More, Sir Thomas

Average customer rating:

Magnificent
Thomas More - A Man for Our Season
Good, quick read
Deafening Silence
Clear-cut yet restrained language that brings to life the choices made by a saint.

A Man for All Seasons
Robert Bolt
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

United States | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

A Man for All Seasons (Special Edition) [Region 99]
An Introduction to Legal Reasoning (Phoenix Books)
Saint Joan (Penguin Classics)
The Life of Thomas More
Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)

ASIN: 0679728228
Release Date: 1990-04-14

Book Description

The classic play about Sir Thomas More, the Lord chancellor who refused to compromise and was executed by Henry VIII.

Customer Reviews:

Magnificent.......2007-06-11

I first saw the movie, and was riveted by the dialogue. The clarity of thought, the elevation of principals above self is awe-inspiring. I rushed out to buy the book (the script of the play), and read the wonderful dialogue over and over. Many of the lines simply cry out with logic and integrity, and some have found a place on the wall of my office.

Whether one characterizes Thomas Moore as a saint, a statesman of unbending principals, or both, his strength of character, intellect, humanity and general goodness shine through with brilliant clarity.

Thomas More - A Man for Our Season.......2007-01-15

This is an amazing play about an incredibly holy man, which employs its words in a profound manner. Thomas More, the beheaded lord chancellor of England under Henry VIII is the patron saint of attorneys, civil servants, politicians, and statesmen:
* "When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties...they lead their country by a short route to chaos."
* (In response to objection over his use of the word, "heretic":) "It's not a likeable word. It's not a likeable thing!"
* (Pointing to himself:) "this is not the stuff of which martyrs are made." WRONG!
* "The nobility of England, my lord, would have snored through the Sermon on the Mount."
* (To his betrayer, Richard Rich, attorney general of Wales:) "Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world...But for Wales!"
* "I Die His Majesty's Good Servant, but God's First"

Good, quick read.......2006-12-06

I had a few hours in between flights this Thanksgiving and brought this along. It's considerably deeper than your typical airport reads, though since it's a play you can finish it quickly.

Bolt does an outstanding job in the Preface talking about his motivation, his direction for the character and persona of Sir Thomas More. What's most interesting I think is how he handles the character development. I won't ruin it for you, but I think it needs to be said that this is not the story of a man changing because of events but almost the inverse.

Language is very easy to read and understand, though some passages will certainly benefit from rereading just to consider what the message is, what Bolt is trying to get across. I loved the book and would love to see an adaptation of it.

Deafening Silence.......2006-09-20

From biblical times to the present, it is evident that power corrupts those in charge. One of the landmark examples of this in history is Henry VIII's murder of Sir Thomas More. Truly if you are not with the powers that be, you are against them.

Henry VIII's attempts to dissolve his marriage on account of his wife's inability to bear him a son, falls on deaf eyes in Rome. Even while the pope will not allow divorce, Henry hopes his loyal subject Thomas More will condone it. Sir Thomas More's silence is deafening to the king. Unable to stand the silence of this influential, the king's servants drum up charges to treason to rid the king of his problem. During this process, we see a man growing from a lawyer to a saint. He will not place the sovereignty of God behind the king.

I would give this story 4 1/2 stars because it sacrifices too much of Thomas More for literary purposes. This is bothersome because of the initial slow pace of the story. Still Robert Bolt does a commendable job telling this story of integrity and allegiance to God.

Clear-cut yet restrained language that brings to life the choices made by a saint. .......2006-06-25

A wonderful and dramatic companion to the Selected Writings of Saint Thomas More, Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons is a superb piece of literary drama, because it makes More's own writings, specifically The Sadness of Christ, come to vivid life. Christ's sadness and More's understanding of our Savior's heavyheartedness unto death, by way of the play, presents a reliable and honest portrait of Thomas More the man and the saintly holiness of his unyielding commitment to the Truth in him, for Christ who is in us is apart of us. And in the play, on page 121, More lets that very fact be made known that his faith is an integral slice to his very identity, his being. It is distinct, especially when he responds to Norfolk upon being strongly advised to give in and submit to King Henry VIII's oath to the Act of Succession, whereby the king is viwed as the Supreme Head of the English Church which incorrectly overrides the authority of the Vatican: "I can't give in, Howard. You might as well advise a man to change the color of his eyes..." Strictly adhereing to a commitment, especially a religious one, can, in of itself, be a cross, because it implies so many different things, not just a physical suffering, but it includes doubt, torturous mental anguish and unthinkable sacrifices of the most terrifying sort. Are the actions that lead to a particular moment in one's life a mere social-political-philosophical stance or a divine offering of the most extreme sort to test that human love for God? In A Man For All Seasons, More's response to his son-in-law, Roper on page 126 is thus: "Now listen, Will. And Meg, you listen, too, you know I know you well. God made the angels to show him splendor-as he made animals for innocence and plants for their simplicity. But Man he made to serve him wittily, in the tangle of his mind! If he suffers us to fall to such a case that there is no escaping, then we may stand to our tackle like champions...if we have the spittle for it. And no doubt it delights God to see splendor where He only looked for complexity. But it's God's part, not our own, to bring ourselves to that extremity! Our natural business lies in escaping-so let's get home and study this bill." For the majority of us, we do not have the 'spittle' as More describes, because pragmatic intellectualism is easier to subscribe to than divine bondage and empyrean love. And when one accepts the latter, as More ultimately does, he is punished for it, first with a stripping away of his title and affluence, then with imprisionment and separation from his family: "Content? If they'd open a crack that wide, I'd be through it." Pg 141. Like Jesus Christ, whom More felt in him all along, he too suffered and felt sadness unto death. A Man For All Seasons is a riviting play, one that makes you take a closer look at the meaning of commitment and what it entails. Like Peter, after reading this play, I would definately say that Thomas More was a contributing rock to the foundation of the Church.

Average customer rating:

Sir Thomas More
Intimate Encounter with a Larger-Than-Life Historical Figure
Fantastic, but non-intellectuals beware!
A Character Study
The best contempory text on the life of St. Thomas More!

Life of Thomas More, The
Peter Ackroyd
Manufacturer: Nan A. Talese
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Religious | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The King's Good Servant but God's First : The Life and Writings of Saint Thomas More
The Last Letters of Thomas More
A Man for All Seasons (Special Edition) [Region 99]
The Sadness of Christ (Yale University Press Translation)
A Man for All Seasons

ASIN: 0385477090
Release Date: 1998-10-20

Amazon.com

The Life of Thomas More is Peter Ackroyd's biography--from baptism to beheading--of the lawyer who became a saint. More, a noted humanist whose friendship with Erasmus and authorship of Utopia earned him great fame in Europe, succeeded Cardinal Wolsey as Lord Chancellor of London at the time of the English Reformation. In 1535, More was martyred for his refusal to support Henry VIII's divorce and break with Rome. Ackroyd's biography is a masterpiece in several senses. Perhaps most importantly, he corrects the mistaken impression that Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons has given two generations of theater and film audiences: More was not, as Bolt's drama would have us believe, a civil disobedient who put his conscience above the law. Ackroyd explains that "conscience was not for More an individual matter." Instead, it was derived from "the laws of God and of reason." If the greatest justice in this book is analytic, however, its greatest joys are descriptive. Ackroyd brings 16th-century London to life for his readers--an exotic world where all of life is enveloped by the church: "As the young More made his way along the lanes and thoroughfares, there was the continual sound of bells." --Michael Joseph Gross

Book Description

Peter Ackroyd's The Life of Thomas More is a magnificent reconstruction of the life and imagination of one of the most remarkable figures of history. Thomas More was a renowned statesman, the author of a political fantasy that gave a name to a genre and a worldview (Utopia), and, most famously, a Catholic martyr, who paid with his life when he refused to follow his sovereign, King Henry VIII, in severing England's ties with the Catholic Church.

Born into the professional classes, Thomas More (1478-1535) rose by dint of formidable intellect and well-placed connections to become the most powerful man in England after the king. An exponent of what was called in his day "the mixed life," More combined medieval piety with worldly mastery of legal argument and the art of negotiation. Ackroyd dramatically shows how the clouds of Lutheran reformation that swarmed over the continent unleashed the storm of the early modern period that swept away More's world and took his life. He clarifies the whirl of dynastic, religious, and mercantile politics that brought the autocratic Henry VIII and the devout More into their fateful conflict. And he narrates the unrelenting drama of More's final days--his detention, trial, and execution--with a novelist's mastery of suspense.

In Ackroyd's hands, this renowned "man for all seasons" emerges in the fullness of his complex humanity; we see the unexpected side of his character (a preference for bawdy humor) as well as his indisputable moral courage. Acclaimed for his magisterial biographies (T. S. Eliot, Dickens, Blake), Peter Ackroyd has once again scored a triumph.

Customer Reviews:

Sir Thomas More.......2005-12-14

Thomas More lived an exemplary life during hard times. His faith in the Catholic Church was put to the test by his king, and though he failed his king and paid the price on the scaffold, he served his God and was rewarded with martyrdom and sainthood. Peter Ackroyd's book is a brilliant and dramatic telling of More's life.

Thomas More was born in London in 1478. He was educated at Oxford where upon his father's insistence he studied law. But he was also interested in theology and thought for a while of becoming a monk. Famously he wore a hair shirt his entire life. Instead of taking vows, however, he took a wife and had four children. He made sure his daughters received as rigorous an education as his sons. (His wife died in 1511 and he married Alice Middleton and adopted her daughter.)

The law was More's lifelong profession where he represented various groups in the courts and helped settle trade disputes abroad. He wrote a history of King Richard III, wherein he portrayed Richard as a cruel, even criminal, ruler. In 1516, he published his most famous book, UTOPIA, which described an ideal community governed totally by reason. When Cardinal Wolsey failed to secure an annulment of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, he was replaced by More as lord chancellor. He worked diligently in this position and became a friend to the king. But troubles were already visible in the horizon.

When Henry, through the Act of Supremacy, declared himself the head of the Church of England, More was in opposition to him: he refused to take an oath of allegiance to Henry that would deny papal supremacy of the church. He was tried, found guilty, and beheaded five days later.

Ackroyd is especially good in relating the dramatic events during these last few years in More's life. He narrates this with the power and skill of a novelist; indeed, it's almost impossible to put the book down during the last 100 pages. Anyone in want of moral uplift need only read these last pages for complete satisfaction. More went to the scaffold bravely, even telling the executioner to stay calm and aim true. He joked after stumbling on the scaffold steps and received help: "When I come down again let me shift for myself as well as I can." Then "he died the King's good servant but God's first," which is his life in a nutshell. Ackroyd writes with authority and tremendous style, but it's the drama that he infuses in his account that truly sets this book apart. Highly recommended.

Intimate Encounter with a Larger-Than-Life Historical Figure.......2005-05-25

The moment I finished Peter Ackroyd's "Life of Thomas More," my strongest impulse was to close it, open it up to the first page again, and start -- immediately -- reading it all over again, word by word, page by page.

I hung on every word of this text. I wanted to understand Thomas More.

I wanted to understand a man whose misogyny was obvious in his many derogatory statements about women. For example, when asked why he liked short women, he said that it was best to choose the lesser of evils.

When a mature man, More married a mere girl and got her pregnant so many times in such rapid succession that she lived only a few short years after marrying him.

More married his second wife, as the saying goes, while still in mourning clothes for his first. He mocked that second wife, Dame Alice, publicly. He wrote texts that associated women exclusively with sex and disgusting bodily functions like vomiting and diarrhea.

And, yet, More was exceptional for his time in educating his beloved daughter, the one great passion of his life, Margaret More Roper.

More persecuted his countrymen who deviated from the Catholic faith, and published vile condemnations of Luther, and eventually, knowingly, and humbly, sacrificed his own life to his own interpretation of that faith.

More rose, through obediance, flattery, and dogged labor, from relatively humble circumstances to being Henry the VIII's chancellor, and a wealthy man, and then tossed away his considerable worldly goods and power to die an ignominious death.

You want to understand a man who could encompass so many passionate apparent contradictions.

And, so, I hung on every word of Ackroyd's detailed and yet economical text.

My attention was amply rewarded. Ackroyd marshalls the kind of authentic, telling details of the Medieval life that More lived that can make an era, and its inhabitants, come alive. Even so, Ackroyd is never wordy. When he has said enough, he simply stops.

Along the way, Ackroyd brings to light the life and impact of a woman he says has been nearly forgotten: Elizabeth Barton, a seeress and nun in Kent. Barton spoke against Henry VIII's divorce of his wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Her voice was considered so important that Henry himself visited her.

For her trouble, Barton and her priestly followers were tortured to death.

As I read, I could not help but reflect: in our own age of "celebrity," we know too many details about non-entities we don't care about at all -- the Britney Spears and Paris Hiltons enjoying their fifteen minutes of fame. We can view film footage of their most intimate moments on the internet; hear their every thought in televised interviews.

Thomas More lived five hundred years ago. We can't ask him to reconcile for us his hateful diatribes against women and his love of Margaret, his ant-like accumulation of worldly goods and his sacrifice for his beliefs.

The records just don't exist.

And, yet ... even though the More in these pages has to remain something of a cypher, even though More, as was the norm in his time, wrote with extreme caution in ambiguous, tradition-bound, unspontaneous and sometimes flowery prose, I felt I had an encounter, through Ackroyd's book, with a remarkable human being. I was in tears throughout the final passages leading up to More's death.

A final word: I am a fan of "A Man for all Seasons." Again and again, reviewers pit Ackroyd's book against the Robert Bolt play and subsequent movie.

One does not necessarily cancel out the other...both the film and this book work, for me, from what I know about More, as explorations of his life and impact, and his famous final choice.

I never saw Paul Scofield's More as a Thoreau-like figure, as some reviewers have said; he was not depicted as living in a house in the woods, after all, and he did base his decision on adherence to a greater principle than personal conscience, i.e., the law, just as Ackroyd's More does.

So, yes, do see the movie, and do read this book.

Fantastic, but non-intellectuals beware!.......2005-04-21

Gosh, golly gee, crikey - the superlatives could go on all day. This is a superb, densely textured biography. Ackroyd revels in the complex psychology and sociology of his subject, e.g., his devotion to duty, his father fixation, etc. He also places Thomas More firmly in the London of his time and in his historical moment - the Reformation - especially through More's own writings.

It has been remarked that the chapters amount to a series of vignettes. That's true, and the amount of knowledge retailed in each glimpse of More and his world is staggering.

To give but a few examples:
Chap. 3 - St. Anthony's Pigs: we follow young More through the streets of Tudor London to his school and get insight into the Renaissance education system.

Ch 4 - Cough Not, Nor Spit: Thomas' early career as a page to Archbishop (of Canterbury) Morton, Henry VII's notorious "enforcer". This relationship illuminates More's later dealings with Cardinal Wolsey.

Ch 8 - We Talk Of Letters: sketches of Grocyn, Linacre, Lily, Colet, More - the "London humanists", or More's intellectual circle.

And so on. The book continues in the same fascinating vein. It is a hard slog to read, and I'm sorry that Peter Ackroyd did not give a glossary of A) Latin and Greek expressions, and B) even some of his more obscure English words. I also regret that there's no map to illustrate Ackroyd's loving depiction of the London where More learned, lived, worked and suffered.

More's story is well known and often told. Ackroyd has given a fully-rounded portrayal of the man, his background, career, family and friends.

What a pleasure to read.

A Character Study.......2004-12-21

I enjoyed this book, but I do think that as a narrative history it is perhaps slightly flawed. The main strength (and problem) I have with this book is that the character study is so dominant that is completely ignores the larger historical picture that More lived within and, at times the dominant philosophy, that may have allowed a deeper understanding of More.

The gnawing problem I have with this book is the main currents that More struggled against and the ideas he fought for are little outlined. The church that he so selflessly defended is little described beyond its social context in which More was raised. The central point of More was that the sublimation of the time honoured traditions (though admittedly flawed) could not be merely circumvented by mans personal appeal to God. Direct dialougue with God allowed a virtual pandora's box of interpretation and clash of beliefs that could only lead to mass bloodshed --- and he was right! This belief is left unexplored and the historical events, such as the peasants revolt in Germany that More abhored and used in his polemical tracts against Luther (a thoroughly scatologically unsavoury character) is not described. In addition Charles V sack of Rome and its influence on the relations with Henry VII are not considered relevant.

So I feel dissatified because I am not getting a wide historical narrative. Although I understand the texture of the stones that he worshipped upon and the feel of the robes he wore, I have little feeling of the times that surrounded him. For the first-time reader of More, this may appear disconcerting.

I realise that my critique cuts another way: if Ackroyd did write the larger historical narrative I wanted, he may have digressed into the narrative historical self-abuse of the 1000 page biography (only acceptable in the most exceptional of circumstances).

I also get no sense of a building dennoument in the encounter with Henry. There is a annoying blase telling of the story with some bright moments -- the book gets better as one goes through it -- it is dense and quite frankly, a little boring in the beginning.

ALso the Olde Englysh translations do detract from the flow of the narrative. Although it is easily understood ones reading flow slows from 700 words per minute, to 50 words per minute in the old English translations. He should revise it from the 16th Century vernacular to modern spelling.

In final analysis I feel that I really did not understand the man. I feel that I need to get a hold of a better biography of the man. So if Ackroyd succeeded in doing this, then it was worth the read.

The best contempory text on the life of St. Thomas More!.......2004-04-04

Peter Ackroyd is a master of drawing the reader into the experience of Thomas More. He provides a well researched and eloquent work that justly portrays the man and saint. Even though Sir Thomas More was emersed in the difficulties of state politics, economics, and law, Peter Ackroyd never loses sight of More's deep Catholic faith: "[The Mass] was the single most important aspect of his life, and the source from which much of his earnestness and his irony, his gravity and his playfulness, springs" (112).

The Sadness of Christ (Yale University Press Translation)

Average customer rating:

Fitz
Wonderful thoughts of a man on the way to his martyrdom
St. Martha Parish Bulletin Book Club March 2002 Selection
Excellent spiritual reading.
Strength in isolation

The Sadness of Christ (Yale University Press Translation)
Thomas, Sir, Saint More , Gerard Wegemer , and Clarence H. Miller
Manufacturer: Scepter Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Four Last Things: The Supplication of Souls: A Dialogue on Conscience
A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation
Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage
The King's Good Servant but God's First : The Life and Writings of Saint Thomas More
A Thomas More Source Book

ASIN: 0933932669

Book Description

This book was the last that St. Thomas More wrote in the Tower of London before he was executed for standing firm in his Catholic faith. In it, he explores the Gospel passages that depict the agony of Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. He depicts Christ as a model of virtue in the face of suffering and persecution — and along the way, he includes valuable and eternally relevant reflections on prayer, courage, friendship, statesmanship, and more. Here is an excellent resource for Lent or anytime!

Customer Reviews:

Fitz.......2006-03-24

Until reading this book, I had difficulting meditating on the agony in the garden. Thomas More takes the Gospels' descriptions of the event and commentates on them with a weatlh of saintly knowledge and scholarship. St. Thoms truly opened up this portion of the Gospels for me and deapened my understanding of them. This is must reading annually during lent.

Wonderful thoughts of a man on the way to his martyrdom.......2002-10-11

St. Thomas More writes a series of meditations on the passion of Christ in this short volume, beginning with the betrayal of the Iscariot and ends with the actual capture and trial of Jesus. More wrote this volume while contemplating his upcoming martyrdom; while seeing his friends from the London Carthusian Charterhouse being martyred; while receiving messages of encouragement from Bishop John Fisher, who resided in worse conditions in the cell below him in the infamous Tower of London.

This volume is a wonderful volume for meditation, but needs to be taken slowly. More was not one for long, flowery sentences, and thus wrote very simply. The initial urge is to read quickly. It is best to take in each word with this volume and picture Christ's suffering in one's mind while reading. A good book.

St. Martha Parish Bulletin Book Club March 2002 Selection.......2002-03-01

St. Martha Parish in Okemos, Michigan Bulletin Book Club March 2002 Selection Fr. Jonathan Wehrle, Pastor
As Roman Catholics we accept that we will die to this earth and be born into another. Our religion is rich in historic saints whose sufferings and trials mirror our contemporary human reaction to impending death. St. Thomas More is an example. He refused, even when faced with execution and death in Renaissance England, to deny his Christian life. Rather, he focused "sharply on Christ's human reaction to His approaching death." [p. v]
St. Thomas More wrote his last book with the purpose of contrasting "Christ's way of acting with our own." [p. vi] More, a lawyer and judge, served King Henry VIII as Chancellor of the Roman Catholic Church of England until he resigned in protest at the actions the king was taking to destroy the Catholic Church in England. While King Henry VIII did sunder the Church of England from Rome and further abused human and religious rights, it was not without the ultimate protest from More. Reflecting upon Christ's steadfastness provided solace for More in the Tower of London awaiting trial and his last confession and execution.
This final work of St. Thomas More's shares his reflections on the Passion and Death of Christ. Christ as fully God begged as man his Father to remove the passion to come, but humbly submitted when the choice was presented. More concludes from this that while Christ made distinctions, we also "sometimes apply to our whole selves things which actually are true only of the soul [made in the image and likeness of God], and on the other hand we sometimes speak of our selves when strict accuracy would require us to speak of our bodies alone." [p. 30]
More, seeming quite contemporary, includes a Collection of Scriptural Quotes and Reflections and presents the case for such as right reason as a key to the next world, but also for making ourselves every day "living members, sweet Savior Christ, of Your holy mystical body, Your Catholic Church." [p. 154] While More did not wish to die to this world, he reflects that "Whoever saves his life in such a way that he displeases God shall soon afterwards, with no little grief, find his life thoroughly displeasing." [p. 144]
More's work in this text unmistakeably imprints the imagery in todays Catholic Church as one body of people called Church with Christ as its Head.

Excellent spiritual reading........2000-07-11

I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is one great meditation on Our Lord's passion. St. Thomas More is clear and succint. He takes ideas to their logical conclusion, and definitely has a gift in this regard- the gifts that made him a great lawyer and statesman, as well as a glorious martyr are quite prominent in his meditations. He'll remind you to pray like you're speaking to God and love like God Himself suffered & died for you. I really liked the book and I have no doubt that it helped me grow in my knowledge of God's love, myself, and my response to God's love.

Strength in isolation.......2000-06-02

More's strength to face his imminent excecution leads him to ponder on Christ's Passion. His marvellous way of looking at life and man in the midst of political turbulence and of struggling against a tide of King Henry VIII followers gives us the necessary strength to strive in difficult situations and to think that happiness and love can be found in the detachmentof material things and as close followers of Christ's example

THE UTOPIA OF SIR THOMAS MOORE INCLUD. ROPER'S LIFE OF MORE AND LETERS OF MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER MARGARET

Average customer rating:

THE UTOPIA OF SIR THOMAS MOORE INCLUD. ROPER'S LIFE OF MORE AND LETERS OF MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER MARGARET
With Notes and Intro By Mildred Campbell Modernized Texts
Manufacturer: Walter J. Black
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H1CRDU

God's Bestseller: William Tyndale, Thomas More, and the Writing of the English Bible---A Story of Martyrdom and Betrayal

Average customer rating:

An Excellent Biography
Moynahan Sells Me on Tyndale
Faith - Works - Betrayal - Death
A Page-Turner!
A WRITER FOR ALL SEASONS

God's Bestseller: William Tyndale, Thomas More, and the Writing of the English Bible---A Story of Martyrdom and Betrayal
Brian Moynahan
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Religious | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Western | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture
Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired
God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible
Tyndale's New Testament
The Bible in English: Its History and Influence

ASIN: 0312314868

Book Description

The English Bible---the mot familiar book in our language---is the product of a man who was exiled, vilified, betrayed, then strangled, then burnt.

William Tyndale left England in 1524 to translate the word of God into English. This was heresy, punishable by death. Sir Thomas More, hailed as a saint and a man for all seasons, considered it his divine duty to pursue Tyndale. He did so with an obsessive ferocity that, in all probability, led to Tyndale's capture and death.

The words that Tyndale wrote during his desperate exile have a beauty and familiarity that still resonate across the English-speaking world: "Death, where is thy sting?...eat, drink, and be merry...our Father which art in heaven."

His New Testament, which he translated, edited, financed, printed, and smuggled into England in 1526, passed with few changes into subsequent versions of the Bible. So did those books of the Old Testament that he lived to finish.

Brian Moynahan's lucid and meticulously researched biography illuminates Tyndale's life, from his childhood in England, to his death outside Brussels. It chronicles the birth pangs of the Reformation, the wrath of Henry VIII, the sympathy of Anne Boleyn, and the consuming malice of Thomas More. Above all, it reveals the English Bible as a labor of love, for which a man in an age more spiritual than our own willingly gave his life.

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Biography.......2006-10-24

God's Bestseller is the second biography of Tyndale I have read this year and one of only a few produced in recent decades. Written by Brian Moynahan, the subtitle provides a glimpse of the author's emphases: "William Tyndale, Thomas More, and the Writing of the English Bible--A Story of Martyrdom and Betrayal." Less-scholarly than David Daniell's William Tyndale: A Biography, God's Bestseller is also more readable, as evidenced by the Mail on Sunday's endorsement which suggests it is "almost worthy of LeCarre."

Though William Tyndale died almost 500 years ago, we continue to read and enjoy his Bible. The first man to translate Scripture into English, much of Tyndale's language and vocabulary continue to used commonly within the church and without. He coined words and phrases such as My brother's keeper, passover and scapegoat. Other commonly used phrases include let there be light, the powers that be, my brother's keeper, the salt of the earth and a law unto themselves. His mastery of English, though the language was still in its infancy, was unparalleled in his age. "In the begynnynge was the worde, and the worde was with God: the the word was God. The same was in the begynnynge with God. All thinges were made by it and with out it was made nothinge that was made. In it was lyfe and the lyfe was the lyght of men. And the light shyneth in the darknes but the darknes comprehended it not." Those verses passed into the King James and subsequent translations almost untouched.

Tyndale's mastery of the language is evident in passages of Scripture he was able to translate only in part before his untimely death. Read aloud these passages from Song of Solomon as they were written by Tyndale and then by the writers of the King James. "Up and haste my love, my dove, my bewtifull and come away..." The King James renders this same passage with far less skill, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Tyndale writes, "For now is wynter gone and the rayne departed and past." The King James bumbles, "For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over, and gone." The cadence, the use of language, is unmatched. We can only imagine how Tyndale would have rendered the Psalms, Job and other poetic books had he been granted long life.

But as we know, Tyndale was not able to complete his translation of the Old Testament. He did not write his own epitaph as was the custom at the time. But as Moynahan points out, a passage he left from 1 Corinthians seems to serve well: "'And though I gave my body even that I burned, and yet had no love, it profiteth me nothing.' That used love and not charity was technical evidence of his heresy, of course, and the prime reason why More wanted him brunt. But Tyndale did not die for charity; he died for love, for the love of God's words and of their readers, and the most familiar work in the English language is thereby given the added grace of being a labour of love." We see this love evident in his reply to Henry VIII when offered safe passage to his native England. Were Henry to grant even a bare text of Scripture to the common people, Tyndale promised, "I shall immediately make faithful promise never to write more, nor abide two days in these parts after the same: but immediately to repair unto his realm, and there most humbly submit myself at the feet of his royal majesty, offering my body to suffer what pain or torture, yea, what death his grace will, so this be obtained. And till that time, I will abide the asperity of all chances, whatsoever shall come, and endure my life in as many pains as it is able to bear and suffer." The king would never submit to so audacious a demand and soon decreed that Tyndale be hunted down and killed. Though agents of Henry were never able to find Tyndale, he did eventually fall into the hands of the church authorities and was put to death. His last words, soon to be a rallying cry for English Protestants, were near-prophetic. "Oh Lord, open the King of England's eyes," he cried. Only a few short years later, Henry authorized an English translation of the Bible and, ironically, one based largely on the work of Tyndale.

Tyndale's name may not be widely known, but his influence is still felt. "Tyndale's traces are everywhere, of course. 'That old tongue, with its clang and its flavour,' as the critic Edmund Wilson wrote of the Bible, 'that we have been living with all our lives,' is Tyndale's tongue. Its cadence, its rolling and happy phrases, its consolations and the elegance of its solace, are his."

Despite his influence and his importance to the development of the English language, Tyndale is relatively unknown to both Christians and non-Christians. It is to our detriment that we forget about this great man of faith who gave his life for his conviction that the Word of God must go forth and must be made available in the common tongue. Moynahan's biography is an excellent introduction to Tyndale's life and influence. It is written in a way that will appeal to any reader, it still conveys a great deal of information and is clearly the result of meticulous research. It is one of the best biographies I have read this year and I commend it to you.

Moynahan Sells Me on Tyndale.......2006-04-26

Few history books have influenced my thinking as has Brian Moynahan's "God's Bestseller: William Tyndale" (2002). I found this 422-page (hardback) difficult to put down. I was often cheering for and, in the end, crying over the life of William Tyndale.

Moynahan portrays Tyndale as a man of rare talent and extraordinary vision. Almost from the beginning of his clerical career he wanted to offer the Bible to the English-speaking world. One feels Tyndale's early clandestine efforts for bringing Scripture into English. One is fearful as the Gloucestershire clerk quickly leaves for the continent evading royal arrest to begin his life-long passion.

Moynahan's narrative correctly shows Thomas More' villainous pursuit of Tyndale. As Henry VIII's Chancellor More had all the power, money and legal statute needed to track Tyndale down and ultimately execute him. Tyndale's short life was lived as a fugitive from royal pursuit. He was constantly on the move (Tyndale had few friends and no family by the end). Moynahan's is an exciitng and illuminating heart-in-the-throat narrative. He reveals all the nasty 16th century politics of Henry's torturous and corrupt reign.

Even as Moynahan show's William Tyndale's life as the stuff for an exciting Hollywood drama, he also takes time to explain Tyndale's evasive personal life. We learn that Tyndale may have met Martin Luther and learned German at the Protestant master's feet. We see Tyndale's various correspondences with many of the leaders of his age (the letters are still extant). We learn that Tyndale's translations were often completed in the middle of the night just hours before he was forced to flee the king's men.

We discover Thomas More's personal obsession with Tyndale (a compulsion that ultimately brought Tyndale to the fiery stake). In the end William Tyndale was captured through the duplicity of a "friend" and burned alive in Brussels (in 1526) because he was the first to translate (and publish) Scripture into English. (Ironically, Thomas More- staunch Roman Catholic- met his downfall at the hands of Thomas Cromwell- Protestant- weeks before Tyndale's capture. Cromwell's meteoric rise to power, as Henry's new Chancellor, did not allow time for Cromwell to block Emperor Charles V's- a royal Roman Catholic- execution of Tyndale.)

Moynahan offers a considerable portion of Tyndale's original translation (only three original copies survive). He reports that 84% of the King James Version New Testament and 78% of the KJV Old Testament are lifted from Tyndale's translation. (The 1611 KJV composers used Tyndale as their guide for English Scripture.)

This is a fast paced story of intrigue, arrest evasion, governmental corruption, betrayal, and divine inspiration. Through all the political turmoil in the first third of the 16th century, William Tyndale prepared a brilliant translation of God's Word for his fellow Englishmen. His was the original pioneering effort that made the Bible accessible to all English speakers.

This book in very recommendable to all: scholars, students, historians, theologians, Bible studiers, and those looking to read an exciting (real life) story. Moynahan will sell you, too, on William Tyndale.

Faith - Works - Betrayal - Death.......2005-03-20

The author, Brian Moynahan, notes that William Tyndale's translation of the Bible "....fathered what is probably the best known and certainly the most quoted work in the English language." A 1998 analysis of the King James Bible, found Tyndale's words account for 84 percent of the New Testament and for 75.8 percent of the Old Testament. The text observes that Tyndale believed English "corresponded with scripture better than ....Latin ...." The text narrates how Tyndale through faith and sheer determination translated the Bible into the English language.

The author provides a most interesting narrative of the sixteenth century printing and publishing industry in Europe and England. The printing/publishing industry in England was small and closely controlled by the Church and government. However, Lutheran books and tracts were coming into London from Germany and the Low Countries in large number and on a rising scale. This was a concern to the government and the Catholic Church in England. Thomas More began a vigorous campaign to squelch religious reform persecuting heretics and condemning them to death by burning at the stake. For his part, Tyndale began an enthusiastic and dangerous public duel in writing with More.

Though a scholar with a Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Oxford Tyndale related to average men who "shared ideas with him, ....made a natural constituency for reform, and ...were brave." He adopted the Reformation's efforts to provide common readers with the Scriptures in English and resented the Church's ban on translation of the Bible into English. He planned to translate the Bible, but was unable to find a patron. In addition, he adopted the new Lutheran doctrine of justification by faith alone and facing prosecution as a heretic, he fled England and sailed to Hamburg in April 1524. He stayed on the continent until his execution eleven years later. During his self-imposed exile in Germany and Amsterdam, he translated and printed his English translations of the New Testament and a major portion of the Old Testament. In 1526 he published a revision to his New Testament translation and another revision in 1534 in which he made an effort to correct errors while "His main aim was to strengthen his writing, to clarify meaning and bring it closer to the Greek." The author notes that Tyndale's work was complicated by the fact that "No standard spellings existed in English, and it was a common for a word to be spelt differently in a single passage:...." A steady flow of Testaments into England was maintained by smugglers so that by 1534 the Tyndale Testament was a great money-maker.

The book gives an excellent account of Tyndale's exile years. He continued his dangerous public duel in writing with Thomas More. More's malice that drove him against Tyndale "was a phenomenon, insatiable, galloping, morbific." In a manner that would do justice to a twentieth century spy novel, against Tyndale, More used "double agents, political intuition and the intricate manipulation of rulers and senior officials, the sowing of brides, flattery, and inflexible and murderous intent..." Unfortunately, as the author notes in day-to-day politics, Tyndale was inept. Throughout Tyndale's exile, Henry VIII's "pursuit of the annulment and remarriage to Ann Boleyn-weaves in and out of Tyndale's life...." To her credit, Ann Boleyn protected and promoted evangelicals, and favored Tyndale's scriptures and other writings." She was known as a protector of Tyndale's readers.

The text notes that Tyndale's sympathizers could be burnt at the stake, but Tyndale remained safe in Europe. In 1531, the king ordered that Tyndale be seized and brought to England using private or illegal means. Amazingly in November 1539 , Tyndale was contacted by a representative of the King's Secretary and offered a safe conduct back to England which he rejected. By 1534 conditions were changing in England and Tyndale might have been safer in London than in Antwerp, but politically naive Tyndale did not detect the change and stayed in Europe. On 21 May 1535, a paid bounty-hunter, Harry Phillips, coaxed him out of his safe residence and turned him over to local Low Countries authorities. Amazingly, the authorities in England no longer had any desire to harm Tyndale and two senior officials of Church and State tried hard to secure Tyndale release in Antwerp. At a castle north of Brussels, not in England, he was tried and convicted as a heretic. Tyndale....refused to try to buy his life with his conscience and remained steadfast in his beliefs." He was burnt at the stake on 6 October 1536. In death Tyndale was a success as injunctions were issued in 1536 and 1538 that every church should be provided with a Bible. His life's work triumphed as "His ploughboy soon had his English Bible."

Thomas More refused to recognize Henry as the supreme head of the Church, was arrested and executed on 6 July 1535. The author devotes Chapter 22 to a discussion of who was the paymaster who paid Phillips for locating and betraying Tyndale. Several possible paymasters are noted but there is no strong documentation that any were in fact the payee to Philips. The author notes that there is no solid evidence, but conjectures that Thomas More was the most likely paymaster.

As Moynahan writes on page 56 "The richness of his vocabulary, his verbs in place of nouns and adjectives, his free sentence constructions, his ear for vivid saying-`as bare as Job and as bald as a coot'-and his sense of rhythm profoundly affected the language of the English-speaking peoples -the global language, now-." While there are no memorials or statues to Tyndale, the author notes that the King James Bible "....is, as we have seen, overwhelmingly Tyndale's Bible. Almost any passage in the New and most of the Old Testament, can serve as his memorial.

A Page-Turner!.......2004-10-17

This is a gripping, immensely readable tale of intrigue and ironies, set in one of the most fascinating periods in Western history. As depicted by Moynahan's carefully unsensationalistic prose, Thomas More comes off as a foreshadower of Cromwell, worthy of the obsessed villains in Dumas and Hugo, while Tyndale and his underground reformers are endearingly quirky, courageous, and astonishing in their martyrdom. Catholics and Protestants alike indulge in virulent righteousness, while intrigues involving the influence of one of Henry VIII's wives further spices the sauce. Moynahan is equally expressive in his appreciation of Tyndale's textual contributions as well, enthusiastically exploring their semantic subtleties. As I read it, I fancied consulting the author about turning his book into a screenplay, but have settled simply for teaching the text to my adult college students this coming Spring.

A WRITER FOR ALL SEASONS.......2004-03-13

GOD'S BESTSELLER recounts the remarkable life of William Tyndale, one of the founding fathers of English Protestantism and perhaps the second most influential writer in the English language. Brian Moynahan gives the reader more than a simple biography. He enumerates church abuses that triggered the Reformation, gives brief sketches of the "bible men" who preceded Tyndale (Wycliffe and Luther), and, for good measure, demolishes the popular image of Sir Thomas More, Tyndale's nemesis. Moynahan can be generous with ancillary details because little is known of Tyndale's life after he fled Britain in 1524.

Wycliffe produced the first complete bible in English, but he and his assistants translated from the Latin Vulgate text, then in use throughout the Christian world, into an English that was nearer Chaucer than Shakespeare. Tyndale, who studied at Oxford and Cambridge, translated the New Testament and much of the Old Testament from earlier Greek and Hebrew texts. Eighty years later his simple, colorful language found its way , almost intact, into the King James Bible. It was Tyndale, Moynahan says, who first wrote "Those great rolling phrases that boom through the English-speaking mind..." The Lord's Prayer we recite is Tyndale, the Beatitudes are Tyndale, as are "eat, drink and be merry...", "Death where is thy sting." and a hundred more. A 1998 study found that 84% of the King James New Testament is identical to Tyndale and more than 75% of the Old Testament. Moynahan says, "Where the King James strays away from him, Tyndale is often both more vivid and more plain." Example: the King's scholars changed Tyndale's "...for as ye judge so shall ye be judged." into "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged..."

One of the many amazing things about Tyndale's accomplishment is that he did his translations while on the lam. He was a fugitive from the heretic hunters for the last twelve years of his life, living in Hamburg, Worms, and Antwerp. Copies of Tyndale's New Testament were smuggled back into Britain, where they aroused the wrath of Sir Thomas More. More was, according to Moynahan, the most aggressive persecutor of heretics among Henry VIII's high churchmen. He wrote lengthy and vituperative denunciations of Tyndale and sent spies into Europe to track him. Even after More, himself, had been consigned to the Tower, Moynahan says it was his agents and allies who captured Tyndale and saw to it he was executed.

Customer Reviews:

...those who would lose their life for my sake will find it........2003-08-12

This is an excellent biography of a courageous saint whose faith in God was stronger than his fear of death. While the book provides sufficient historical detail and background, its narrative structure is unique in that the author places events within the context of More's faith. Thankfully, Monti avoids a posthumous psychoanalysis of his subject (as many biographers are wont to do). Instead, he illuminates the saint's inner life by tapping into More's own thoughts, as revealed in his published works and correspondence. The result is a rich portrait of a man whose warmth and courage derived directly from his faith in God and the Catholic Church.

Monti synthesizes More's apologetical writings in response to the Reformation, revealing More's keen theological acumen. What impressed me the most, however, was discovering the depth and richness of More's spirituality and faith. More's insight into Christ's agony in the garden of Gethseme and during His passion were particularly moving. It becomes clear that More's understanding and appreciation of Christ's suffering strenthened his faith when he needed it most.

I would especially recommend this inspirational book to young people, who could choose no better role model than Saint Thomas More. He stands as a beacon of light in today's culture of moral relativism.

A Fantastic Overview of a Great Saint.......2003-03-12

The author has presented a very well balanced survey of the life of St. Thomas More. In this work of history, one can find an excellent survey of the literary work of St. Thomas More. Additionally, you will find an excellent synopsis of St. Thomas More's relationship with his friend and humanist, Erasmus.

The author writes in a style which captures the reader. This will not be one of those histories that you may only read piecemeal. Rather, St. Thomas More takes life and captivates the reader because of his holiness and goodness.

This work looks into the saint's devotional practices, his great faith, his love of God and man, and his relationship with his family. To state that this is an excellent starting point for any person wishing to learn more about this man is an understatement.

The characters of the reformation (i.e., Luther, Henry VIII) are given a balanced treatment in that their beliefs or writings are not misconstrued or embellished. St. Thomas More was a defender of the Father, and to that extent, his writing of the defense of the faith are given equal treatment.

This book is most highly recommended.

Outstanding - can't put it down!.......2003-02-21

I am about halfway through this book, despite purchasing it only a few days ago. It is such a terrific read, I can't put it down. I even bring it to work with me to read whenever I have a few spare minutes!
For those of you who might find history boring, this is still the text for you. Monti's style of writing is outstanding and easy to follow. This book is one of my all-time favorites.

Most importantly, it provides a fair and objective portrayal of Saint Thomas More. Many books have a bias, one way or the other, when writing about More or 16th century England yet it's tough to find one in this book. Furthermore, Monti doesn't focus simply on More, but gives the reader a fair portrayal of the Reformation during this crucial period in European history.

More's life is simply fascinating - it reads like a novel. His genius and profound morality is clear. Upon reading this book, More is the type of man one would want to know, and the kind we wish (!) there were more of in modern-day society. It is an extremely inspirational book.

"A Fine Exposition of More's Life and Writings".......2002-08-05

James Monti's work, "The Kings Good Servant But God's First," provides an excellent overview St Thomas More's life and writings; but a much greater focus is based upon his writings. Monti's treatment of More's oeuvre is skillfully researched, comprehensive, informative, and pleasing to read. St Thomas More's defense of Church unity and the Sacraments against Tyndale and the rising tide of the Reformation, is finely commented upon in a clear and concise fashion. His devotional writings and correspondence with family in the waning days of his life on earth, are given an exceptional touch of intimacy, which will no doubt compel readers to seek out works such as the "Treatise upon the Passion" and the "Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation" (as one of our fellow reviews has pointed out as well). As for More's life, Monti pays particular attention to his early years and his final days, with brief expositions in between on his rise in the King's court and his later relations with Henry VIII as tensions began to swell between the English monarch and the Papacy. Overall, Monti presents a noble sketch of the Christian scholar and family man, graced with charm and good humor, conscientiousness and candor, who was devoted to his friends and family, and to the salvation of souls and Christ's Church. This book offers much material for in-depth study and further reading, and it is a definite recommendation.

A very nice overview of More's writings..........2001-03-22

In our heroless age it is invigorating to read the words of one man of another age who refused to sacrifice his conscience for the convenience of the state. This book adeptly weaves Thomas More's life with his writings, so that one can see the progress of his thoughts as the events of the final years of his life overtook him. It left me wanting to read the original works, most especially A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation. I believe this book is invaluable for anyone wanting to really know more about this saint or about that period in English History.

Average customer rating:

A Must for More Fans

Thomas More (Reputations Series)
John Guy
Manufacturer: A Hodder Arnold Publication
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Religious | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

A Thomas More Source Book

ASIN: 0340731389

Customer Reviews:

A Must for More Fans.......2000-08-12

This new book on Thomas More is a must for More fans. Unlike previous biographies which run along like a river of time, the present work wrestles with each part of More's life and character as questions, always attempting to put the known historical facts alongside the accumulated tradition and hagiography surrounding this great man. Professor Guy demonstrates a clear knowledge of the work of other of More's biographers, and has a keen ability to critically discuss them. While the synopis on the back cover warns that those 'satisfied by an idealized vision of More...should not read this book', nothing could be farther from the truth. The book does not attempt to knock down More, but rather to ask some hard historical questions, and if it asks more questions than it answers it is all the better for it. The final assesment of More is left for the reader. Professor Guy makes some astute observations which many historians in the past have taken for granted, for example the link often made with the idyllic picture painted by Erasmus in his letter to Hutten of More's and Holbein's famous painting of the More household in Chelsea. Guy points out that Erasmus never knew More in the house at Chelsea, but only stayed for a short time in More's house in the city of London. Guy also highlights the supposed 'silence' of More with regards to the Act of Supremacy and writes that More 'conyeyed what he really thought to almost anyone who would listen in coded but "safe" language, while pretending to keep "silence"'. The book, however, does not deal only with More's life and the shibboleths surrounding it, but the ways in which More's life and character have been interpreted by the succeeding generations: understanding him as everything from a Protestant 'avant le lettre' to an icon of Communist Russia complete with a memorial to him in Moscow's Alexandrovsky Gardens. Throughout the work one can sense Professor Guy's genuine respect, admiration and even love for Thomas More (warts and all) and it is this ultimately which makes the book such a pleasant read for More fans.

Average customer rating:

Too Bad I Couldn't Give This 10 Stars! Brilliant Piece of Work!
A Collection of Thomas More's Less Important Work
Super!

Saint Thomas More: Selected Writings
Thomas Sir More
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Life of Thomas More
The King's Good Servant but God's First : The Life and Writings of Saint Thomas More
Selected Sermons, Prayers, and Devotions
The Last Letters of Thomas More
The Sadness of Christ (Yale University Press Translation)

ASIN: 0375725725
Release Date: 2003-04-08

Book Description

Thomas More is perhaps most familiar to us from his courageous struggle with Henry VIII, unforgettably portrayed in Robert Bolt’s classic, A Man for All Seasons. But that final struggle, which ended in his execution for treason, was only the crowning act in a life that he had devoted to God long before.

In the first selection in decades made for the general reader from his collected works, this volume traces More’s journey of moral conviction in his own words and writings. Drawing on a variety of More’s late writings–the extraordinary “Tower Works,” written in prison, his poignant last letters to his daughter Margaret, and his poems, private prayers and devotional works–this collection will provide even readers lacking a background in Renaissance humanism or history with a rich introduction to a startlingly modern man of spiritual principle. Also included is the famous “Life of Sir Thomas More,” written by his son-in-law, William Roper.

In the annals of spirituality certain books stand out both for their historical importance and for their continued relevance. The Vintage Spiritual Classics series offers the greatest of these works in authoritative new editions, with specially commissioned essays by noted contemporary commentators. Filled with eloquence and fresh insight, encouragement and solace, Vintage Spiritual Classics are incomparable resources for all readers who seek a more substantive understanding of mankind's relation to the divine.

Customer Reviews:

Too Bad I Couldn't Give This 10 Stars! Brilliant Piece of Work!.......2006-06-25

To compare this book with something else that St. More did before his incarceration is ludicrous and misses the whole point. The purpose of this book is to show the inner nature and turmoil that he was going through as he faced imminent execution.

On that score, what you read is extremely pertinent and explains his subject matter: "The Sadness of Christ" which talks about Jesus' Passion and experience in the Garden of Gethsemene and of His betrayal by his diciples reflecting the very similar circumstances he himself was experiencing.

His letters to his daughter Margaret were truly heart-wrenching and knowing what we know about the background of these writings, I have to confess that I felt emotional and close to tears while reading through them myself. This is truly no Utopia but who cares as the effect on the reader who can emphatise with St. More is surely more pronounced than reading through that other masterpiece.

What comes clearly through is the brilliance of the mind of the man and his great conviction of beliefs with no compromises. The writing is so easy to follow and such a joy to read especially the very lucid and convincing way he makes his arguments that I'm not surprised that he has been made the patron saint of all lawyers.

The "Life of Sir Thomas More" is also very touching showing the impact he had on his son-in-law that moved him to write such a moving account of a man he clearly admired. We also get a glowing description of St. More by his contemporary, the famous humanist, Erasmus, and his epitaph in the Chelsea Old Church is included as well.

This is highly recommended for anyone who wants to truly know and understand St. Thomas More and more importantly his state of mind and being during his imprisonment and before his martyrdom. This is also for Christians who feel jaded about their faith or who have taken their faith for granted. This will surely lift you into seeing just how precious a gift you have for which many have been willing to suffer greatly and die for.

Read this; you won't regret it.

A Collection of Thomas More's Less Important Work.......2005-11-02

Thomas More's Utopia is a stunning piece of work which is the reason it is his best known. This book collects some of the more obscure writings about Thomas More and written by him. There is a good reason why these are not among his better known works.

After an introduction that last literally 30 pages, the bulk of the text is occupied by a passage called "The Sadness of Christ". This reflects on each of the four Gospels telling of Jesus's final hours from an emotional stand point. While the perspective presented is interesting, the argument is very redundant as presented by Thomas More. One could skip over a page and still be reading the same thing on the following page. The next section is a series of letters Thomas More wrote from prison. Most of the information from his letters is more easily consumed in a biography. The last section is a biography told from the perspective of his son-in-law, William Roper. In this short biography, Roper tells more of his father-in-law's state of mind rather than the life story.

On several levels, I felt that his work did not deliver. I did not get what I expected from his book. That being said, there is still something to gain from reading it.

Super!.......2003-07-14

I've read quite a few books on or about Thomas More but this one contains material that is new to me - principally "The Sadness of Christ". This work and the other writings in this book give a clear insight into his thinking and must benefit anyone who admires him.

CCEL Classics CD: works by Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Donne, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, Martin Luther, Saint Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, John Wesley, and more!

Average customer rating:

CCEL Classics CD: works by Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Donne, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, Martin Luther, Saint Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, John Wesley, and more!
Dr. W. Harry Plantinga
Manufacturer: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 1931848076
Release Date: 2006-12-15

Product Description

The most important spiritual writings of Christian history are available on this Classics CD by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) at Calvin College. It contains 118 Christian classics, including three versions of the Bible, several commentaries, Bible dictionaries, readings, spiritual guides, sermons, poems and journals -- all in a convenient, searchable form. Books are available in HTML and PDF formats. The easy-to-use CCEL Desktop software powering the CD enables users to browse and print books and install additional books from the Web. The top-of-class search engine can search for words or phrases in books, in authors works or in the whole library. In addition, it can search for dictionary definitions of words and commentary or references to scripture passages. The interface is a Web browser. The CD is compatible with Windows 2000+, Macintosh 10.3+, and most Linux versions.

A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation

Average customer rating:

One of More's Last Works

A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation
Thomas, Sir, Saint More , and Mary Gottschalk
Manufacturer: Scepter Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Four Last Things: The Supplication of Souls: A Dialogue on Conscience
The Sadness of Christ (Yale University Press Translation)
Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage
The King's Good Servant but God's First : The Life and Writings of Saint Thomas More
A Thomas More Source Book

ASIN: 1889334138

Book Description

Awaiting execution in 1535 for refusing to betray his faith, Thomas More opens the door on his own interior life by creating a fictional dialogue. It takes place in 16th century Hungary between a young man, Vincent, and his dying but wise old uncle, Anthony. Vincent is paralyzed by fear of an impending, Turkish invasion which could force him to betray his faith or die a martyr. As he pours out his fears, Anthony responds as only the calm and clear-headed More could do: on the comfort of God in difficulties, the benefits of suffering, atonement for evil acts, faintheartedness and the temptation to suicide, and scrupulosity. Anthony thus summarizes his purpose: ''I will supply you ahead of time with a store of comfort, of spiritual strengthening and consolation, that you can have ready at hand, that you can resort to and lay up in your heart as an antidote against the poison of despairing dread..."

Put into modern English and edited by Mary Gottschalk, Dialogue... is introduced by Gerard B. Wegemer, author of the spiritual biography, Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage, (Scepter, 1995) and editor of another of More's spiritual works, The Sadness of Christ. (1999)

Customer Reviews:

One of More's Last Works.......2000-04-03

Among More's last works, "A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation" is one of his most important. There are scholarly editions, from Yale and the University of Indiana Press, and there are popular editions from Everyman and Septer that are available. More wrote this book in the Tower of London as he awaited execution, but the style is not the raging virtupretive one he used when confuting Tyndale. There are "merry tales" such as the one about the German who was never satiate his own praise, in Book Three Chapter 10, but most of the book is given over to meditation on death. More has two characters, Anthony a young man, and Vincent, his aged Uncle. They are placed in Budapest and they are fearful of an impending invasion by the Turks. More's story has been read as thinly veiled alagory of his own situation. Anthony standing in for More's son-in-law William Roper, and Vincent for More himself. That may be putting it too simplistically, but it is a good starting point. Unlike More's best known work "Utopia," "A Dialogue of Comfort" was not written in Latin, but in English. I doubt one in a thousand readers have read More's classic in the original Latin, but everyone who reads English can read More's "Dialogue of Comfort" without the aid of translation. This is a spiritual book. In this book More asks where shall comfort come from. More answers his own question: "For God is and must be your comfort, and not I."

Philosophers:

Philosophers

Philosophers