Prior to my class with Dr. Reinhard Huetter (a formidable theologian in his own right), I had only encountered Thomas Aquinas in out of context snippets. That's not to say that I had negative perceptions of Thomas, only slightly off base. Velde's text was a secondary source to the main text, Thomas Aquinas' "The Treatise of the Divine Nature" from his "Summa Theologiae"(see below).
Velde briefly familiarizes the reader with major alternative interpretations of Aquinas without amassing a detail overload. He then proceeds to clearly demonstrate his own reading of Aquinas. Velde emphasizes the long history of ripping pieces of Aquinas' work out of its theological context to make it do strictly philosophical work. Velde reasserts the theological context of ALL the arguments in the Summa, especially Aquinas' "treatise" on God.
This book is dense and not for the faint of heart! I would suggest some prior engagement with Aristotle's "Metaphysics," if only briefly. You might also want to look at Torrell's brief introduction to Aquinas (see below).
This text is definitely a must for anyone who wishes to engage Aquinas beyond surface level; thus, any who wish to do theology should read this since a good theologian will familiarize herself with Thomas Aquinas!
