Book Review: Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton by Joseph Pearce

Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton by Joseph Pearce

This weighty tome (490 pages of text with another 32 of notes and index) covers the whole life of the great Catholic intellectual of the early twentieth century, Gilbert Keith Chesterton. He enjoyed debating from an early age, often discussing issues with his brother Cecil in their childhood (a habit that lasted). As he grew, Chesterton started writing prose and poetry, along with forming informal societies to discuss literature and sometimes even politics. His way of writing and discussing had two key characteristics. First, he used paradox and common sense often. Second, he used gentleness and charity with all his interlocutors. That's how he wound up being friends with George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells while fundamentally disagreeing with them. The book goes over both Chesterton's public career and a lot of his private life. Pearce had access to a lot of Chesterton's letters and other personal writing, a very large body of material.

Chesterton's journey of faith is also chronicled in a fascinating way. He starts as a searcher for truth coming out of the English Protestant background common to the late 19th century. His pursuit of truth eventually led him to becoming Catholic, though his trip was naturally slowed by the expectations of his family and friends who were less keen on Roman religion. His love for others and for truth made him cautious. When he did convert, he was quite certain it was the right decision. 

His brilliant writing style fills the book. There's plenty of quotes, some quite lengthy, giving the highlights of his writing career, showing both his wisdom and his innocence. His style is delightful even when it doesn't quite suit his subject matter. He wrote several biographies though he does not give them the typical historical reviews one expects. He gives more of an impression of the person, what they were like as individuals and how they affected Chesterton's world view. He looked for the greatness in his subjects, not for every last fact or detail of their lives.

This book has the tough balancing act of giving an impression of Chesterton's character and personality along with a detailed historical review of his life. Pearce does a good job presenting both. Chesterton's love of children and of home and hearth comes across along with his desire to present the truth, often in comical and paradoxical ways. Pearce's achievement here is clearly a labor of love, with a great deal of admiration and generosity toward his subject. It's a delight to read even if it is a long read.

Highly recommended to get to Chesterton's life and heart.

Book Review: The Heart of Newman ed. by Erich Przywara, S.J.

The Heart of Newman: A Synthesis Arranged by Erich Przywara, S.J., with a forward by Joseph Pearce

This anthology of longer quotes from the writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman covers the wide swath of his career, including selections from sermons and more formal writings. The writings are grouped in thematic sets, covering topics like faith, God and His various relations to us, our relationship to this fallen world and to the next world. Most selections are only a page or two and all contain some nice insights or ideas.

Newman's writing style is very down-to-earth. He communicates ideas, even difficult ones, with a clarity and simplicity that does not have the Victorian stuffiness you'd expect from a British theologian from the mid- to late-1800s. His work is very easy to read and still has a richness that calls the reader to a deeper understanding of the faith. The individual selections are short enough to make this a good daily devotional (though that's not the way it is written), letting the reader spend some quality time with a great thinker and a holy Christian.

Highly recommended.

Sample Text:

The real love of man must depend on practice, and therefore, must begin by exercising itself on our friends around us, otherwise it will have no existence. By trying to love our relations and friends, by submitting to their wishes, though contrary to our own, by bearing with the their infirmities, by overcoming their occasional waywardness by kindness, by dwelling on their excellences, and trying to copy them, thus it is that we form in our hearts that root of charity, which, though small at first, may, like the mustard seed, at last even overshadow the earth. [p. 254]