Introduction to Saint Thomas Aquinas, Ed., with an Introd. by Anton C. Pegis Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 17, The End of Man Chapters XVIII, XIX, XX, XXV Chapter 18, XLVII, LI, LII, LIII Summary

Chapter 17, The End of Man Chapters XVIII, XIX, XX, XXV Chapter 18, XLVII, LI, LII, LIII Summary and Analysis

Chapter XVIII: How God is the End of Things: "Accordingly, God is the end of things as something to be obtained by each thing in its own way" (p. 437). Aquinas uses two very different examples: one is the physician re-establishing health in the patient, another is fire moving upwards, another is a king taking a city through warfare. "God, therefore, cannot be the end of things as though He were something effected, but only as something already existing and to be acquired" (p. 438).

Chapter XIX: That All Things Tend to Be Like Unto God. Here, God has imbued all creatures, most especially humanity, to partake of the nature of God and to shed off that which holds them back from being more divine and perfect in their being. Chapter XX: How Things Imitate the Divine Goodness: God manifests as goodness within...
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