|
by: G.K. Chesterton
List Price: $12.95Amazon.com's Price: $10.36 You Save: $2.59 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 271.3024
EAN: 9780385029001
ISBN: 0385029004
Label: Image
Manufacturer: Image
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 160
Publication Date: December 17, 1987
Publisher: Image
Release Date: November 17, 1987
Sales Rank: 53118
Studio: Image
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
There are certainly many studies of Saint Francis of Assisi that an interested reader might find and many of them immensely praiseworthy. But in reading G.K. Chesterton on Francis, you get two glories for one: first is an enlightening study of this most beloved of Christian saints and second is Chesterton himself, one of the great Christian writers of the 20th century, who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 because, it has been said, 'only the Roman Church could produce a St. Francis of Assisi.' Published shortly after his conversion, Chesterton wrote this book in part to reclaim Francis for the church. There are always those who want to claim Francis for their cause, Chesterton recognized, who also fail to understand the spiritual and intellectual ground upon which he stands. Chesterton would return Francis to Christ. As he summarizes, 'however wild and romantic his gyrations might appear to many, [Francis] always hung on to reason by one invisible and indestructible hair.... The great saint was sane.... He was not a mere eccentric because he was always turning towards the center and heart of the maze; he took the queerest and most zigzag shortcuts through the wood, but he was always going home.'
As one editor of Chesterton's puts it, 'of St. Francis he might have said what he said about Blake: 'We always feel that he is saying something very plain and emphatic even when we have not the wildest notion of what it is.'' --Doug Thorpe
Product Description:
Francis of Assisi is, after Mary of Nazareth, the greatest saint in the Christian calendar, and one of the most influential men in the whole of human history. By universal acclaim, this biography by G. K. Chesterton is considered the best appreciation of Francis's life--the one that gets to the heart of the matter.
For Chesterton, Francis is a great paradoxical figure, a man who loved women but vowed himself to chastity; an artist who loved the pleasures of the natural world as few have loved them, but vowed himself to the most austere poverty, stripping himself naked in the public square so all could see that he had renounced his worldly goods; a clown who stood on his head in order to see the world aright. Chesterton gives us Francis in his world-the riotously colorful world of the High Middle Ages, a world with more pageantry and romance than we have seen before or since. Here is the Francis who tried to end the Crusades by talking to the Saracens, and who interceded with the emperor on behalf of the birds. Here is the Francis who inspired a revolution in art that began with Giotto and a revolution in poetry that began with Dante. Here is the Francis who prayed and danced with pagan abandon, who talked to animals, who invented the creche.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Saint Francis of Assisi: A life to follow
Chesterton surprise us again with this formidable short essay about the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. This is not the typical hagiography, but an inside look to the vivid facts that made us understand the true meaning of charity, fraternity and solidarity through love.
Rating:  - Metaphysics blown across from Asia
Approaching this little book about a pillar of Catholicism with a sceptical interest in the historical aspects of the man St.F., one gets properly looked down upon by recent convert GKC. Orwell called Chesterton, his contemporary, a 'Catholic nationalist', i.e. not an English nationalist who was also Catholic. 'Chesterton was a writer of considerable talent who chose to suppress both his sensibilities and his intellectual honesty in the cause of Roman Catholic propaganda.' That seems to be about ... Read More
Rating: - A Gentleman Writing About Another Compassionate Gentleman
G.K. Chesterton's titled ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI demonstrated once again Chesterton's charm, polite criticism, wit, and logic. Chesterton also showed that he had actual insight to St. Francis'mission and thinking. Chesterton also realized that modern misinterpretations had to be corrected to give readers a clearer understanding of a man who was complex, apparently mad, and had a passion for creation and the Creator.
Chesterton began this book with a brief explanation of the political situation ... Read More
Rating:  - Discusses St. Francis and Things Related
Chesterton's book offers significant insights into St. Francis that make this book worth reading and owning. Chesterton eloquently identifies and expounds some of the paradoxes from Francis' life. He also highlights the truths of Francis' ministry and radical faith. There are many lines in this book that readers will want to review and appreciate.
However, this is not as Chesterton claims an introductory book to the saint. I think that for this book to be read without frustration readers ... Read More
Rating:  - Not the best as far as Francis biographies go
I love reading about St. Francis, but I could easily have passed up this volume. Chesterton's style is very, very wordy; he takes pages and pages to say something that could have been summed up in a sentence. And he seems to think the crusades were good, or at least necessary, and hold other beleifs that I find distasteful. No, if one wants to read an interesting book about St. Francis, pick a different one.
|
