Aquinas, Thomas


A thirteenth-century Italian priest and philosopher who became the most influential theologian of the Middle Ages. Aquinas, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, sought to reconcile faith and reason by showing that elements of the philosophy of Aristotle were compatible with Christianity. His greatest work is the Summa Theologica.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.