I enjoy the precision and clarity of thought. Palamas’ style is very different and serves a different purpose; Aquinas is literally writing a textbook here.
I have heard the Summa described as a kind of “Cliff Notes” for Latin theology…
And I can appreciate two+ perspectives on, say, a Masseratti - eg the mechanic’s view of the inside of the engine and the driver’s of its handling and his wife’s view of the aesthetics of the same vehicle… And we can all of one accord say that we all worship the same God, as the mechanic, driver and his wife all love the same car…
But here is the key - Theology is by Revelation from God, and by nothing else… Hence it is inherently descriptive, and not analytically deductive… It proceeds through insight rather than by proofs… And the descriptives do not have the same kind of precision that Newtonian physics have on the billiard table… The point being that it is not, from the human point of view, a systematic endeavor… And in Orthodox terms, Theology cannot be taught, but must be by Revelation… What is taught in the classrooms is ABOUT theology, but only God can “Teach” Himself to man… And THAT kind of teaching is by participation, and is not by words, even though words can describe what is known by the union with Himself that God can give to man…
Orthodoxy does not claim a large number of theologians, for these are those who speak and write about God - We have many who experience the Union, but most of these abide in its Silence… As, I should add, did the Theotokos herself…
It is this, I should think, that Thomas encountered when he so famously said: “Everything I have written is straw… I will teach no more…” It is why so many Saints recluse themselves in caves and cells and on and on away from people - That they should minister unto them - In ways of which we know naught…
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