Frankly, I love it. It helps that he actually did a doctoral thesis on the theology of Thomas Aquinas. Now the question is, is The Name of the Rose accurate (the only one I can really talk about since his other ones are more modern and Baodolino is Baodolino)? Kind of. Some of the debates certainly have a ring of truth to them, but in the end, the whole thing is almost a game of Eco, and this is something he admits. Some editions of the book in English contain an essay that he wrote on constructing the world of the novel. I'd take a look at that to get a good idea of his mindset.