How Thomas Aquinas Preached: Let the Verse Be the Outline
Thomas Aquinas was the greatest theologian of his age, and he was also a working preacher in the Order of Preachers. We studied ten of his sermons, from his university sermons in Paris to his talks in Naples during his last Lent in 1273. The shape is remarkably steady: one theme verse, split clause by clause into two to four announced members, with the same number kept all the way down.
Who Thomas Aquinas was
Aquinas was a Dominican friar, a member of the “Order of Preachers,” who preached before the University of Paris and then in Naples. About 19 authentic sermons survive, all from listeners’ notes. He also preached to ordinary people in Italian, but none of those sermons survive.
In his last Lent, in Naples in 1273, his companions took down his talks on the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary and the Ten Commandments, and those talks became classic teaching texts. His early biographer Bernard Gui wrote that he kept subtleties for the Schools and gave the people solid moral instruction suited to their capacity.
The shape of a Aquinas sermon
Almost every sermon we studied begins with a single verse, the thema. Before the main sermon he usually gave a short prothema and a prayer for something to say.
Then comes the division. He split the verse by its own clauses into two, three or four members and announced them. In Ecce rex tuus (Matthew 21:5), “Behold” is the fact, “your King” is who, “comes to you” is why, and “meek” is how. The outline is simply the verse, opened up.
Once he chose a number, he kept it. Four members could each split into four again, all the way down. The first member usually carried the most weight, and sometimes the last got only a sentence.
He often didn’t finish in one sitting. The morning sermon closed with a doxology, and he came back that evening for a collatio on the same verse, picking up with “This morning we spoke…”
What made his preaching different
The verse is the outline
He split the theme verse clause by clause. The divisions weren’t imposed on the text; they were the text’s own words, announced up front.
One number throughout
Fours, then fours, all the way down. Keeping one number through the subdivisions made a dense sermon easy to follow.
Morning and evening
He gave the first half of the verse the morning and returned that evening for the rest.
What others said
“His words had a warmth in them that kindled the love of God and sorrow for sin in men’s hearts.”
— Bernard Gui, early biographer
“To the ordinary faithful he spoke the word of God with singular grace and power.”
— Bernard Gui, early biographer, 1320s
What to take into your own pulpit
Let the verse divide itself
Before you invent points, look at the clauses the verse already has. Aquinas’s outline was the verse, opened up.
Pick a number and keep it
A consistent pattern helps the ear. When every level follows the same count, people can follow a deep sermon.
Save the subtleties
He kept fine distinctions for the classroom and gave ordinary people solid instruction they could use.
Those are the ideas. The guide turns them into ten steps you can follow this week, plus the sermons we studied and a fill-in outline in his shape.
Free PDF · Preach Like the Greats
Learn to preach like Thomas Aquinas.
This post is the overview. The guide has the research and the method.
- The 10 sermons we studied, start to finish
- Ten steps to preach the way he did
- His sermon outline, movement by movement
- A fill-in template for your own text, 8 pages
Common questions
What was Thomas Aquinas’s preaching style?
Ordered and warm. He took one theme verse, divided it by its own clauses into two to four announced members, kept the same number through the subdivisions, and aimed at the love of God and sorrow for sin.
How did Thomas Aquinas structure a sermon?
A theme verse, a short prothema with a prayer for something to say, then a division built from the verse’s clauses. The first half often filled the morning and closed with a doxology, and he returned that evening for a collatio on the rest.
How many of Thomas Aquinas’s sermons survive?
About 19 authentic sermons survive, all from listeners’ notes, plus his Lenten talks on the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. None of his sermons to ordinary people in Italian survive.