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Saint Thomas Aquinas

4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 · rating details · 1,074 ratings · 71 reviews

G.K. Chesterton's brilliant sketch of the life and thought of Thomas Aquinas is as relevant today as when it was published in 1933. Then it earned the praise of such distinguished writers as Etienne Gilson, Jacques Martain, and Anton Pegis as the best book ever written on the great thirteenth-century Dominican. Today Chesterton's classic stands poised to reveal Thomas to a...more

Paperback, 167 pages

Published January 15th 1974 by Image (first published 1933)

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Nov 19, 2012 booklady rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, 1990s, church-documents, classic, books-on-books, hagiography, history, non-fiction, philosophy, spiritual, theology, religion, worth-reading-over-and-over, 2012

This is my second complete read of G.K.Chesterton’s classic treatment of the “Angelic Doctor” – as St. Thomas is sometimes referred to – and I do not plan on it being the last. In fact, I suspect subsequent reads to be even more fruitful than this one which was a significant improvement on my introduction to the work back in the 1990’s.

As St. Thomas is considered one of the greatest minds to have ever lived and his biographer, Chesterton, not a slacker himself when he puts pen to paper, the rea...more This is my second complete read of G.K.Chesterton’s classic treatment of the “Angelic Doctor” – as St. Thomas is sometimes referred to – and I do not plan on it being the last. In fact, I suspect subsequent reads to be even more fruitful than this one which was a significant improvement on my introduction to the work back in the 1990’s.

As St. Thomas is considered one of the greatest minds to have ever lived and his biographer, Chesterton, not a slacker himself when he puts pen to paper, the reader can expect to work for everything gleaned from this excellent biography—however much the author downplays the difficulty in all Thomistic writings and emphasizes the inadequacy of his own treatment. Even so, the book is a pleasure to read from start to finish, chock full of interesting tidbits on the saint, philosophy, religion, science, and a myriad of other subjects which Chesterton brings to bear on the reality of reason and fidelity of faithfulness.

Étienne Gilson, the leading Thomistic scholar of the twentieth century (and someone I am struggling to even to begin to understand!) called it ‘as being without possible comparison the best book ever written on St. Thomas’.

To that I can only add, it is also the most enjoyable to read and/or listen to. My husband and I were listening to the Blackstone Audio version of it and chuckling at the subtle (and sometimes not-so subtle) Chestertonian witticisms which are packed into the text like an overripe fruitcake.

Pure delight!

‘Trace even the Puritan mother back through history and she represents a rebellion against the Cavalier laxity of the English Church, which was at first a rebel against the Catholic civilisation, which had been a rebel against the Pagan civilisation. Nobody but a lunatic could pretend that these things were a progress; for they obviously go first one way and then the other. But whichever is right, one thing is certainly wrong; and that is the modern habit of looking at them only from the modern end. For that is only to see the end of the tale; they rebel against they know not what, because it arose they know not when; intent only on its ending, they are ignorant of its beginning; and therefore of its very being.’

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Mar 26, 2013 Douglas Dalrymple rated it 4 of 5 stars

Chesterton has only a few things to say about Aquinas, really, but that’s the way it is with all his books: the ostensible subject is most of the time fondly neglected for the atmosphere surrounding it. And while from most writers behavior of this sort would be intolerable, from Chesterton, somehow, it’s better than tolerable; because almost no one else is this fun to read.

Chesterton’s Aquinas is no vague hypothesizer of miniature angels traipsing about in Nana’s sewing kit, but the champion of...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Kevin Greenlee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Chesterton, in this book, turns his journalistic gaze upon St. Thomas Aquinas, sketching his biography and teachings against the backdrop of the contemporary philosophy of Chesterton's day.

I'm not entirely sure what I think of this book. On the one hand, there are moments of pure genius that shine a light of clarity upon the Angelic Doctor. On the other hand, there are long sections of Chesterton relating his usual complaints about the moderns, which while often insightful have been done better...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Alan rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the first book of Chesterton I have ever read. He did an excellent job concisely and briefly introducing St. Thomas Aquinas for people who have no philosophical background nor had ever previously known much about this saint.

A notable quote where he compares St. Thomas to Luther:

It was the very life of the Thomist teaching that Reason can be trusted: it was the very life of the Lutheran teaching that Reason is utterly untrustworthy [...] To compare these two figures bulking so big in hist

...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Gilbert Keith Chesterton—semi-officially known as “the oft-quoted G. K. Chesterton”—would have us believe this little volume is a sketch or an outline of Thomas Aquinas’ life and thought. It’s difficult for me, however, to classify this book as anything even roughly resembling a biography. Chesterton clearly places Aquinas in thirteenth-century Italy and France; otherwise, however, he mentions only one specific date or year in the entire book (and not until page 141!). There’s no real chronology...more Gilbert Keith Chesterton—semi-officially known as “the oft-quoted G. K. Chesterton”—would have us believe this little volume is a sketch or an outline of Thomas Aquinas’ life and thought. It’s difficult for me, however, to classify this book as anything even roughly resembling a biography. Chesterton clearly places Aquinas in thirteenth-century Italy and France; otherwise, however, he mentions only one specific date or year in the entire book (and not until page 141!). There’s no real chronology. Some friends and enemies are mentioned by name, but most are not.

Nor does Chesterton provide an orderly introduction to Aquinas’ philosophy or theology, though he comes closer in the former case than in the latter. Chesterton wends his way to and fro in Aquinas’ thoughts, sometimes jumping ahead of himself, sometimes doubling back. A systematic introduction this is not.

If anything, Chesterton has written an extended homily. Using Saint Thomas’ life and thoughts as his pericopal text, he seeks to outline the moral values and intellectual motifs necessary for a working, vibrant Christian theology. Chesterton repeatedly extols Thomas’ “common sense” approach to Creation as fundamental to a theology that can take hold in the popular mind. It’s only with a firm assurance in the created, objective world that chief Christian dogmas like Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection provide any real theology. Thomas’ moral virtues, especially his humility and honesty, are necessary for appraising and responding to differing opinions in a way that speaks to one’s opponents.

It was Thomas’ attempts to introduce Aristotelian modes of thinking into a medieval theology dominated by various forms of Platonism that brought him to the attention of the wider church and, for good or ill, defined much of the Roman church’s theology until this very day. In broad strokes, never distracted by too much specificity, Chesterton describes Thomas’ “Baptism of Aristotle” and the conflicts it engendered within the church’s establishment.

Chesterton is appropriately awed by the Saint’s desire to get at the heart of everything, but he is too quick to dismiss the critics of Thomist Scholasticism. “Of some of the [later] Scholastics we can only say that they took everything that was worst in Scholasticism and made it worse.” He implies that no one was up to the task of carrying on Thomas’ work. He never even raises the question whether the Aristotelian basis of Thomism has inherent flaws apart from its practitioners’ skills.

Finally, it’s always worth noting that any of Chesterton’s writings are full of delicious, memorable turns of phrase, e.g., “As a matter of fact, it is generally the man who is not ready to argue, who is ready to sneer. That is why, in recent literature, there has been so little argument and so much sneering.” There’s good reason for Chesterton being oft-quoted.(less)

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Mar 10, 2010 Monica rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am a huge Chesterton fan, and I've been wanting to read more about the men and women of faith who have come before us. This seemed the perfect book to fit the bill. I WISH, however, that I was far more well-read than I am, and that I had actually read St. Thomas Aquinas' work first. I own a copy of Summa Theologica, but it's rather daunting, and I have to admit that I've never taken the time to delve into it. Chesterton assumes you already know the work - this book, although it claims to be a...more

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Feb 27, 2010 Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: spirituality

This is a perfect book for someone like me: a lapsed but still interested Catholic who could never keep Aquinas and Augustine straight. Chesterton packs more theology and philsophy into this slim volume, and makes it much more accessible, than any massive tome on same subject. I don't think I've ever read any thing that combines brevity and challenging ideas like this book. It's confirms my belief that all such books should be written by intelligent laymen instead of academic specialists. And he...more

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Jun 26, 2009 Jon Stout rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion

G. K. Chesterton’s biography of Thomas Aquinas is so defensive and sarcastic in tone that it does not seem realistic. Chesterton’s arguments repeatedly take the form that St. Thomas was neither this extreme (Platonic, mystic, Buddhist, Hegelian) nor that extreme (Aristotelian. Manichean, Muslim, pragmatic), where the extremes range all over the board, including many never known by St. Thomas. The saint always occupies the middle ground of common sense and the essence of Christianity, according t...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Jonathan B rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

I started reading "Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide" by Edward Feser around the same time as this. Though I haven't finished Feser's book yet (I'm a little more than halfway through), I like his book much better than Chesterton's. It seems like Chesterton spends too much time talking about stuff that isn't very important to Aquinas or his philosophy or his theology. Had he spent less time going after Luther (just one of his many "rabbit trails"), he could have spent more time explaining the philosoph...more I started reading "Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide" by Edward Feser around the same time as this. Though I haven't finished Feser's book yet (I'm a little more than halfway through), I like his book much better than Chesterton's. It seems like Chesterton spends too much time talking about stuff that isn't very important to Aquinas or his philosophy or his theology. Had he spent less time going after Luther (just one of his many "rabbit trails"), he could have spent more time explaining the philosophy of Aquinas.

Maybe so many people have given this book five stars because they haven't compared it with what a good introduction to a person's thought should look like. Comparing Chesterton's book to Feser's puts Chesterton's work in its proper light: as a sub-par introduction to the man's thought.

But surely someone will find this criticism unjustified. After all, Chesterton is writing with a broader scope than simply the *thought* of Aquinas. Granted, Chesterton focuses much more on the person of Aquinas and his surrondings. Chesterton is writing more of a biography and Feser more of an introduction to his philosophy.

So how can I still fault Chesterton? Because of a quote by C. F. J. Martin that Edward Feser notes in his book: "If we want to study Aquinas we should pay him the compliment of treating as important what he thought of as important. To study Aquinas as Aquinas is a poor piece of flatter, since Aquinas cared very little for Aquinas, while he did care for God and science." Martin is correct and for this reason Chesterton's biography feels lacking and subpar. Understanding Aquinas requires understanding more than simply the fantastical tales of his loins being girded by angels or of the time he levitated or what a humble and quiet man he was. If this is most of what you know about Aquinas, you don't really know much about Aquinas, at least not anything important.

I doubt anyone will finish reading Chesterton's book and have a good grasp of Aquinas's worldview (unless of course they already had that understanding prior to reading Chesterton). What they will have is a lot of stories about how Aquinas was larger than life and how much Chesterton can't stand Protestants. Mostly a poor flattery.

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Aug 29, 2011 Joe Dantona rated it 5 of 5 stars

This isn't a biography; it is an adventure story!

Of course, Chesterton would have scoffed at calling this small book a biography in any case. But what it severely lacks in biographical data (which, of course, was not the author's aim) it makes up for in immense creative use of certain significant events in the great saint's life. Between dinner with St. Louis and his arguments against the Augustinians, to choosing the life of a poor Dominican monk instead of following the rich life of an abbot s...more This isn't a biography; it is an adventure story!

Of course, Chesterton would have scoffed at calling this small book a biography in any case. But what it severely lacks in biographical data (which, of course, was not the author's aim) it makes up for in immense creative use of certain significant events in the great saint's life. Between dinner with St. Louis and his arguments against the Augustinians, to choosing the life of a poor Dominican monk instead of following the rich life of an abbot supplied by his father; G.K. Chesterton gives no short supply of wonderful and exasperating examples of who this large man (who was no doubt much larger on the inside than he was on the outside) chose to be against every outside influence. In the face of the Manichees, of Plato, of all culture and irrationality and misused tradition; yes, even in the shadow of the great accidental determinist St. Augustine himself, Thomas Aquinas boldly (but always humbly, so humbly as to hardly be matched) proclaims the universality of reason, the love of God, the beauty of the cosmos, and the gorgeous but deadly free will of man. Before much time passes at all we realize that it is no longer Aquinas who stands in the shadow of Augustine, but Augustine and the whole Church who stand in the valley below the feet of the great giant, the feet of the 'Angelic' Doctor who hardly spoke of his angels, who saw something (or Someone) which made all his writings as straw.

We meet a man in these pages who raised the long-dead champion of rationale, Aristotle himself, from the grave, and proceeded to baptize him into the faith. We meet a man who would stop at no boundary in his quest for truth, who would passionately defend against insane and unimaginable errors. We meet a man who contrasts so with all the saints, all the history of the Church herself, that he fills all history with his hugeness. We are introduced, as if at a quiet dinner party (perhaps, we think, the very same party with St. Louis and his French friends), to a man who could touch the stars and the moons with his very mind, and who would treat you as if you were Christ Himself, who would wash your very feet if only you would allow it.

In this book, this small and inconceivable book, G.K. Chesterton reveals all this. And what he has opened is a floodgate, momentarily blockaded by a post-it nailed to a door, but unleashed again with all the fury and calm and strength of the Genesis Flood.(less)

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Jan 27, 2013 Matt Smith rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, biographies, catholicism

This is not a good biography. Chesterton says a lot - he uses a lot of words and rhetorical devices - without actually informing you of anything. For example, he spends pages discussing St. Louis, from his upbringing to his temperament, to the opulence of his court, all to lead to an anecdote in which Thomas interrupted a dinner while his mind was occupied with a philosophical question about the Manicheans. He could have told us about the anecdote in a tenth of the space without losing meaning,...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Kirk Lowery added it

Shelves: religion, theology, philosophy

I must admit that I had high expectations of this book. G. K. Chesterton has a huge reputation as a writer. Since he was a devout Catholic, I expected an excellent book on Thomas. I was disappointed.

First, the author does not give a coherent narrative of Thomas' life. He makes many references to events and people of the 13th century (a good thing), but he expects the reader to already know about them. You will get a great deal more out of this book if you have already read an encyclopedia articl...more

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May 19, 2013 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

This wasn't exactly how I expected a biography to be, it wasn't so much about the man as it was about this man as a thinker in the context of the history of thought, although Chesterton did provide some very illustrative anecdotes. He wrote it as a preliminary and crude character sketch or sketch of this character's thought, for those looking to study his philosophy, which he does well, indeed he has a very refined understanding of the philosophy as far as I can tell, but you'll have to be well...more

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Jun 30, 2009 Sherwood Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Chesterton is interesting even when I disagree. I picked up this book in hopes of a clearer picture of who Aquinas was. As it happens, very little is known about the details of his life, though he was related to half the big guns of the 1200s. He wanted to be a friar, rather than a monk (with an abbey and maybe higher as his assured post)--nowadays most won't discern the difference, but it seems to be akin to someone chosing to work in a soup kitchen, when the relatives want to make you the CEO...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Daniel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Two Internet-provided (RE: stolen) reviews of the 1983 Krokus album Headhunter :

DarthKarl :

Throughout their entire career Krokus has striven for popular success, and as a Heavy Metal band this wasn't always to their benefit. But on Headhunter, which is one of the greatest Heavy Metal albums of all time, Krokus got it right, got all of it right. Headhunter is a perfect balance of Heavy Metal thuggery and Pop accessible hook-filled riffs. And it's all built around Marc Storace's wondrously gruff y...more

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Mar 24, 2009 Jackson rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is the follow up to Chesterton's biography on St. Francis. Though it does not rival the first, it is written in the same engaging manner as its predecessor. In its pages, Thomas Aquinas comes alive as a flesh and blood faithful Christian, something that is often overlooked in the endless debates over the figure's scholastic writings. Here we meet Thomas of the tower and Thomas who solemnly proclaimed at the end of his life that everything he has written is but straw. This is a great bo...more

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Dec 01, 2009 Keith rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've read two books recently with a Roman Catholic "bent." GK is known as a Christian apologist (among his many talents). This biography of Thomas Aquinas was written with entertaining and valuable insights. However, by the time you reach the end of the book you find yourself immersed in a polemic argument about the philosophical opinions of Aquinas and their value/weaknesses. That portion is not for the weak of heart (i.e. at least a little interested in philosophy). If you can make to the end,...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Errol rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Last year during the Presidential election, when Paul Ryan was chosen as the GOP VP candidate, he did a famous interview where he said his two favorite philosophers were Ayn Rand and St. Thomas Aquinas. I asked Emilia and several Catholic friends to explain what this dude Aquinas was all about, and how his worldview is compatible with the writings of Rand (boo, hiss, etc). I never got a satisfactory answer, so when I saw this book lying around at the Garvey house I decided to snag it. Also, I wa...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars

He certainly does not write a conventional biography. Hopefully when you read this book you have a basic knowledge of Aquinas otherwise this book will lose a lot of its artistic and literary value. I think the best way to describe the book is that it is built like a labyrinth full of faintly stained glass windows. He will approach a subject and you will think you catch a glimpse of what he talks about, but are unsure. You progress further and can see it somewhat more clearly. A few paragraphs la...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Njpb rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites, philosophy, biography, theology, religion, science, thomism, mediaeval

This is fantastic read. One of GK's deepest. Here can be found an enlightening portrait of one the world's greatest minds, told in thrilling and textured language throughout. We get a glimpse into the personality of his man and the most accessible introduction to his thought and realism to be found. Great book--should make you want to read more by/about Aquinas. I found myself delighted with the uncommon sanity of thought and things I have found that other philosophers (even later greats like Wi...more This is fantastic read. One of GK's deepest. Here can be found an enlightening portrait of one the world's greatest minds, told in thrilling and textured language throughout. We get a glimpse into the personality of his man and the most accessible introduction to his thought and realism to be found. Great book--should make you want to read more by/about Aquinas. I found myself delighted with the uncommon sanity of thought and things I have found that other philosophers (even later greats like Wittgenstein) had begun to formulate independently.

"St. Thomas Aquinas is enriched by the author’s unique ability to see the world through the saint’s eyes, a fresh and animated view that shows us Aquinas as no other biography has. Acclaimed as the best book ever written on Aquinas by such outstanding Thomists as Jacques Maritain, Etienne Gilson, and Anton Pegis, this brilliant biography will completely capture the reader and leave him desirous of reading Aquinas’ own monumental work.

“No two lives are more interesting or diverse than St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas. The St. Francis book is today especially significant because it addresses itself on how to reform a corrupt culture, while the St. Thomas book is important because it addresses the problem of disordered minds. Chesterton makes philosophy intelligible and poverty rich. No two books get at the heart of things better or in a more delightful manner.”
—James V. Schall, S.J., Georgetown University

I consider it as being without possible comparison the best book ever written on St. Thomas. Nothing short of genius can account for such an achievement. Everybody will no doubt admit that it is a "clever" book, but the few readers who have spent twenty or thirty years in studying St. Thomas Aquinas, and who, perhaps, have themselves published two or three volumes on the subject, cannot fail to perceive that the so-called "wit" of Chesterton has put their scholarship to shame. He has guessed all that which they had tried to demonstrate, and he has said all that which they were more or less clumsily attempting to express in academic formulas. Chesterton was one of the deepest thinkers who ever existed; he was deep because he was right; and he could not help being right; but he could not help being modest and charitable too, so he left it to those who could understand him to know that he was right, and deep; to the others, he apologized for being right, and he made up for being deep by being witty.
-Etienne Gilson(less)

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Jan 16, 2013 Jana Light rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: spiritual, thinking

I am just starting to get totally enraptured by G.K. Chesterton and also, coincidentally, Thomas Aquinas. This book was a good surface introduction to Aquinas (as well as a nice biographical sketch) and made me hungry to read Aquinas's work for myself. In other words, it did exactly what a critical discussion of any theologian or author should do. I'm looking forward to reading Aquinas and then rereading this text in order to have my own opinions about how Chesterton characterizes his writings a...more

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Jan 07, 2010 Erik rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: catholic-lifetime-reading-plan, another-sort-of-learning

Not quite as incisive as I expected, but a great job putting Aquinas in perspective in history and in the Church. As usual, some great quotes from GK.

Recommended by James Schall in Another Sort of Learning, Chapter 7, as one of Eight Books on St. Thomas Aquinas.

Recommended by James Schall in Another Sort of Learning, Chapter 9, as one of Seven Books of G. K. Chesterton, beside Orthodoxy and Heretics, Not to Be Missed, Even Though He Wrote about a Hundred More, Not to Be Missed Either.

Recommended...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There are two things that will always cheer me up: Monty Python's 'Galaxy Song' and this book. It has a vein of optimism and common-sense running through it like nothing else on Earth and to me is the high point of Chesterton's work, never *too* partisan or twee-paradoxical or burdened with parochial minutiae. I cannot remember how many times I have re-read it. If you want a proper biography of Thomas Aquinas, it is no good at all, of course.

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Mar 01, 2013 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes very hard to follow. This was my first Chesterton book. He's incredibly smart and from what I've read about him, a very versatile and deep author. However, as much good information as he put in this book, he got very rambly and off-topic, and it took him a while to bring the topic around to being relevant to St Thomas, making it hard (for me at least) to follow. You might need to do some homework before you read this book...

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Sep 29, 2012 Bobbi Dahlin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Chesterton may not make the life of Aquinas crystal and simple like we might expect a biographer to do, but he does illuminate much about the character and the philosophy of the man and make it very graspable. At the end of this book, I am not floundering for a light switch or buried under heaps of heavy intellectual thoughts. Chesterton has made me think clearly and in a new way in more than one place, and has made me smile in dozens; and he done so while teaching me about one of the greatest m...more

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May 05, 2012 Clyde rated it 3 of 5 stars

One feels that Chesterton has to reach a bit to sync up with Aquinas in the way that he did not have to struggle to engage with St. Francis in his book on that subject; and there is the perhaps some of the unavoidable sink into thomistic philosophy that occurs for a couple of chapters late in the book that are a bit of a drudge. Even so, where he focuses more on biography (even intellectual biography or philosophical biography) and certainly where he uses Thomas as a stalking horse for his own b...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Sher rated it 3 of 5 stars

Book 11 2012 Reading Challenge
I have very much enjoyed GK Chesterton's works in the past, but this one was a bit dense. He writes with so many references from the nineteen century and many references to Aristotle and other philosophers. I had to look up quite a few references. I agree with other reviewers - this book is more an analysis of the times and the men around Aquinas. It was difficult to finish. Next up Summa of the Summa by Kreeft.

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Jun 01, 2011 Giancarlo Montemayor rated it 5 of 5 stars

With an elegant and delightful prose, and a detailed research work, GK Chesterton provides a redeeming view of the life, philosophy, and theology of Thomas Aquinas, or "the dumb ox" as his classmates would call him before he discovered his own powerful and beautiful mind.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Medieval History, or to those whose first thought about this man is "heretic!"

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Apr 23, 2012 Michelle Potter rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

I don't know much about philosophy, but this book really brought into focus some important concepts about Christianity, logic, and science. It's hard to write a summary of all the ways I felt enlightened by this book, by ideas such as: that things can neither be good nor bad, only thoughts (or intentions) can be; that the senses are given to use by God in order to discern truth, and can therefore be trusted; and especially that there is only one truth -- that science and religion are both paths...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Noah rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is certainly not a biography but more of a love letter to a revival of Thomism against modernism. Chesterton's biting sarcasm can grow tiresome, but one clearly picks up on his affection for Aquinas. The latter sections of he book are helpful for grasping the basics of Aquinas's ontology. Good introductory reading for Aquinas before digging into a monster like the Summa.

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About G.K. Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) cannot be summed up in one sentence. Nor in one paragraph. In fact, in spite of the fine biographies that have been written of him (and his Autobiography), he has never been captured between the covers of one book. But rather than waiting to separate the goats from the sheep, let’s just come right out and say it: G.K. Chesterton was the best writer of the twent...more Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) cannot be summed up in one sentence. Nor in one paragraph. In fact, in spite of the fine biographies that have been written of him (and his Autobiography), he has never been captured between the covers of one book. But rather than waiting to separate the goats from the sheep, let’s just come right out and say it: G.K. Chesterton was the best writer of the twentieth century. He said something about everything and he said it better than anybody else. But he was no mere wordsmith. He was very good at expressing himself, but more importantly, he had something very good to express. The reason he was the greatest writer of the twentieth century was because he was also the greatest thinker of the twentieth century.

Born in London, Chesterton was educated at St. Paul’s, but never went to college. He went to art school. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly. (To put it into perspective, four thousand essays is the equivalent of writing an essay a day, every day, for 11 years. If you’re not impressed, try it some time. But they have to be good essays, all of them, as funny as they are serious, and as readable and rewarding a century after you've written them.)

Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology. His style is unmistakable, always marked by humility, consistency, paradox, wit, and wonder. His writing remains as timely and as timeless today as when it first appeared, even though much of it was published in throw away paper.

This man who composed such profound and perfect lines as "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried," stood 6’4" and weighed about 300 pounds, usually had a cigar in his mouth, and walked around wearing a cape and a crumpled hat, tiny glasses pinched to the end of his nose, swordstick in hand, laughter blowing through his moustache. And usually had no idea where or when his next appointment was. He did much of his writing in train stations, since he usually missed the train he was supposed to catch. In one famous anecdote, he wired his wife, saying, "Am at Market Harborough. Where ought I to be?" His faithful wife, Frances, attended to all the details of his life, since he continually proved he had no way of doing it himself. She was later assisted by a secretary, Dorothy Collins, who became the couple’s surrogate daughter, and went on to become the writer’s literary executrix, continuing to make his work available after his death.

This absent-minded, overgrown elf of a man, who laughed at his own jokes and amused children at birthday parties by catching buns in his mouth, was the man who wrote a book called The Everlasting Man, which led a young atheist named C.S. Lewis to become a Christian. This was the man who wrote a novel called The Napoleon of Notting Hill, which inspired Michael Collins to lead a movement for Irish Independence. This was the man who wrote an essay in the Illustrated London News that inspired Mahatma Gandhi to lead a movement to end British colonial rule in India. This was a man who, when commissioned to write a book on St. Thomas Aquinas (aptly titled Saint Thomas Aquinas), had his secretary check out a stack of books on St. (less)

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Quotes from Saint Thomas Aquinas

“[Buddhism and Christianity] are in one sense parallel and equal; as a mound and a hollow, as a valley and a hill. There is a sense in which that sublime despair is the only alternative to that divine audacity. It is even true that the truly spiritual and intellectual man sees it as sort of dilemma; a very hard and terrible choice. There is little else on earth that can compare with these for completeness. And he who does not climb the mountain of Christ does indeed fall into the abyss of Buddha.” — 4 people liked it

“St Thomas (Aqinas) loved books and lived on books... When asked for what he thanked God most, he answered simply, ‘I have understood every page I ever read’.” — 4 people liked it

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