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| | Description | A trade paperback edition of the classic portrait of Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest of Christian philosophers, by one of the greatest of modern religious writers. | |
| | Product Details | | Author: | G.K. Chesterton | | Paperback: | 192 pages | | Publisher: | Image | | Publication Date: | February 15, 1974 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0385090021 | | Package Length: | 7.0 inches | | Package Width: | 4.1 inches | | Package Height: | 0.5 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.5 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 49 reviews |
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 Maritain's Biography Better Jun 08, 2010
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. But really to get to know the saint, you have to slog through the philosophy in his writings, or read an introduction to his philosophy such as that by the great 20th century Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain: An Introduction to Philosophy. For people who want a little more background on his philosophy as how it relates to the saint as a person, Maritain also wrote this highly-recommended biography: St. Thomas Aquinas (available gratis here at the website of the Jacques Maritain Center at Notre Dame)
 A lively read with insightful handling of the life and works of a great philosopher and theologian Mar 19, 2010
"Saint Thomas Aquinas" is a bibliographic work on the life and historical scholarship of Philosopher and Theologian, Thomas Aquinas. Chesterton introduces his work as an attempt at "a popular sketch of a great historical character who ought to be more popular" (xv). Chesterton is true to his intent. The book has an airy balance between rigorous intellectual engagement with the philosophy and theology of Aquinas, while maintaining a level of humor, and scattered satirical comments of the kind that provide relief and yield to the book an overall down to earth quality, grounding the works of one of the greatest intellectual figures in a particular and relatable place and life. Chesterton is interested in the historical, philosophical, and theological development leading up to the scholastic period of Aquinas, but he is not overly concerned with accuracy in his depiction of detailed events. Instead he makes broad sweeping statements that are generally true so as to arrive at his point without boring the reader.
The lively nature of his handling of Aquinas's life and works results in a thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating study of one of the greatest Church figures.
2 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Purple hagiography Dec 22, 2009
As other reviews have stated, one gets the strongest possible dose of Chesterton, only the vaguest, yet thoroughly adulatory hagiography of Aquinas. His habit of rhetorical paradoxicalism wears thin rather soon. At one point, the strong influences of the Arab philosophers promised some interest, both historically and philosophically, but soon we were back to the amazing shyness and amazing amazingness of the Saint, who had the distinction of asserting that Catholicism involved reason, in the face of actual reason wafting in from the ancient world by way of Aristotle.
All in all, thoroughly dated, both in Chesterton's gushings and reflexive Catholic jingoism, and the underlying philosophy, such as it is, of Aquinas.
2 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 It's All About Chesterton Dec 01, 2009
Full disclosure: I couldn't get more than 2/3 of the way through this short book.
"Saint Thomas Aquinas" is not a biography. Strict biographic facts are few and far between. There are no footnotes and no bibliography. If there's even one date, I didn't notice it.
I suspect Chesterton wasn't familiar with the documentary sources on Thomas' life, since he pads the book with potted history, cultural criticism, ethnic stereotyping, and drivel. That's what writers do when they don't know their subject well. Here's one example, where Chesterton discusses Thomas' body-type: "[H]is head was of a very real and recognisable type...It was that sort of head with the heavy chin and jaws, the Roman nose and the big rather bald brow, which, in spite of its fullness, gives also a curious concave impression of hollows here and there, like caverns of thought. Napoleon carried that head upon a short body. Mussolini carries it today, upon a rather taller but equally active one. It can be seen in the busts of several Roman emperors, and occasionally above the shabby shirt-front of an Italian waiter; but he is generally a head waiter." Maybe Thomas delivered pizzas, too.
Another passage discusses Thomas' ancestry thus: "On one side, [Thomas] inherited from the energy that made the episode of the Normans, whose strange organizing raids rang and rattled like flights of arrows in the corners of Europe and the ends of the earth; one flight of them following Duke William far northward through the blinding snows of Chester; another treading in Greek and Punic footsteps through the island of Sicily to the gates of Syracuse. Another bond of blood bound him to the great emperors of the Rhine and Danube who claimed to wear the crown of Charlemagne; Red Barbarossa, who sleeps under the rushing river, and Frederick II, the Wonder of the World, his second cousin, and yet he held by a hundred more intimate ties to the lively inner life, the local vivacity, the little walled nations and the thousand shrines of Italy." OK. Uh huh.
While "Saint Thomas Aquinas" fails as biography, it doesn't even try to be philosophy. If Chesterton makes any careful arguments at all, I missed them. Maybe they are in the last third of the book.
If "Saint Thomas Aquinas" isn't biography or philosophy, then what is it? Well, I'd say it's an in-your-face cultural polemic. Chesterton wears his Catholicism on his sleeve, daring non-Catholics to pick a fight. On every page can be found put downs of Platonists, Muslims, Protestants, Buddhists, Victorians, Communists, and others I'm surely overlooking. He even dumps on Augustinians!
Maybe it was wounding to be Catholic in early-20th century Britain. Maybe Chesterton had an inferiority complex. I don't know. But I can't imagine anyone liking the book who didn't have a chip on his shoulder and a need to lash out at non-Catholics. I gave it two stars only because of the frequent well-turned prhase. Chesterton wasn't a great thinker, but he had some great one-liners.
Turning the world upside down Nov 22, 2009
G. K. Chesterton excelled at "turning the world upside down." It is pretty well-known that his research for this biographical essay was pretty spotty: he scanned a couple of books (or three) and then sat down to write his own book, which SOMEHOW stands as simply the best biographical essay of the man ever written.
Like most of Chesterton's books, it's a joyful book. While paying close attention to Thomas, he also enjoys "turning the world upside down."
What world could that be? Let me offer a description, somewhat exaggerated.
"The genius of Ancient Greece shone but dimly in the Roman Empire, and, following the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe entered the Dark and Middle Ages, from which it was only saved by the Renaissance."
No, says Chesterton --- and he pays attention to some details, such as Plato and Aristotle. The genius of Ancient Greeece did indeed find its first flower in the philosophy of Plato, but Plato was decisively corrected by Aristotle. The Roman Empire came and went, and the new religion of Christianity became, over the centuries, extremely neo-Platonic and Augustinian. When Thomas Aquinas was born, the forces of Augustine and neo-Platonism represented the Conservative Old Order. Thomas Aquinas took on those old fogies and (almost singlehandedly) made Christianity pay serious attention to Aristotle. This happened long before the "Renaissance" and might well be called simply "The Birth" of a stupendous new universal philosophy which remains vibrantly "relevant" to the present day.
The idea that Thomas Aquinas' "Summa" represents the most complete and satisfactory explanation of the human condition -- well, that's pretty revolutionary!
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