Book Review: Saint Thomas Aquinas by G. K. Chesterton

Saint Thomas Aquinas by G. K. Chesterton

Most biographies run through the story of someone's life in chronological order, from birth to death. Sometimes, the era in which they were born or lived is described at the start, to give a setting. Often, the impact of their life on history or people is at the end, justifying the importance of writing the biography in the first place. Chesterton has found a third path for his biographical sketch of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican teacher and writer from the 1200s who has had a lasting impact on Catholic theology and philosophy. 

This biography starts with a comparison of Saint Thomas with Saint Francis of Assisi. Both were friars in new mendicant orders, Francis having died the year Thomas was born. Both sought to renew Christian piety in Christendom. Francis's Franciscans used humility and service. Thomas, as part of the Dominicans, used intelligence and education. They had different paths but the same goal, bringing people deeper into a Faith that had become shallow and stultified. 

Chesterton uses the various famous events of Thomas's life, like fighting off a prostitute with an iron from the fire or disrupting the king's feast by shouting "That will settle the Manichees!", as launching points to discuss what prompted those actions. Chesterton delves into how his contemporaries see such things in contrast with how Thomas's contemporaries saw those same things. Thomas himself had a third way of looking at those. Chesterton shows the character, the humility, and the simplicity of Thomas and how that character could be mistaken (then as now) for stupidity or aloofness. Aquinas's humility covers a great many of his excellences, clouding the vision of people who knew (or nowadays claim to know) him well.

The book ends with a comparison of Saint Thomas with Martin Luther, another monk who had a lasting impact on Christendom, though it is more of a contrast than comparison. Aquinas had faded into the background of history and theology for a long time, only to have his own renaissance in the 1800s and 1900s as Catholic scholars and ecclesiastics renewed their interest in his writings. Thomas has become an important intellectual figure, being referenced at least sixty-one times in the Catechism of the Catholic Church produced in 1992. 

Chesterton has a delightful command of the English language, being able to craft paradoxes and puns as he is making his points. The text is joyful to read. It was written for his contemporary audience with plenty of references to popular figures who are much less known nowadays--how many people know the atheistic outlook of H. G. Wells or even the Aquinas biography written by Fr. D'arcy? From context, a reader can figure out what Chesterton means or, at least, the direction he is aiming at. He's almost poetic in his prose.

Recommended, though you might want to supplement with a more conventional biography like Louis de Wohl's fictional The Quiet Light (which is historically reliable) or James Weisheipl's academic biography. 

This book is discussed on episode #299 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. Check it out!