Browsing though old computer files, I came across a question from 1998 in which a visitor to the Thomistic Philosophy Page asked me for suggestions for audio/visual media related to St. Thomas Aquinas. At the time, I was only aware of the first item in the list below (now nearly 50 years old!) but it set me to compile the following list which demonstrates a great expansion of media in terms of quantity and quality, especially since those first fledgling years of the Internet.
Meeting of Minds (1977) – Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2.
This was a series on PBS written, produced, and hosted by Steven Allen, who also co-created and was the inaugural host of The Tonight Show on NBC; Allen pretty much invented the late night talk show. In the first two episodes, Thomas Aquinas, played Peter Bromilow, is one of four guests from different historical eras (along with Cleopatra, Teddy Roosevelt, and Thomas Payne). Allen, in writing the script, drew from actual writings of the historical figures represented, and he does a pretty good job of presenting Aquinas’s fairly and accurately, and bringing the figures into conversation with each other and with modern (late 1970’s) concerns. There is a somewhat heated exchange over the nature and role of women, which while not totally correct or nuanced, is better than a lot of presentations of Aquinas’s views. I think the depiction of St. Thomas holds up pretty well after all these years.
Of course the Internet has grown considerably since 1998 (was barely conceived in 1977), and with the launching of YouTube, there is quite a bit of video content available about St. Thomas (including my modest contributions) of wildly varying quality.
Word on Fire Digital
Bishop Robert Barron established the Word on Fire ministry under the patronage of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and so Barron has produces various resources touching on St. Thomas and his thought. There is a charge to rent or buy the titles, but you can sign up for a free seven day trial to access all of it.
Of special note is Bp. Baron’s profile of St. Thomas Aquinas in his Pivotal Players series. He does a good job of not only covering the key moments of the life of the Angelic Doctor, but giving some substantial taste of the content of his teaching and arguments.
In addition to video depictions of the life and work of Saint Thomas as a whole, there are video courses on Thomas and Thomism as well as podcasts:
Classes on St. Thomas and the Thomistic Tradition
Aquinas 101 – Produced by Thomistic Institute, an academic institute of the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C., offering unlimited free access to video lessons exploring faith and reason, happiness, man, God, the problem of evil, and much more. Requires free registration.
Angelicum Media – Produce by the Angelicum: Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome, offers free courses in Catholic theology, philosophy, and social sciences, taught by Angelicum professors in the tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. Angelicum Media produces rich digital content to share the Catholic intellectual tradition with the whole world. Requires free registration.
Podcasts
Thomistic Institute Podcast – also produced by the Thomistic Institute which exists to promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Universal Doctor of the Church, is their touchstone.
Angelicum Conversations is a new interview series from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome. Each episode features thoughtful dialogue on theology, philosophy, and culture—conversations that reflect the Angelicum’s mission of serving the Church through study, contemplation, and teaching.
Summa in a Year – Hosted by Austin Habash, Founder of Think Catholic, offers a daily study of St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae in a way simple & insightful for anyone to understand. The Summa in a Year Podcast is brought to you by Think Catholic. Taking 2 questions of the Summa of a Day; we’ll seek to summarize St. Thomas’s responses, discovering the brilliance of Aquinas and his Catholic Faith.
Sed Contra: A Podcast of Catholic Theology – Featuring some of the founding members of The Sacra Doctrina Project (hosts for Thomistica.net) discussing theological questions with other academic theologians and philosophers. The podcast takes place in a quaestiones disputatae style, encouraging lively and charitable debate.
For those who would like to read the words of Saint Thomas, in addition the what I have listed on the Texts page of the Thomistic Philosophy Page, the Documenta Catholica Omnia – Offers the complete works of St. Thomas Aquinas in Latin in PDF files (and select texts in Italian, English, German, Spanish, French, and Portuguese).
Thomistic Philosophy Page 