Saint Thomas Aquinas (Chesterton)

Saint Thomas Aquinas is a book by G. K. Chesterton, published in 1933.

In the introductory note of the book, Chesterton writes that the aim of the work is to be a popular sketch of historical character, who ought to be better known, especially for those who have hardly ever heard of him and are not likely to be of communion of Thomas Aquinas.

Chesterton begins by comparing Aquinas with St. Francis of Assisi. St. Thomas defends God as The Creator. He affirms with Holy Scripture, that God created the physical world good. St. Thomas ultimately defends life against Manichean heresy, which considered the physical world evil. According to Chesterton, Thomas Aquinas represents more the reasonable mind of the man on the street, than modern philosophies.

Étienne Gilson praised Chesterton's book on Thomas Aquinas: "I consider it as being, without possible comparison, the best book ever written on Saint Thomas [...] 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." Jacques Maritain and Anton Pegis have also appreciated the book in similar manner.

Outline of the Book

• Introductory Note
• Chapter I. On Two Friars
• Chapter II. The Runaway Abbot
• Chapter III. The Aristotelian Revolution
• Chapter IV. A Meditation on the Manichees
• Chapter V. The Real Life of St. Thomas
• Chapter VI. The Approach to Thomism
• Chapter VII. The Permanent Philosophy
• Chapter VIII. The Sequel to St. Thomas

External links

• St. Thomas Aquinas at Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• Saint Thomas Aquinas at Internet Archive
• St. Thomas Aquinas at Project Gutenberg Australia
• Saint Thomas Aquinas, by G K Chesterton at YouTube.com