“The importance of what Lynch has accomplished in this work cannot be overemphasized. The scholarship is of the highest quality. Simply put, there is no theological work within the last fifty years that treats this topic with as much clarity as Lynch does in these pages. His engagement with Aquinas’s major commentators, teasing out their key lines of insight and development, makes this volume of value to all students and scholars of sacramental theology.”
Roger Nutt, The Thomist 84.3 (2020)
“In this clearly written and well-informed study, Fr. Reginald Lynch, O.P., provides an excellent exploration of different theories of sacramental efficacy as divine instrumentality, especially the theory of Thomas Aquinas… The work succeeds both as an introduction to the study of sacramental efficacy, and as a solid study of Aquinas and Cano. Eminently satisfying.”
Thomas Sundaram, First Things (August 2018)
"This book represents an important and well-researched contribution, showing Lynch to be someone whose work is clearly to be reckoned with...Systematic theologians and historians of theology will find in this volume a stimulating case for the historical interest and ongoing theological value of the Thomistic view of sacraments as instruments of divine activity. Philosophical readers should not overlook this book either, as it provides important insights about medieval theories of causality. Discussions of how sacraments communicate grace constitute one of the main contexts in which a medieval author could develop a theory of instrumental causality, and those of us who work on medieval philosophical thought ignore these discussions to our own impoverishment."
Therese Cory, The Journal of Theological Studies 70 Iss. 2 (2019)
“Clearly written and authoritatively referenced, even if dense and highly technical, The Cleansing of the Heart is both a first-rate history of the Thomistic theory of sacramental efficacy and a robust apologetic for it.”
Thomas M. Kocik, Antiphon 22 n. 3 (2018)
“Reginald Lynch offers in his work a concise and clear account of the meaning and development of Thomas Aquinas’ views of sacramental causality. The Cleansing of the Heart is primarily a work of speculative theology, but its philosophical background and systematic approach make this interesting not only to Thomistic philosophers and theologians but also to scholars who are generally interested in the sacraments, causality, grace, and the development of theology.”
Catherine Peters, European Journal for the Study of Thomas Aquinas 38 (2020)
"Lynch shows how the Thomist understanding of the sacraments forms a sapiential synthesis of the most vital aspects of theology (anthropology, Christology, grace, merit), all of which converge on the question of sacramental instrumental causality, which stands “at the heart of the Christian mystery” (205)."
Joshua H. Lim, Nova et Vetera (English) 15.2 (2022)