Oxford University Press has published another excellent entry in their Oxford Handbook series, covering the reception of the theology of Thomas Aquinas, skillfully edited by Matthew Levering and Marcus Plested. The editors note that as little as fifteen years ago a volume of this nature would have been impossible, both because of the paucity of both scholars with the necessary expertise on Aquinas and because of the lack of a sufficient audience with interest in the topic. The book's publication and the wide array of contributors that span different theological traditions and a large geographic scope testifies to the fact that this has changed.

The book is divided into seven different categories of reception: medieval, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, baroque, modern, early and late twentieth-century, and contemporary philosophical and theological. On the one hand, given that Pope Pius V declared Aquinas a Doctor of the Church in 1567, it is only natural that a number of the essays explore his reception among Roman Catholics; these essays are interesting in their own right. On the other hand, many of the fascinating essays treat Aquinas's reception among early modern and contemporary Protestants and Eastern Orthodox theologians. The editors have assembled a masterful collection of essays that explores multiple facets of Aquinas's reception, and so this volume is must-read for anyone who wants to understand the scope and breadth of the influence of one of the church's greatest minds.