Entertainment / Literature / Summa: A treatise, essay, or book that attempts to deal comprehensively with its topic, especially one that is meant to be the 'final word' on a subject. Although it may seem like hubris to modern readers to think a single book could answer every possible question that could arise about a topic, medieval theologians were not cowed from making the attempt. Probably the most famous summa is Peter Abelard's Sic et Non, a book that attempts to list every major argument about church doctrine. With atypical political reserve, Abelard does not attempt to solve each debate, but instead he merely lists all the 'pro-' arguments and authorities under the Sic column and all the 'con-' arguments and authorities under the Non column of each entry. (Such tact is definitely not typical of the fiery scholar.) Likewise Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica is probably the most influential intellectual document in Christian theology for its thorough attempt at completeness and its intricate, in-depth analyses. (Latin, 'highest' or 'all', cf. Modern English 'summation' and 'summit')
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Business / Human Resources (HR) / Summary Material Modifications: A summary of modifications or changes made to an employee benefit plan that is not included in the summary plan description. MORE
Science / Weather / Summation Layer Amount: The amount of sky cover for each layer is given in eighths of sky cover attributable to clouds or obscurations. The summation amount for any given layer is equal to the sum of the sky cover for the la MORE
Technology / Computers / Rich Site Summary (RSS): XML format for distributing news headlines on the Web, also known as Really Simple Syndication. MORE