Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 28:1 (Spring 2024)
Article: The Natural Knowledge Of God: Thomas Aquinas, Herman Bavinck, And The Possibility Of retrieval
Author: Robert Gregory Lyon

The Natural Knowledge Of God: Thomas Aquinas, Herman Bavinck, And The Possibility Of retrieval

Robert Gregory Lyon

Robert Gregory Lyon is a PhD student in Systematic Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. He also earned a Master of Divinity from Southern Seminary. He has written for “Christ Over All” (www.christoverall.com), the Federalist, and Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. Robert is married with three children and a member of Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church in Louisville.

Discussions surrounding the possibility of retrieving the theology Thomas Aquinas is a hot topic today in the Reformed Evangelical world. Two strong currents exist in this discussion. One current is a resurgent, positive appropriation of Aquinas.1 The other is a corresponding, strong resistance to Thomistic doctrines.2 According to the former, Aquinas represents a classical tradition “still undivided” in Western Christendom and is thus a theologian whose is quite amenable to Reformed theology.3 The latter views Aquinas as a theologian who has thoroughly contaminated his theology proper (among other loci) with Greek and pantheistic philosophy, rendering retrieval of his thought virtually impossible and unnecessary.4

This essay seeks to approach this current discussion by asking, “Is there a place for Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of the natural knowledge of God in Reformed theology?” This question shall be answered in two parts. First, I will present Aquinas’s view of the natural knowledge of God by explaining three important features of his thought. In the following section, I will interact critically with Thomas via Herman Bavinck, the renowned Dutch Reformed theologian.5 Through this comparison, I will elucidate two major

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discontinuities between Bavinck and Thomas, specifically regarding natural revelation and the implanted knowledge of God. My aim is to show that, while Thomistic retrieval may prove useful within other doctrinal loci, the Reformed doctrine of the natural knowledge of God should be characterized by these fundamental discontinuities and thus drive the Reformed theologian away from Thomistic retrieval on these very points.

Thomas Aquinas And The Natural Knowledge Of God

To adequately highlight the uniqueness of the Reformed position on the natural knowledge of God, over against Thomas Aquinas, we must first seek to understand some of the salient features of Aquinas’s view that...