending on the data of Scripture. The Metaphysics of Creation is a continuation of the project Kretzmann began in The Metaphysics of Theism, moving the focus from the first to the second book of Aquinas's Summa contra gentiles. Here we find Aquinas building upon his account of the existence and nature of God, arguing that the existence of things other than God must be explained by divine creation out of nothing. He develops arguments to identify God's motivation for creating, to defend the possibility of a beginningless created universe, and to explain the origin of species. He then focuses exclusively on creatures with intellects, with the result that more than half of his natural theology of creation constitutes a philosophy of mind. Kretzmann gives a masterful guide through all these arguments. As before, he not only expounds Aquinas's natural theology, but advocates it as the best historical instance available to us.

Table of Contents:
1. Nature from the Top Down; 2. From God to Everything Else; 3. Creation as Doubly Universal Production; 4. Creation's Modalities; 5. Could the Created World Have Existed For Ever? 6. The Origin of Species; 7. Intellects; 8. Metaphysical Hybrids; 9. The Soul's Anatomy; 10. Souls before Birth and at Death; Appendices; References; Indexes.

About the Author :
Norman Kretzmann, Susan Linn Sage Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Cornell University, New York, completed this book at the beginning of 1998, and died in the summer of that year. He taught philosophy at Cornell for more than thirty years, and also held appointments at Bryn Mawr College, Ohio State University, and the University of Illinois, and visiting positions at Wayne State University and the Universities of Minnesota, Arizona, and Oxford.

Review :
`Significant ... Throughout, critical remarks and illuminating footnotes abound.' Desmond Paul Henry, BJHP, Vol.8, No.3 `This renaissance of Thomist study is well illustrated by ... recently published ... The Metaphysics of Creation by Norman Kretzmann.' Anthony Kenny, Times Literary Supplement, April 21st 2000 `The circumstances of the production of The metaphysics of Creation deserve particular remark. In 1992, Kretzmann was diagnosed as having terminal cancer ... The unfinished trilogy is a remarkable achievement for a man under sentence of death undergoing constant chemotherapy. But no reader need make the slightest allowance for this; the quality of the thought and writing compares well with that of many a healthy philosopher at the height of his powers.' Anthony Kenny, Times Literary Supplement, April 21st 2000 `the book is best read with the Summa contra Gentiles in hand, since it is full of perceptive close readings of chosen passages. Kretzmann's lucid analysis of the arguments, and his patient teasing out of their most difficult steps, is a service to the learned world, both theological and philosophical. It should make widely known what a remarkable and undervalued work we possess in the Summa contra Gentiles.' Anthony Kenny, Times Literary Supplement, April 21st 2000 `There is something poignant about a philosopher's spending the last months of his life demolishing a series of arguments for survival after death. It is characteristic of the rugged integrity which marked all Norman Kretzmann's writing.' Anthony Kenny, Times Literary Supplement, April 21st 2000 `One of the most impressive features of Kretzmann's interpretation - something that is likely to be more appreciated by exegetically minded Thomists than by the analytic philosophers of religion for whom Kretzmann is writing - is the way he links together its various parts, especially the way he insists upon the connections between the first and second books of the ScG, both of which have as their oject knowledge of God.' Thomas S. Hibbs, Philosophy. 71. `This renaissance of Thomist study is well illustrated by ... The Metaphysics of Creation by Norman Kretzmann' Anthony Kenny, TLS `the quality of the thought and writing compares well with that of many a healthy philosopher at the height of his powers.' Anthony Kenny, TLS