EPISODE · Apr 23, 2026 · 34 MIN
Thomas Aquinas For Protestants with Miles Smith
from Christians Reading Classics · host Mere Orthodoxy
Can a Protestant read Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae without converting to Catholicism? Nadya Williams welcomes Miles Smith IV (Hillsdale College) to take up the question currently churning on social media. Miles argues yes — and that the more interesting question lies upstream: what do Christians do with Aristotle? Along the way, they consider the Summa's 13th-century context, its reception alongside Dante and through the Black Death, the Socratic shape of Aquinas's method, and why certain books (the Summa, Willa Cather's My Ántonia, Lewis's Till We Have Faces) break us open while others simply don't. — Christians Reading Classics is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership. Apply for fall 2026 admission to Beeson Divinity School's MDiv (or M.Div., your choice) and be considered for a full-tuition scholarship.: https://bit.ly/OurRisenLord — 00:00 - Aquinas's Prologue and Welcome 02:18 - Introducing Miles Smith IV 03:11 - What Makes a Classic? 04:18 - Reading Aquinas as a Protestant 08:34 - The Social Media Debate Behind This Episode 09:26 - Who Was Thomas Aquinas? 11:46 - Reason, Revelation, and What Evangelicals Already Assume 12:47 - The Aristotle Question 15:20 - Virtue, Flourishing, and the Knowledge of God 18:04 - How to Begin Reading the Summa 20:52 - The Socratic Method and Aquinas's Contemporaries 24:25 - The Summa, Dante, and the Black Death 29:02 - Theology, Philosophy, and Devotion 31:03 - Books That Break Us (and Till We Have Faces) 33:10 - The Classic Miles Wishes He Had Written Christians Reading Classics is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.Apply for fall 2026 admission to Beeson Divinity School's MDiv and be considered for a full-tuition scholarship. https://bit.ly/beesonscholarships
What this episode covers
Can a Protestant read Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae without converting to Catholicism? Nadya Williams welcomes Miles Smith IV (Hillsdale College) to take up the question currently churning on social media. Miles argues yes — and that the more interesting question lies upstream: what do Christians do with Aristotle? Along the way, they consider the Summa's 13th-century context, its reception alongside Dante and through the Black Death, the Socratic shape of Aquinas's method, and why certa...
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Thomas Aquinas For Protestants with Miles Smith
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