Summary Of The Summa Of St. Thomas, or Compedium Of Theology - Volume II - Charles René Billuart

This second volume continues Billuart’s systematic condensation of the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas, focusing on the creation of the world and the nature of rational creatures. It aims to present Thomistic doctrine in a clear, ordered, and pedagogical form suitable for students of scholastic theology.

The work treats the doctrine of creation, including the origin of beings from God, the distinction between Creator and creature, and the ordering of the universe according to divine wisdom. It also examines the nature of angels, their intellect and will, and their role within the hierarchy of creation.

A significant portion is devoted to the human being as a rational creature, addressing the structure of the soul, its powers, and its relation to the body. Billuart carefully preserves Aquinas’s distinctions between intellect, will, and sensitive faculties, presenting human nature as a unified substance ordered toward knowledge and truth.

Throughout, the volume maintains a strict scholastic method, emphasizing clarity and doctrinal fidelity while making complex metaphysical and theological themes more accessible for study.