Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers' Favorite

Carl J Blackburn's The Children of Saint Thomas Aquinas is a well-researched and thought-provoking story inspired by the life and teachings of the medieval theologian and philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas. The story begins in 1272. Dominican Friar Thomas Aquinas is a Master of Theology in the Priory of Saint-Jacques in Paris. The Priory is the church's center for the intellectual training of priests. Aquinas is both a teacher and a preacher. In his teachings, he includes Aristotle's philosophy, which he believes supports Christian theology, to use the senses and intellect to understand God's creation and the Bible. The Bishop of Paris, Stephen Tempier, and others in the church hierarchy actively oppose his teachings. Pope Gregory orders Aquinas to leave the Priory of Saint-Jacques. With the pope's approval, Aquinas began a new school of theology in Naples. The story twists and turns as Aquinas faces relentless religious and political opposition to his teachings.

An immersive and gripping novel, I was deeply moved by Carl J Blackburn's The Children of Saint Thomas Aquinas. I particularly liked the character development of this extraordinary theologian and philosopher. For me, his beliefs and practice of Christianity and his understanding of Aristotle's philosophy sprang to life through the well-crafted drama of challenging interactions with the other characters, including Pope Gregory and Bishop Stephen Tempier. The complexity and multiple layers of religion, interpretations, dissent, heresy, ambition, and struggle for power and control expressed Aquinas's unflinching courage and determination to study and teach Aristotle's philosophy as part of Christian theology. I liked the evocative and imaginative worldbuilding of 13th-century Italy and France, abbeys and priories, church orders, and kingdoms. This worldbuilding was interwoven into Aquinas's life story, his days as a young man and a student in Naples, and how he became a theologian and philosopher. The novel gained great depth by interweaving into the story Aquinas's discussions with his companions, his thoughts, and his writings about understanding God's creation. The most poignant parts were when Aquinas visits his family home in Italy. The Children of Saint Thomas Aquinas is a profoundly thoughtful and memorable book.