"When the Reformers of the sixteenth century attempted to 'purge' Christian theology of the supposedly Hellenizing scholastic element, it became quickly evident (and in the properly 'reformed' theology of Karl Barth, for example, it is still evident today) that they were risking the error of removing from the Christian consciousness the reality of creation itself. (It is an unhistorical legend that Luther burned the Summa Theological along with the papal bull in the market place at Wittenberg. The true story of that incident, however, makes a more telling point. A recently uncovered report of that auto-da-fé testifes that there was the intention of burning the Summa along with the papal document, but no one could be found who was willing to part with his copy!)
"Far from being or signifying a secularization of genuine Christian teaching, the affirmation of the reality of creation in the theology of St. Thomas surges from the very depths of Christian intuition, namely, from reverence for the reality of the Incarnation of God. According to St. Thomas, the Evangelist John had deliberately said the Word was made flesh, in order to exclude the Manichaean principle that the body is evil."
Josef Pieper, The Silence of St. Thomas, London: Faber, 1957, 39-40.
Cf. Benedict XVI Regensburg Address on the Three Stages of Dehellenization at the Root of the Modern Crisis of Thought.
