There is no direct discussion of procured abortion or embryology inĪquinas’s section on murder, though he does write that the intentional killing of an animated fetus with a rational soul is considered homicide.Įnsoulment in Summa Theologica do reveal more about the understanding ofĮmbryology during the period. Finally, at about forty days for males and eighty days for females, this theory states that the life in the womb becomes human for past theologians, this point ofĮnsoulment was often selected to indicate the first presence of a human life. Soon after, it is believed that the being gains the characteristics of animal life, still without a human soul but with human or animal form and features. Such a cycle claims that upon conception, something along the lines of a vegetable life is present non-sentient, incognizant, and as yet without a human soul. The third and final section of his writings was later completed by his close friend, Fra Rainaldo da Piperno.Īquinas’s discussion on murder, in Question 64, he mentions that human gestational life progresses from “first a living thing, then an animal, and lastly a man.” This view of life echoes that ofĪristotle, who both defended a delayed hominization theory for the life cycle of humans. Upon his death on 7 March 1274,Īquinas left his chief theological handiwork incomplete. It is said that after a period of ecstasy during mass on 6 December 1273,Īquinas declared he would write no more, as anything he wrote would pale in comparison to what had just been revealed to him.

Thomas Aquinas felt called to serve theĬhurch through scholarship in writing and preaching, and worked on Summa Theologica until shortly before his death. The Summa Theologica focuses on religious matters pertinent to the organization and doctrine of the Catholic faith, discussions of virtues and the Sacraments, and the nature of the Christian triune God and His creation. Interesting references to and insights onĮmbryology, as well as other topics discussed in Summa Theologica, indicate a strong

The views presented in this body of writing are currently upheld in large part by the modern doctrines of the It discusses topics central to Christian morality, ethics, law, and the life of Christ, providing philosophical and theological solutions to common arguments and questions surrounding the Christian faith. Thomas Aquinas, the Summa Theologica is divided into three parts and is designed to instruct both beginners and experts in all matters of Christian Truth.

Summa theologica by thomas aquinas