The Way of Aquinas: A Travelogue for Human Beings

St. Thomas Aquinas did not arrive at his towering wisdom by standing still. His thought was forged on the highways and byways of his time, through castles and cloisters, universities and cities, mountains and monasteries. In this engaging book, Dr. Chad Engelland invites you to retrace the journey that shaped one of the greatest minds in history and, in so doing, to better grasp the inner logic and living experience behind Thomasâ (TM)s philosophy and theology.

From his noble birth in a hilltop castle in southern Italy, to his childhood formation at Montecassino, to the intellectual crucible of Paris and back again across Italy, Thomasâ (TM)s travels were not incidental. They heightened his understanding of the human person as a wayfarer â " one always on the move toward truth, goodness, and God.

Engelland chronicles Thomasâ (TM)s waystations with care and insight, reading Thomasâ (TM)s major works in light of the places, events, and trials that colored them. Lightning strikes, imprisonment, academic conflict, and liturgical epiphanies all become key to understanding how Thomas thought and why his ideas still matter.

Interwoven with this medieval pilgrimage is Engellandâ (TM)s own retracing of Thomasâ (TM)s route while living in Rome with his wife and four children. Vivid descriptions and breathtaking photographs bring the landscapes, churches, and ordinary places of Thomasâ (TM)s life into sharp focus, allowing readers to see what Thomas saw and to sense how truth arose for him through bodily experience.

More than biography or travel writing, this book reveals â oethe way of Aquinasâ � â " his daring vision of the human good, of freedom ordered toward love, and of wisdom that heals and elevates.

Author: Chad Engelland
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Published: 09/15/2026
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9798889116844

About the Author
Engelland, Chad: - Professor of Philosophy Chad Engelland teaches at the University of Dallas. He is the author of six books, including Divine Hiddenness: God the Creator and Phenomenology (Cambridge, 2026), (MIT, 2020), and The Way of Philosophy (Cascade, 2016). His writings on philosophical and religious themes have appeared in Word on Fire, magazine, National Catholic Register, and Dallas Morning News. He has been hosted on Australian public radio, Alabama Catholic radio, New Books in Philosophy, and Matt Fradd's Pints with Aquinas.Engelland, his wife, and their four children spent two years on the Rome campus of the University of Dallas. While there, they found themselves on the trail of the Angelic Doctor, first in Italy, then in France, and later in Germany.