Almighty God, who hast enriched thy Church with the singular learning and holiness of thy servant Thomas Aquinas: Enlighten us more and more, we pray thee, by the disciplined thinking and teaching of Christian scholars, and deepen our devotion by the example of saintly lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
There is absolutely no doubt that Aquinas is one of the greatest theologians of all time, although his style of doing theology (and some of his ideas) won’t be congenial to all Christians. In particular, we Anglicans need to recognize that two of our greatest theologians, Richard Hooker and Joseph Butler, were deeply influenced by Thomistic philosphy and theology, in very positive ways. Indeed, I think it can be fairly said that Richard Hooker was the first and only major Protestant theologian of the 16th century to understand and appreciate Thomas Aquinas.
And that’s not just too bad; it’s a tragedy of major proportions. If only Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Bucer, or Bullinger had really understood Aquinas and what authentic Catholic teaching was on many of the disputed issues in the 16th century, the Reformation would have turned out very differently. And the baby wouldn’t have been thrown out with the dirty bathwater so often.
David Handy+