Aquinas at Prayer: The Bible, Mysticism and Poetry

This book changed my views on Aquinas! Greatly expanded in appreciation they are now. A good informative read by a not polished author, but I am thankful for the analysis.The book came quickly.

In its scholarly intellectual analyses of the story of the historical influences, origins, and contested authorship of St. Thomas's prayers, along with its heartfelt insights into St. Thomas's own prayer life and deep devotion to Christ, the object of his prayers, Aquinas at Prayer bears the very marks of the man about whom it was written. Though Thomas is so rightly acclaimed for his magisterial theological Summas, this book reveals and relishes in his lesser known works of penetrating biblical commentary and absolutely stunning works of poetry and prayer. It demonstrates and highlights the consistency and continuity of these spiritual works with the great theological works of his Summas and it leads the reader to a much fuller appreciation of Thomas, and, especially through the last chapters on Thomas as a poet of the Eucharistic, to a deeper devotion to Christ. I will read this book again and again in the future. I pray that others will read it prayerfully too.

The popular picture of St. Thomas is that of the egg-headed theologian, all intellect and no devotion. This is of course impossible; you don't get to be a saint just by thinking about it. This book gives a peek into the spiritual life of St. Thomas, replacing the popular picture of him with the picture of a man whose faith and intellect fed each other into the upper reaches of sanctity.

the beautifully Eucharistic centered spirituality of Thomas finally gets the attention it should always have had.

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) is widely revered as the greatest philosopher and theologian of the Christian tradition. Yet the achievement of this Dominican friar and Doctor of the Church is seen to be predominately the work of a great mind; he is rarely considered as a model of prayer and contemplation such as his fellow Doctors, Saint John of the Cross or Saint Teresa of Avila.This new study presents fresh and welcome perspectives on the great scholastic thinker, revealing him to also be a master of the spiritual life, a life-long teacher of Scripture and an accomplished poet.The author, Paul Murray is an Irish Dominican and himself a poet. He teaches the literature of the mystical tradition at the Angelicum University, Rome.While Aquinas is a person who was “obsessed by the desire for knowledge”, study for the saint was itself a form of “active prayer”, a way of praying without ceasing. He perceived contemplation as useful for his scholarly life, he also appreciated it as something delightfully “useless” in itself, to be sought for its own sake.Murray is in no doubt that Aquinas was “both a great intellectual and a great, albeit discreet, mystic”. He considers both the saint’s interior life as a contemplative and also examines his written prayers.The second section of the book focuses on Aquinas as a teacher of Scripture. While we known him today as the writer of theological masterworks such as the Summa Theologica, Aquinas’s “day job” was as a Magister in Sacra Pagina (Master of the Sacred Page). His primary work, as both a friar and a scholar, was to give classes on the Bible.Murray reveals the importance of biblical exegesis for scholastic theology, and Aquinas’s mastery of this. These chapters also reflect on what Aquinas taught about prayer in his commentaries on the Psalms and on the writings of Saint Paul.The final section of the book presents Aquinas as “Poet of the Eucharist”, examining the saint’s hymns and canticles. Throughout the book the saint’s poems are presented in both the original Latin and in fresh translations.The book concludes with a detailed consideration of the saint’s prayer "Adoro te devote", which Murray holds “contains, in an exemplary form, many of the most impressive characteristics of Aquinas as poet and man of prayer”. It is the work of a profound thinker, but “also a very considerable artist, and a man of the deepest humility.”“And every thought expressed in the prayer, every word spoken, suggests a surrender of both heart and mind. The author of Adoro te devote is a man of faith and prayer, a theologian on his knees.”"Aquinas at Prayer" is itself a work of both deep scholarship and of contemplation. Accessibly written, it is intellectually rewarding as well as instructive and inspiring for Christian living.

This book may be a pleasant surprise to the devout who are only familiar with the Summa, but who yearn for Christ. Reverently written with a smooth ease, but presented still with logic and care. Fr. Murray demonstrates the deep spiritualality of St. Thomas as captured in the contemplative crafting of his poetry, both for liturgy, as for Corpus Christi, as well as for his own personal devotion.Time spent in these pages will be a blessing.

This is a wonderful book aimed at highlighting the wonderful Spiritual insights of Aquinas in his prayers and Hymns. As a corollary it dispels the misconception that St. Thomas was somehow a dry and dusty academic who somehow had difficulty with prayer or with approaching God in a rich contemplative life. On both accounts the work performs marvelously. The text blends the spiritual with academic rigour. It shows much modern scholarship which argues strongly for Aquinas' authorship of the prayers and hymns traditionally ascribed to him. A position which had come in for much criticism during the 20th Century and in the over-zealous application of the Historical-Critical Method to anything written down. How could, the argument goes, the man who wrote the Summa have written the great hymn Adoro Te Devote?Once this, unfortunatly necessary, work was out of the way, Murray shines in his exposition of Aquinas' texts and the book is modelled around their exposition. Here Aquinas Shines as the true spiritual master that he was.I know some readers had issues with the proofreading of the text, this was not an issue for me in the kindle version.

Paul Murray OP opens a door for us into the world of St Thomas Aquinas, a world of faith, hope and love. Murray demonstrates convincingly that St Thomas was not just a great theologian but also a great mystic and poet.

First, the book would have profited from a better proofreader. Second, much of the material seems put together in an artificial way without much sense of direction. There is also a sort of "pop religiosity" about the style. On the positive side, the exposition of Aquinas and his devotion to the Eucharist/Blessed Sacrament is very good. Perhaps Murray would have done better to concentrate his efforts on this.

Written with great clarity, Fr Paul Murray provides us with a fresh and engaging view of St Thomas Aquinas' hidden interior prayer life, with some delightfully surprising and unexpected insights.

A real triumph of academic research into the less publicised aspects of the life of St Thomas Aquinas.