The commentaries on Jeremiah and Lamentations were likely written near the end of Thomas Aquinas’s time with Albert the Great in Cologne, before Aquinas left to teach in Paris in 1252. Perhaps even more so than his commentary on Isaiah, these commentaries are “cursory,” succinct and focused on an understanding of the literal meaning of the text. But, as Aquinas himself explains in the prologues to these commentaries, the literal sense of these texts is filled with written wisdom—a divine wisdom that aids us in the attainment of our end of living well and our ultimate end of the glory of immortality. The commentary on Jeremiah also includes collationes, collections of scriptural texts connected with the passage at hand and useful for prayer, study, and preaching.
About the Author
An intellectual giant of the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas is best known for the clarity of thought in his philosophical and theological writings. His primary occupation at the University of Paris was as a theologian and a commentator on Sacred Scripture, and his philosophical work was always at the service of his Scriptural meditations. The writings of Thomas Aquinas remain widely influential to this day. “In his thinking, the demands of reason and the power of faith found the most elevated synthesis ever attained by human thought.” (John Paul II, Fides et Ratio)
