Work

Summa Contra Gentiles

Name: Summa Contra Gentiles
Author: Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas

Four Latin books preserved by chapter and source paragraph, with Rickaby's translation explicitly marked as abridged.

Composition: c. 1259-1265
Sources and precision
Cautious dating; exact stages of composition remain disputed.
Confidence C · probable range
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Saint Thomas Aquinas
Tradition: Modern and contemporary philosophy
Period: Medieval and Renaissance
Languages: Latin · English · French
Extent: 455 passages · 201,734 words

Before reading

What you will learn

Follow a conclusion back to its Latin reasons, then use Rickaby as a reading aid without asking it to fill what it abridges.

Short summary

Four Latin books preserved by chapter and source paragraph, with Rickaby's translation explicitly marked as abridged.

Long summary

The Latin is the complete, quote-grade carrier. Each chapter retains its Corpus Thomisticum paragraph list.

Joseph Rickaby's translation is partial historical support. Its 275 notes are separated from Thomas's text, and its abridgements prevent it from being presented as a complete translation.

Inside this work

The table of contents follows the divisions actually carried by the corpus.

Work › Book › Chapter

Book 1101 passages

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102

Book 298 passages

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101

Book 3159 passages

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5-6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
Chapter 144
Chapter 145
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
Chapter 149
Chapter 150
Chapter 151
Chapter 152
Chapter 153
Chapter 154
Chapter 155
Chapter 156
Chapter 157
Chapter 158
Chapter 159
Chapter 160
Chapter 161
Chapter 162
Chapter 163

Book 497 passages

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97

Concepts covered

Historical context

The world around the text

The corpus manifests do not yet establish the precise place and circumstances of composition. The images below document the author’s world or the text’s transmission. They do not claim to show the exact scene of writing.

These are modern reconstructions. They situate a documented place, practice, or transmission and are not period documents.

Modern reconstruction of Comparing text and distinction for Summa Contra Gentiles on Prokopton42.com — **Comparing text and distinction**Modern reconstruction of close reading in Naples. The manuscript, student and exact moment are conjectural.Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Saint Thomas Aquinas

Modern reconstruction of A disputed question in Paris for Summa Contra Gentiles on Prokopton42.com — **A disputed question in Paris**Modern reconstruction of an objection being stated, heard and recorded. The room and anonymous participants are conjectural.Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Saint Thomas Aquinas

Modern reconstruction of Dictating a structured answer for Summa Contra Gentiles on Prokopton42.com — **Dictating a structured answer**Modern reconstruction of compositional work. Four groups of leaves make the structure visible without claiming to reproduce a documented room.Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Saint Thomas Aquinas

What the world looked like

World of 1989

Modern reconstruction of the material world around Summa Contra Gentiles: Technology, science, and care — **Technology, science, and care**Personal computers, satellites, video, industrial robots, and expensive mobile phones exist, but the public Web does not yet. Computing, genetics, climate science, cosmology, and medical imaging produce growing data and international collaboration. CT, MRI, transplantation, vaccines, and intensive care advance; the AIDS epidemic exposes both medical capacity and its limits.

Modern reconstruction of the material world around Summa Contra Gentiles: Travel and communication — **Travel and communication**Cars, high-speed rail, metros, aircraft, and containers globalize people and goods. Fixed telephones, fax, television, radio, and newspapers predominate. Email and computer networks remain mainly professional or academic.

Modern reconstruction of the material world around Summa Contra Gentiles: Farming and food — **Farming and food**Machinery, chemical inputs, breeding, and cold chains support high yields with increasingly debated social and environmental costs.

Modern reconstruction of the material world around Summa Contra Gentiles: Clothing, women and men — **Clothing, women and men**Loose suits, jeans, trainers, women’s power suits, sportswear, and urban subcultures create highly varied silhouettes.

State of technology: Personal computers, satellites, video, industrial robots, and expensive mobile phones exist, but the public Web does not yet.
Science and knowledge: Computing, genetics, climate science, cosmology, and medical imaging produce growing data and international collaboration.
Medicine and care: CT, MRI, transplantation, vaccines, and intensive care advance; the AIDS epidemic exposes both medical capacity and its limits.
Transport: Cars, high-speed rail, metros, aircraft, and containers globalize people and goods.
Agriculture and food: Machinery, chemical inputs, breeding, and cold chains support high yields with increasingly debated social and environmental costs.
Communication: Fixed telephones, fax, television, radio, and newspapers predominate. Email and computer networks remain mainly professional or academic.
Clothing and fashion: Loose suits, jeans, trainers, women’s power suits, sportswear, and urban subcultures create highly varied silhouettes.

Editions, translations, and provenance

The following carriers represent the text. They do not create new passage identities.

Latincomplete_canonical_latin
Englishabridged_historical_translation
English AI-generated translation, non-officialCodex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-30
French AI-generated translation, non-officialCodex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-30

Source manifests: thomas_aquinas.summa_contra_gentiles

Reader

Read page by page

Summa Contra GentilesThomas Aquinas