Abstract

The text is almost exclusively that of the Leonine edition. This volume will have direct relevance for the theologian rather than the philosopher, but the reader, or editor, who ignores the psychological and sociological underpinnings of St. Thomas' ostensible devotional and ecclesiastical discussion of the sacrament of penance does so at his own peril. In this respect, the three appendices in this volume are perilously conservative. No editor is to be envied the task of showing in a few paragraphs the place of the last seven questions in an organic work made up of no less than five hundred and twelve questions; but this is all the more reason to cast aside the immediate framework of the discussion. The actual questions included are "The Sacrament of Penance", "The Virtue of Penance", "The Effect of Penance", "Pardon for Venial Sins", "The Return of Sins once Forgiven", "Virtue Regained Through Penance", and "The Parts of Penance in General".—E. A. R.