Thomas Aquinas

“Thomas is no siren song with irresistible powers, replacing the grace in the I of TULIP with the Summa. But many seem to think otherwise.

“many evangelicals do not have the faintest clue what Thomas wrote or taught, and Thomas’s views are in actuality markedly different than those of many born-again believers. Most of us believe that when Scripture teaches us that God is merciful, then we may understand God as such.” - Owen Strachan

“Famously, he insisted that faith and reason are in harmonious partnership, integrating the known science, philosophy and theology of his day into a comprehensive, interconnected system. All this helps explain why his work has maintained an enduring appeal, even as equally brilliant medieval thinkers have sunk into oblivion.” - RNS

“The pendulum of 20th-century evangelical scholarship on Aquinas has swung between strongly negative appraisals (…Francis Schaeffer and Cornelius Van Til…) and, since the 1980s, more appreciative receptions (…Norman Geisler and Arvin Vos).

“Sadly, many Protestants today have never read Thomas but have absorbed caricatures of Thomas based more on fear than truth, heat than light.” - Credo

“As we have seen, Keller did indeed break with Augustine and Calvin here, who held that the doctrine of original sin makes non-Christian virtue impossible.” - London Lyceum

“The moral philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) involves a merger of at least two apparently disparate traditions: Aristotelian eudaimonism and Christian theology.” - Providence

“…natural law does not hold that all moral evil can or should be prohibited by the state. The free choice to lie, for example, is always wrong because such acts always damage the good of truth. Yet we don’t legally prohibit and punish all acts of lying.” - Samuel Gregg

“… following the example of my Protestant forefathers, such disagreements do not keep me from recognizing Thomas as a beacon of orthodoxy and fountain of inquisitive acumen from which I can and should benefit.” - Credo

“Why are evangelicals so unfamiliar with one of the greatest theologians in the history of the church… Is Thomas a friend or a foe to evangelicals today? Was Thomas first and foremost a philosopher or a theologian? Was Thomas a rationalist as some would suggest?” - Credo