Review of Chesterton's St. Thomas Aquinas

Through his book, St. Thomas Aquinas: 'The Dumb Ox,' (published by Image, reissue edition, 1974) British author G. K. Chesterton has introduced a half dozen generations to a man for whom churches around the world are named. St. Thomas Aquinas ranks among the top dozen or so church leaders and theologians from the past two thousand years with whom even the most casual layperson has at least a fuzzy name recognition familiarity.

It is for this reason, I believe, that Chesterton was most drawn to write and publish this book, which first hit the bookshelves in 1933. Though Chesterton's book is now more than 70 years old, it warrants modern-day review because it remains on the shelves of today's Christian bookstores and is commonly found in both church and secular locations. (Just as a matter of note, I was able to find a copy of the book in the first three places I looked: 1) The Erin Presbyterian Church library, 2) the Roseville Public Library, both in Roseville, MI; and 3) at a Family Christian Book store in Sterling Heights, MI.)

Chesterton's writings on church and theological figures and topics also remain important in part because of their influence on another, even more famed writer. Noted Christian writer C.S. Lewis stated that his reading of the Chesterton book "The Everlasting Man" played a pivotal role in Lewis' decision to re-examine Christianity and convert to the religion. It was the same book that prompted a later, now famous, quote from Lewis: that "a young man who wishes to remain an atheist cannot be too careful what he reads."

C.S. Lewis was far from the only person influenced by Chesterton. He wrote an almost countless number of books, essays, articles and poems in the first three decades of the 20th century, including many on church-related matters. In addition to his book on St. Thomas and "The Everlasting Man," he also wrote an excellent biography on St. Francis of Assisi. In "St. Thomas," Chesterton uses his background research on St. Francis to provide a concise and understandable comparison between the two church fathers, Francis and Thomas. Given that the average lay reader has most likely heard of both of these names, this makes for an excellent introduction into the topic of Thomas.

In his own introduction to the St. Thomas book, Chesterton writes, "This book makes no pretence to be anything but a popular sketch of a great historical character who ought to be more popular. Its aim will be achieved if it leads those who have hardly even heard of St. Thomas Aquinas to read about him in better books." In this statement, Chesterton has set his own threshold of success at a rather low level. If that were truly his only goal, then he scores a resounding victory in this slim - 197 pages - tome. Indeed this book is but a mere sketch of the highpoints in the life of Thomas of Aquinas. Thousands of pages could be written only about Thomas' crowning work, the "Summa theologica," a massive document that Thomas spent eight years working on in the 1260s and 1270s. The "theologica," which serves as a basic primer on all things Christian, is viewed by many as the capstone of the 60 or so writings which are attributed to Thomas and is considered to be one of the most important books about Christianity ever written.

If a person were to read the Chesterton book to gain a detailed explanation and insight into the "Summa theologica," the reader might find himself both disappointed and intrigued. Most likely, the reader would certainly find himself wanting more, which is exactly the goal that Chesterton said he set out for himself.

Chesterton's book is far more a biography of a man who happened to have been an influential theologian than a book on theology. While I believe that Chesterton was at least partially hopeful that the Thomas book would impact some in the way his Everlasting Man book impacted Lewis, Chesterton sticks to a strictly biographic review as he writes about Thomas, first in comparison with St. Francis and then in comparison with contemporaries of Thomas. The book is about Thomas the man and what went into to making that man rather than a theological review of Thomas' positions. We aren't given page after foot-noted page explaining the nuances of the "Summa theologica" or other Thomas works, but we are given insight into the experiences of Thomas that shaped him and prepared him to write such works. We learn such details as the relationship and station of Thomas' parents and how the dynamic of parents and child set the young monk-to-be on his path in life. We also learn how the works of Aristotle, society and culture in Paris and other worldly and church-political happenings of Thomas' life and times shaped the man. Again, given the relative brevity of the work, we are only given an overview of Thomas. For example, we are told of his lifelong sympathy to the poor, but there is no chapter specifically that dwells on this. Instead themes are woven into the books narrative that provide the reader with an overall sense of the man, rather than simply leave the reader with a collection of anecdotes.

Of particular note and value, the final chapter in the book is given to explaining how the works of Chesterton influenced those who came after him and how Thomas' works impacted upon later church thinking. Perhaps most significantly several pages of the final chapter focus on the influence that Thomas' writings had on Martin Luther - it is believed by some that Luther publicly burned a copy of the "Summa theologica" as he was particularly troubled by the earlier monk's theology - and where some of the ideas and believes of Thomas fit in relation to the events and drawing of sides of the Protestant Reformation, which took place several hundred years after Thomas' death.

Not surprisingly, the reader will find this book to be somewhat dated. Chesterton opens his biography commenting that each generation "is converted by the saint who contradicts it most." He writes: "...as the eighteenth century thought itself the age of reason, and the nineteenth century thought itself the age of common sense, the twentieth century cannot as yet even manage to think itself anything but the age of uncommon nonsense." Several generations have come and gone since Chesterton wrote those words in the early 1930s. The dating of the writing is not nearly enough to warrant suggesting that a reader bypass the book, however. While Thomas may or may not be the saint that most contradicts the times we now live in, no matter what label we care to place on this generation, he is still an important figure whose influences continue to be felt through to the modern day.