- Unknown Binding: 234 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday, Doran (1931)
- Language English
- ASIN: B000874HDQ
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
St. Francis of Assisi
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
A sketch of St. Francis of Assisi in modern English may be written in one of three ways. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
A sketch of St. Francis of Assisi in modern English may be written in one of three ways. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
G.K. Chesterton is one of the best Christian writers of the twentieth century. Prolific and artistic, he had the knack for combining a classic British commentary sense to any historical Christian subject, making it both the object of cultural interest and often historic reverence. As St. Francis of Assisi was one of the primary influences on Chesterton's decision to convert to Roman Catholicism (Chesterton once described his conversion as being largely due to wanting to belong to the same institution that had produced St. Francis), it makes sense that Chesterton would devote considerable energies toward this biography.
Chesterton said that there are essentially three ways to approach a biography of a figure such as St. Francis - one can be dispassionately objective (or at least as much as can pass for such a stance), looking at things from a 'purely' historical standpoint; one can go to the opposite extreme and treat the figure as an object of devotion and worship; or one can take a third path (and you've guessed correctly if you assumed this was Chesterton's route) of looking at the character as an interested outsider, someone in the modern world but still one involved in the same kinds of structures and virtues as the one being studied.
Chesterton's prose is snappy and lively, witty and bit sardonic at times. Chesterton is not afraid to digress to make his own points, and like the intellectual critic who cannot contain the myriad of responses to particular points, Chesterton treats us to a generous collection of tangential observations. One discovers, for instance, Chesterton's opinion of modern British history (that it reads more like journalism than like a developed narrative) - he makes the observation that journalists rarely think to publish a 'life' until the death of the subject; this of course cannot be helped in the case of Francis of Assisi, but the method of the media serves to highlight the difference in world-view between then and now.
This is a spiritual biography - it does not simply go from event to event in Francis' life, but rather looks as the development of his spirituality, his calling, his order and his influence in later church (and more general) history. In his discussion, he looks at miracles and poetic production, political realities and logical fallacies, ancient sentiments and present-day practices. Francis is seen in many ways as the Mirror of Christ (not quite the same thing as the WWJD fad of the current day, but approximating the sense in some regards), but this sets up an interesting logical situation - if Francis is like Christ, then Christ is in some ways like Francis. Chesterton points out the importance of the difference, likening it to the difference between creator and creature, but there is still the interesting development in history where some tried to make Francis a second Christ (something Francis himself would have opposed bitterly).
Fun, fascinating, spiritual without succumbing to kitsch, intellectual without being overblown, this book is a classic on Francis, and a classic by Chesterton, a small miracle of Francis (in the many sense of the term).
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderfully written book, the first I've read by Chesterton and the first I've read on St Francis. It sat on my book shelf for years till one day I picked it up and couldn't put it down. As a christian minister trying to understand the place of both christianity and the church in the 21st Century I have discovered a companion in St Francis who can teach me much. This book turned me on to both Francis and Chesterton to the point that I am writing this review while searching Amazon for more on Francis.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Chesterton does not attempt mere biography here. This is not some skeletal and bland litany of names, dates, and events able only to provide the meagerest comprehension the rich charater of St. Francis. In point of fact, the author makes mention of only those relatively few events salient to the developing the personhood of St. Francis. Though it is short, to the extent that Chesterton reveals for us the character of the founder of the Three Orders, he achieves his goal nicely. The author provides wonderful insights into both the mind and the times that shaped the worldview of Francis Bernardone. Beautifully written, respectful, and dynamic, this is a truly wonderful work and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in trying to develop a balanced understanding of the man who is St. Francis of Assissi.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A disappointment
I bought this book before visiting Assisi, in the hope of discovering more about this St. Francis. It was a complete disappointment. Read more
Published on 20 Jun 2008 by Sceptic 435
Rambles too much!
This is not a biography of St Francis as much it is a tangent by the author. There are only tidbits of St Francis mentioned in this book along with a lot of hot air by the... Read more
Published on 2 Aug 1999
Simplicity
Without exaggeration, this book changed my life completely.St. Francis is by far one of the most important and influential men in the history of the world, aside from St. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 1997
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
