Many have gone before us, and many will go after us. Certainly, we are not alone in wrestling with some of the most perplexing concepts of life. We are fortunate to have the thoughts of so many great thinkers preserved for us to study and read. Few people recognize how much influence so many great thinkers have on our the culture in which we live. This is partly due to to the fact that we give little thought to the formation of our ideas. It was with expectation then that P&R Publications began the release of their Great Thinker series, a series that examines the thinkings and teachings of some of the most influential thinkers, but does so from a biblical perspective.
On December 10th, publishers released the first three books in the series with books on Thomas Aquinas, Karl Marx (read my review of that book here), and Jaques Derrida. The goal is simple: to assess the ideologies proposed by these thinkers from a biblical perspective. For an examination of Thomas Aquinas, that task falls to K. Scott Oliphint. Oliphint’s unique qualification for writing this book is less about being a scholar of Thomas Aquinas, although his grasp is certainly thorough, but more from his specialty in apologetics and systematic theology as a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary. As a result, you can expect a book that meets three goals set forth by publishers.
The first is that the book be academically informed and certainly this is the case. At four chapters, the book is relatively short. Two of those chapters include a brief biography and background in chapter one and then concluding remarks in chapter four. This means the bulk of the book is devoted to two topics from Aquinas’ theology: his teachings on knowledge and his teachings on existence (particularly God’s existence). Oliphint brings to light little-known facts about Aquinas (for example, I had no idea of some of the commentaries he had written on Scripture) but more importantly, he draws attention to the primary principles that made up his thinking. To do this he draws heavily from Thomas Aquinas’ own writings and combines that with explanations of his own.
Furthermore, the book is expected to utilize biblical and theological faithfulness. Considering who the publisher is, you can expect that this indicates a reliance on what is known as reformed theology. While there are some minor points of disagreement from reformed theology, my experience with these books thus far is that those points that solid, Bible-believing Christians may have an issue with are not necessary to the topics being discussed. Therefore, readers can expect a book that is biblically faithful. In terms of Aquinas, much emphasis was placed upon human reasoning and ability to know God. However, it is appreciated that the author brings attention to the concept of man’s sin and its impact on human reasoning. Points like this are exceptional in forcing readers to think critically about ideologies like those of Aquinas’ that have been taught to them from such a young age.
Finally, the publisher anticipates a book that is accessible, meaning one that is easily understandable. Of the books released in this series thus far, this is definitely the most difficult to read. However, this is not due to Oliphint’s writing or lack of clarity, but due to the speculative nature of the topics in which Thomas Aquinas dealt with. As a result, it is a book that is very apologetical in nature and relies much upon some of the foremost apologists of the last few centuries. For some, they may take exception to Oliphint’s methods and critique of others because each has their own preferred method. This does not make the book less valuable though, and in fact, that alone means that many apologists should read it. However, the topics in apologetics can be difficult to grasp, and that’s what readers will find in this book.
The Great Thinkers series is an exceptional series that forces readers to confront their worldview. It causes them to examine the ideologies that shape them and are espoused by them in light of what Scripture says. Therefore, they are books that would be beneficial for all Christians, however, note that this particular book will be most enjoyed by those who find enjoyment and understanding in the discipline of apologetics.
To purchase a copy of this book, click here.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher at no cost to me for the purposes of review. However, the review was not influenced in any way by the author, publisher, or anyone else associated with this book but is the result of my own reading of the book.

Thomas Aquinas
by K. Scott Oliphint
P & R Publishing


Christian
Pub Date 30 Nov 2017


I am reviewing a copy of Thomas Aquina's through P&R Publishing and Netgalley:

In this book we learn of Thomas Aquina's the thirteenth century theologian and thinker whose words impacted those inside and outside the Roman Catholic Church.


This unique study by Scott Oliphinit focuses on Aquina's dualistic approach to the natural and revealed knowledge of God and his use of Aristotelian Metaphysics.

We learn of Thomas Aquina’s unique theology in this book, and it allows us to explore the way he thought!

This book will be beneficial for Pastors, Theologians , Philosophers and students.

I give Thomas Aquina's five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!

This is the first book in the Great Thinkers series published by Presbyterian and Reformed. It is written by Christian theologian and apologist K. Scott Oliphint in which he examines and critiques the thought of medieval philosopher and apologist Thomas Aquinas. In this series introduction Nathan Shannon tells us the threefold goal for each volume in the series: First it is intended to be academically informed. Second it seeks to maintain a high standard of biblical and theological faithfulness. Third the series aim is to be accessible for readers without unnecessary difficult jargons and vocabulary.
It would be of course impossible to cover all of Aquinas’ theology in a work that is a 168 pages. As the author made it clear in the beginning of the introduction Aquinas composed over sixty works during his short lifetime and these included multi-volume sets. Instead given the task at hand this work has the modest goal of looking at two specific area of Thomas’s thought: the first being Aquinas view of the knowledge of God and second being Aquinas view of God. These two areas are covered in chapter two and three respectively while the first chapter served as an introduction to Aquinas. I thought Oliphint was wise in covering these two areas as these are foundational in shaping the rest of Aquinas’ theological and philosophical method and readers get a better grasp of Aquinas’ methodology. Of these chapters the longest was chapter three in which the chapter was nearly half of the book. The chapter covered a lot of ground looking at both Aquinas’s arguments for the existence of God and also what his actual view of God was.
I learned a lot from this work. Each chapter was jam packed with information and food for thought. In the beginning of chapter two Oliphint gave a good presentation and critique of Thomas’ particular idea of what is self-evidencing and also Aquinas’ rejection of the knowledge of God being self-evidencing. It always baffles me when apologists don’t take into account Romans 1 in how they pursue apologetics, theology and philosophy; likewise as Oliphint demonstrated Aquinas was weak as an exegete with other passages of Scripture and he pretty much neglected Romans 1 and its implications.
I enjoyed the discussion of Aquinas’ epistemology in reciprocal relationship with his metaphysics. I enjoyed this since those who are epistemologically conscious would know that the two fields are inter-related and that they both shape one another. The inter-relationship of metaphysics and epistemology is not a popular theme today given our age’s overall dislike of metaphysics but this was an important theme of Cornelius Van Til, who was the father of Presuppositional Apologetics and the author’s mentor. Oliphint in the book also noted Thomas’ own foundationalism although he stated that this is to be understood differently than modern foundationalism.
There were also things that I assumed about Aquinas that the book corrected me on. For instance I always thought Aquinas believed in two different modes of knowledge but the work mentioned that lesser known is Aquinas’ third way of knowing. This third way of knowing is more obscure and indirect and is somewhat ambigious and wasn’t viewed as highly by Aquinas, hence he talked more about the other two way of knowing truth about God. The book also confirmed somethings that I have read in secondary sources about Aquinas but would like to see a quote directly from Aquinas concerning his view. Here I appreciated that Oliphint quoted Aquinas to show his view of faith presupposes natural knowledge and also grace presupposes nature, etc.
What I most enjoyed about this book is Oliphint’s critique of Aquinas. I thought Oliphint did a good job showing how Aquinas improperly interpreted and misapplied John 1:9 in order to justify his epistemology. Some of his critique also gave good examination of the philosophical assumptions such as that of Aquinas’ five ways of knowing God’s existence.
In light of the recent discussion about God’s divine simplicity and the role of Aquinas’ dependence on Aristotle and the theological method of scholasticism this work would be a welcome contribution to the discussion as Oliphint spends a lengthy portion on divine simplicity since this is one of Aquinas’ important doctrine that he holds to. This work critiques Aquinas’ version of divine simplicity and argues for something more faithful to a biblical view of divine simplicity. The latter portion of chapter three’s discussion of divine simplicity is probably the most rigorous and difficult part of the book.
Overall I recommend this book although I think the book could have avoided a little more technical jargon which was one of the stated intent of this series. I realize that sometimes certain terminology is unavoidable but I can’t help but to wonder if Oliphint enjoys quoting Latin phrases a little too much even from his other writings. There is a glossary at the end of the book which is helpful.