A comprehensive summary or digest of a subject, especially a medieval theological or philosophical work that systematically covers all aspects of a topic.
From Latin 'summa' meaning 'highest' or 'total,' derived from 'summus.' The term was popularized in the Middle Ages for major scholarly works like Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae, which attempted to comprehensively address all aspects of Christian theology.
Thomas Aquinas wrote the Summa Theologiae in the 13th century—a 3.2-million-word masterpiece organized like the ultimate reference guide, answering over 3,000 theological questions in a systematic way that influenced how we think about organizing knowledge itself.
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