AQUINAS, THOMAS
Summa Divi Thomae Aquinatis Ordinis Praedicatorum ...

Summa Divi Thomae Aquinatis Ordinis Praedicatorum Contra Gentiles quam Hebraice Eloquitur / Kitzur MeHaKadosh Thomas Me’Aqunio MiKet HaDarshanim Neged HaGoyim [systematic exposition against non-Christians].

FIRST EDITION IN HEBREW. Three parts in one. Latin and Hebrew in parallel columns. Hebrew translation by Giuseppe Ciante. pp. 196, 270, 391. Browned. Modern mottled calf. Folio. Vinograd, Rome 31.

Rome: Jacob son of Andrew, 1657.


RARE HEBREW TRANSLATION OF “Summa contra Gentile.”
     Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) wrote this seminal work supportive of Christian doctrine in order to defend the faith against attack from other religions. The translator, Joseph Ciantes, a Dominican friar and student of Oriental languages, was tasked by Pope Urban VIII to convert the Jews of Rome, hence the appearance of this work in Hebrew. See EJ, Vol. III, col. 229-31.