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Saint Thomas Aquinas

G.K. Chesterton,

Anton C. Pegis

4.16 · Rating details · 2,967 Ratings · 191 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

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Paperback, 167 pages

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

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Dec 12, 2009 booklady rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography, 1990s, church-documents, classic, books-on-books, hagiography, history, non-fiction, philosophy, spiritual

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 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.’

...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Douglas Dalrymple rated it really liked it

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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Aug 22, 2011 Joe Dantona rated it it was amazing

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 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. ...more

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Feb 10, 2018 Tom LA rated it it was amazing

I listened to the audiobook. This was my first Chesterton, and I surely am going to read as many of his other books as i can. Such a natural gift for writing in a spontaneous colloquial tone and a cheerful, clever wit that never switches off.

The book is a brief outline of St. Thomas Aquinas' life, a bit of a high-level comparison with St. Francis, and, in the last few chapters, a broad but passionate look at St Thomas' theology, its sublety, its power, and an attack on Martin Luther, who, among ...more

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May 19, 2017 Sara rated it it was amazing

Chesterton has spoiled me with this enchanting story of the remarkable personality of St. Thomas Aquinas.

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Jun 14, 2018 Sharon Barrow Wilfong rated it it was amazing

Chesterton is always a roller coaster ride to read. I read somewhere that he dictated all of his writing to a secretary with no revising. While this does prove what an amazing genius Chesterton is, it also helps to understand why you feel as though you are racing around inside his head, plucking one idea out of another.

His turns of phrases are fantastical and are so well stated, sometimes hard to understand, but mostly proverbs that leave you thinking, "Yes! That is very true and I never thought ...more

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Mar 10, 2010 Monica rated it really liked it

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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Apr 27, 2015 Brian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Chesterton at his most anti-pomo. The last two or three chapters alone worth the price of admission. Devastating, absolutely devastating. They are also the chapters that do the bulk of explaining Thomistic philosophy; beyond that most of it is autobiography, but for that reason, might even be good for the high school student.

That said, Chesterton gives some amazingly good descriptions of Luther the Augustinian monk; that's my guy. Of course, he's wrong, quite wrong, that Luther was against the u ...more

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Jan 24, 2011 Jonathan B rated it it was ok

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 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.

...more

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Aug 01, 2014 David Saxon rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I've now read Heresy, Orthodoxy, and Saint Thomas Aquinas, desperately trying to enjoy Chesterton. He is so oft-quoted and admired. His writing is witty, elegant, and powerful (rhetorically). Unfortunately, I find myself rarely agreeing with him. His Catholicism dominates his reasoning. This was especially true of Aquinas. Chesterton presents Aquinas' recovery of Aristotle as a rescue of the Incarnation and the goodness of God manifest in creation from the negativity and hyper-spirituality of Au ...more

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Nov 02, 2017 Celia added it · review of another edition

Shelves: spiritual-self-help, book-shelf, classics, 2017

I did not know much about Aquinas before I read this book. I should not have started with this one.

One reviewer stated this is not a typical biography. I agree. Maybe because of that and not knowing much about Aquinas, I could not really get engaged with the book. I am not going to rate it because GK Chesterton is a Catholic icon. However, if I did, I would give it 2 stars... Just OK.

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Apr 14, 2013 Noah rated it it was amazing

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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Nov 18, 2014 Taylor Marshall rated it it was amazing

This is, hands down, the best biography of Thomas Aquinas ever written. I recommend that all students of Saint Thomas Aquinas read this bio by Chesterton!

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Aug 18, 2012 Marcos Junior rated it it was amazing

Shelves: religi-o, filosofia, 2015

Entrega o que promete

Etienne Gilson, talvez o maior tomista do século 20, recebeu com assombro o despretensioso livro de um certo polêmico jornalista inglês. Conta-se que Gilson, depois de o ler, não conseguiu conter palavras para expressar sua admiração:

Considero-o, sem a menor possibilidade de comparação, o melhor livro jamais escrito sobre Santo Tomás… Chesterton foi um dos pensadores mais profundos de todos os tempos…

Pois li o dito livro de Chesterton sobre São Tomás. Na verdade, li duas vez
Entrega o que promete

Etienne Gilson, talvez o maior tomista do século 20, recebeu com assombro o despretensioso livro de um certo polêmico jornalista inglês. Conta-se que Gilson, depois de o ler, não conseguiu conter palavras para expressar sua admiração:

Considero-o, sem a menor possibilidade de comparação, o melhor livro jamais escrito sobre Santo Tomás… Chesterton foi um dos pensadores mais profundos de todos os tempos…

Pois li o dito livro de Chesterton sobre São Tomás. Na verdade, li duas vezes em sequência e meu livro ficou cheio de post its com anotações e linhas marcadas. Não há como não entrar no universo de São Tomás e se deixar impregnar com todo aquele universo da idade média, e tudo isso em menos de 200 páginas. Só os grandes conseguem tal feito, ainda mais quando o retratado é uma figura tão complexa e que produziu tanto como Aquino. Chesterton conseguiu deixar o pensamento do doutor angélico ao alcance de quem quiser entendê-lo.

Sao Tomás não estava anos luz a frente de sua época; ele está anos luz à frente de qualquer época que já existiu. Na verdade ele previu com assombroso acerto a cilada intelectual que nós cairíamos e se penitenciou por isso. Sua filosofia não só estava certa, mas é a única que pode ser chamada de certa. Os grandes filósofos que vieram depois se perderam em coisas pueris, em abstrações desconectas da realidade, pois se afastaram da única coisa que jamais poderiam duvidar _ não sem contradizer a si próprios _ se afastaram da saudável sabedoria do homem comum, daquela que diz que o que é, é.

De forma não linear, Chesterton nos conduz por episódios decisivos da vida de São Tomás, faz uma inusitada comparação com São Francisco de Assis, mostra seu combate com os maniqueus, como compreendermos mal o casamento dele com Aristóteles, o nominalismo, sua filosofia, enfim, uma introdução ao essencial da obra desse monstro que foi São Tomás de Aquino.

Existem obras que nos impactam profundamente. Essa é uma delas. A forma de olhar o mundo é diferente após a experiência de ler esse livro. É impossível olhar as coisas da mesma maneira depois que se começa a penetrar na mente de Tomás de Aquino, uma mente que nunca caiu nas armadilhas do intelecto pelo simples motivo de que foi fiel ao que lhe dava sanidade, segurando como uma rocha o fato triunfante que o mundo é real e estamos nele. Tudo se resume nisso e quando a realidade é colocada de lado, mesmo que por um segundo, a tragédia acontece e nós nos perdemos.

Chesterton foi tão certeiro ao chegar na essência de um pensador tão complexo e profundo que o seu maior estudioso, um acadêmico, só pode se espantar e dizer que daria um braço para ter escrito esse livro. Ele conseguiu mostrar que o complicado na verdade era simples, depois que você consegue a chave para compreender as coisas simples. E a chave era manter-se fiel à realidade.

© MARCOS JUNIOR 2013 ...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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Jun 26, 2009 Jon Stout rated it it was ok

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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Jun 06, 2009 Sherwood Smith added it

Shelves: biography

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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Feb 27, 2010 Tom rated it really liked it

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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Sep 15, 2012 Bobbi Martens rated it it was amazing

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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Mar 01, 2013 Jennifer rated it liked it

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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Jul 22, 2007 Fr.Bill M rated it it was amazing

Shelves: christian_biography

This is one of the most "accessible" treatments of the Great Catholic theologian ever written, and Chesterton's insights into his character and his impact on the development of Christianity and Western culture are invaluable. Read this before reading anything else about Aquinas.

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Mar 31, 2010 Rick Davis rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography-autobiography, medieval-history

I like the fact that even when Chesterton gets his facts wrong (as he does often when dealing with Augustine or anything about the Reformation) his ideas are still right. This was also a great book for getting random insights into Dante, who relied heavily on St. Thomas.

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Jul 05, 2012 Paul rated it really liked it

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 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. ...more

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Sep 27, 2015 Holly rated it liked it

Shelves: christian

Chesterton's biographical sketches of people are really beyond compare. I can't imagine a better read about Aquinas. His lumbering, slow, and massive person was clearly observed juxtaposed with Chesterton's wry wit and sparkling scenes. St. Thomas's interruption of the French king's party in Paris even made me want to stop talking and stare at him in surprise (and I wasn't even talking!). I also appreciate the examination of Aristotelian thought against that of the Platonists who thrived just be Chesterton's biographical sketches of people are really beyond compare. I can't imagine a better read about Aquinas. His lumbering, slow, and massive person was clearly observed juxtaposed with Chesterton's wry wit and sparkling scenes. St. Thomas's interruption of the French king's party in Paris even made me want to stop talking and stare at him in surprise (and I wasn't even talking!). I also appreciate the examination of Aristotelian thought against that of the Platonists who thrived just before and after St. Thomas's day. I have reassessed many of my own notions regarding these philosophic ideas and, in fact, have clarified my own viewpoint concerning the role of the material world toward spiritual life. I disagreed on Chesterton on one point regarding the ancient Greek two-dimensional icon as "dried up Platonism"-it couldn't be further from the truth. This is perhaps due to the fact that we are only recently rediscovering how the early Christians encountered their art in an extremely physical manner that Aristotle and subsequently, St. Thomas, would have approved of. This was also the thought (Thomistic) that inspired Gothic architecture.

I appreciated Chesterton's reinterpretation of "progress" as a succession of one generation rebelling against the thought and patterns of the one which preceded it, noting that this tendency eventually ends badly because people lose sight of what they are actually rebelling against. He writes: "That is the modern habit of of looking at them [previous ages] 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." What he spells out is that the most recent age is really only a reaction to the previous one, eventually this causes a very serious problem when we lose sight of those things which originally informed truth. We lose the good in the attempt to replace everything with the new and novel.

This St. Thomas Aquinas biography was published after another work Chesterton produced about the life of St. Francis. He often make comparisons between the Dominican Aquinas and the Franciscan St. Francis...he shows that rather than one or the other, when both traditions come together we see the fullness of faith rather than a strict adherence to the tendencies of one camp versus the other. ...more

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Mar 26, 2016 paul rated it did not like it

Shelves: spiritual, european, non-fiction

Chesterton begins with a disclaimer that the book is a general panorama of the life, ideas, and writings of St. Thomas. He should have put the pen and paper down after the disclaimer. This book falls very very short of any hagiography and is plagued by agenda, opinion, and cheap shots at institutional threats to the Catholic Church. G.K. inserts snarky introductions and comments that characterize the tone of a hot tempered layman defending his religion, especially in chapter 7 The Permanent Phil ...more

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Nov 02, 2014 Lisa rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014

Chesterton's writing is a wonder. You can see his brilliantly intelligent mind, I mean, good grief, some of the stuff just took too much out of me to try to understand, so I'd pass through with my eyes glazed, but some of it was so crisply simple that you could tell it took someone really smart to say it that way. And FUNNY.

I learned about the medieval era and mind, very nice indeed. I learned about Aquinas and I like him. I think I wondered if he were even a Christian before I read this, so I'

...more

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Feb 14, 2016 Christopher Rush rated it liked it

I know this is a highly-respected work, and I do respect it. The union of Thomas Aquinas and G.K. Chesterton is a Dream Team-like pairing. Chesterton indeed sets out to do precisely what he aims to do: an anecdotal bird's-eye survey of key moments in Aquinas's life and thought combined with terse practical suggestions on what to do with Aquinas's philosophy. The issue, though, if such an issue exists, is Chesterton accomplishes his goal: he even admits it is not a thorough, authoritative treatme ...more

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Jan 05, 2014 T.E. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bitingly-clever, favorites, historical, lovely, morally-upright, my-valve-is-rejoicing, pure-awesomeness, religious, tendency-to-ramble, wait-it-s-over

And BAM.
Chesterton writes like a waterfall or a thunderstorm; he is grand and brilliant and he doesn't take things slow. I could almost see him gesticulating as he wrote, shaking his head, waving his hands, making satirical expressions at the folly of the Materialists. He's one of the best and brightest, and he's got personality coming out of the ass.
A word on the book.
It's a trifle misleading--that is, it's hardly a biography. Chesterton could hardly do something confined solely to dates and f ...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Naomi Young rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, audiobook, re-readable, 2015, catholic, dominican

Like most Chesterton,I've read I think I've understood less than 10% of what was intended, but enjoyed the confusion, and feel an impulse to begin again at once, the better to get a little more. This is not so much a biography as a set of meditations, beginning with comparing the two friars Sts. Francis and Thomas; and concluding with a comparison of St. Thomas and Martin Luther. In between, there are anecdotes about Aquinas from which Chesterton spins off his commentaries and wild metaphors.

It ...more

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May 26, 2008 Benjamin rated it really liked it

This was one of those books that sat on my shelf for two years before I finally picked it up. Once I actually started it, I could not put it down. This is a fantastic introduction to the philosophy of St. Thomas. If you never got around to taking a medieval philosophy class in undergrad, or if (like me) everything you know about St. Thomas' philosophy comes from reading Dante, here is your chance to catch up. Chesterton was writing for his era, but based on all of the science v. religion talk we ...more

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About G.K. Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton

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Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was born in London, educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. 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, fi ...more

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Trivia About Saint Thomas Aquinas

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Quotes from Saint Thomas Aquinas

“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’.” — 25 likes

“[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.” — 15 likes

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