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One of my favorite stories. :)

Chesterton annoys the everliving, righteous s*** out of me. Of course my bias could be coming from the fact that an aquaintance in college "loaned" Orthodoxy to me, after the RA made her and my roommate quit having prayer interventions for me after I was reading some books on Zen Buddhism. (And the fact that I was a Catholic.) This one worth reading, if one hated Orthodoxy?

Of all the synchronicities, I was staring at Chesterson's works on the shelves of Barnes & Noble this morning. Never heard of him, thought he looked interesting, decided to pass him by for now. I have enough books on the shelf that I haven't read yet.

Started thumbing my way through Karen Armstrong's History of God recently. Are you familiar with her work?

I haven't read Chesterton's book, but if you'd like to get another take on Francis, I recommend Donald Spoto's book, "Reluctant Saint: The Life of Saint Francis of Assissi" Spoto does a great job of giving us Francis the human being, not the garden variety saint. For me, seeing him as a man, makes his life story much more saintly and amazing than all the hagiographies of the past ever could.

I also recommend Chesterton's book. Chesterton, throughout his work, loves ironies. This book is no exception: he remarks on the irony of Francis begging for bricks when he really should have been begging for bread. He remarks on the irony that Francis apparantly thought he was called to rebuild one specific church, when his life & witness helped rebuild (re-invigorate) the larger church.

Jonah
http://jacsongs.blogspot.com

Sunday a woman preached at our church for MLK day and talked about how easy it is to make dead people into super heroes rather than listening to who they are calling us to be. Martin was more than the "I have a dream" clip; Francis was more than garden statuary. I'm working on an icon of him right now. In the theology of iconography, the icon is a "window into heaven": a glimpse of God. Francis' faithfulness to Jesus' calling to love all of creation is a word worth repeating.

Peace
Milton

You might like Valerie Martin's Salvation: Scenes From The Life of St. Francis. I thought it was beautiful.

Elliot

I hope this book will start a life long love of his work.

"It was precisely his willingness to live in this manner than sparked a movement within the Christianity of his day that spread like wildfire. Sadly, after his death, his passion was diluted down through the ages and it seems humanity has absorbed even such a man as this without changing much in the long run."

Yes ... and yet maybe there's something of value -- if the living, of eons less passionate, merely bank the coals in ashes -- in hopes of a later fire.

Lauren

You may enjoy Francis' writings. Check out Western Spiriual Classics. He also had a nice "partner" Claire, she had a little something to say as well.

He took the idea about "rebuilding My Church" seriously. That's probably why we are reading about him today. It seems that so few of us actually have the guts to follow Jesus, so we settle for being Christian.

Imagine if folks read about us because the way we laid our lives on the line about our faith rather than our charm.

Thanks.

Thanks RLP. Don't want to wear out my welcome (that was me on the comment above). If you like Francis, you may find that you like the writing of other Fransicans-- folks like Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs. The catholic faith has much to offer the Church.

Thanks

I'm right in the middle of reading "Saint Francis" by Nikos Kazantzakis. It's a ficitonal retelling of Francis' life, and it is pretty fascinating. It isn't all fiction, it's just embellished a little. Kazantzakis actually explains it in the foreward. It is definitely worth reading.

Well I think Chesterton is fantastic.

Father Brown is an apparently bumbling priest who sees the truth when nobody else does. The stories are quite short too (added bonus). I'd take a Father Brown over a Sherlock Holmes any day.

Orthodoxy made me laugh until I cried. There is something very ridiculous about a man who says he set out to write his own heresy and was rather surprised to find himself rather entrenched in orthodoxy. In my darkest spiritual days, when I couldn't see Christ for all the crap, I found a light called Chesterton and suddenly Christianity was about fine wine and cigars more than pointy fingers.

The Man who was Thursday is quite fun too. And also quite short.

Basically, Chesterton didn't worry too much about being 100% accurate. He liked to use poetic license to make a point and you know, I like that.

Joe

Mr. RLP, It's my first time visiting... Google to quotationspage.com then here! Thanks for the refreshing read. I usually avoid "christian" anything like the plague but this is refreshing.

I also recommend The Man Who Was Thursday. Wonderfully light and solid. There's a vivid image now part of me from reading a few words years ago.

Sorry I can't punch the little Paypal button, but I punched it in spirit.

my heart rings with joy every time i find out someone has discovered GKC. he was (probably) the smartist and wittiest person of his time. just to warn the beginners out there about there, Chesterton has been accused of anti-Semitism for almost a century now. the best rebuttles of this are at
secondsprings.co.uk/spring/semetism11.htm
and
chesterton.org/discover/lectures/35newjerusalem.htm
or just type "chesterton anti-semitism" into google.

ps- try finding some of his debates with George Bernard Shaw (his close friend/enemy). they're hilarious and good for you!