G. K. Chesterton’s Heretics

G. K. Chesterton’s Heretics
Kolbe’s Greatest Books Volume 91

“One of the most respected G.K. Chesterton scholars in the world, Dale Ahlquist is President of the American Chesterton Society, and publisher of its flagship publication, GILBERT.

Dale is also the creator and host of the popular EWTN series The Apostle of Common Sense, and he is the author of three books on Chesterton including G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense, Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chesterton and The Complete Thinker.

His books deliver Chestertonian perspectives on such topics as faith, education, love, and marriage, and unpack the wisdom of Chesterton to explain why modern man has lost his ability to think clearly. He has also edited eight books of Chesterton’s writings” (chesterton.org).

G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy

Goethe’s Faust

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Kolbe’s Greatest Books Volume 71

Johnann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a German poet, biologist and statesman. He became a member of the German nobility in 1782 and afterward began placing the German “von” before his surname.

Among his acclaimed works is the Legend of Dr. Faust. The old Faust legend … “is essentially a tragedy of sin and damnation, a characteristic product of the age of the Reformation.

In older legends of great sinners like Robert the Devil, the efficacy of penitence was proclaimed, the saving power of the Church was emphasized. With the Reformation this was changed. The rigid Lutheran orthodox theology denied the redeeming powers of the ancient Church and this harsh spirit is reflected in the legend”.

Although Goethe wrote in this milieu and is thought by some to have been a “sensualist” himself, he choose to emphasize the Mercy of God to which all sinners can flee.

Herodotus

Kolbe’s Greatest Books Volume 11

Herodotus (484-425 BC) was a Greek Historian known as the “Father of History” because if his systematic inductive, yet entertaining, approach to history and because of wide use of sources, albeit sometime specious sources, that was an anomaly in the fifth century BC. In his “Histories” he presents a vast array of geopolitical, psychological, and situational knowledge in an attempt to pinpoint and determine the causes of the Persian Wars and other wars with barbaric peoples.

Herodotus is of special import because he is, to this day, the primary source of ancient Greek history. “Kolbe’s Greatest Books” authors who relied on his Histories include Josephus, Cicero, Aristotle, and Plutarch.

Hilaire Belloc’s The French Revolution

Hilaire Belloc’s The French Revolution
Kolbe’s Greatest Books Volume 88

Hippocrates

However, the achievements of the writers of the Corpus, the practitioners of Hippocratic medicine, and the actions of Hippocrates himself were often commingled; thus very little is known about what Hippocrates actually thought, wrote, and did. Hippocrates is commonly portrayed as the paragon of the ancient physician, and credited with coining the Hippocratic Oath, still relevant and in use today. He is also credited with greatly advancing the systematic study of clinical medicine, summing up the medical knowledge of previous schools, and prescribing practices for physicians through the Hippocratic Corpus and other works

Jacques Maritain

Kolbe’s Greatest Books Volume 94

Jacques Maritain (1882–1973) was a French Protestant convert to Catholicism and a leading Thomist of the twentieth century having special influence in the area of politics and education drawing on metaphysics, philosophical psychology and Christian ethics. Maritain rightly understood that political theory begins with philosophical psychology. In the area of psychology, he was an advocate of “Integral Humanism”. Secular forms of humanism were insufficient because they did not deal with the spiritual dimensions of the human person.

Maritain was both a Thomist and an Aristotelian. In short, he was a sincere and prolific lover of truth obtained through philosophy and theology, faith and reason.

He wrote: “The philosophy of Aristotle, as revived and enriched by St. Thomas and his school, may rightly be called the Christian philosophy, both because the church is never weary of putting it forward as the only true philosophy and because it harmonizes perfectly with the truths of faith…. This agreement between a philosophic system founded by a pagan and the dogmas of revelation is no doubt an external sign, an extra-philosophic guarantee of its truth” and a surety for the soundness of his writings.

Kings David and Solomon

Kolbe’s Greatest Books Volume 3

The King with a heart after God, warrior and romantic lover. David reflected on the law night and day and sang prophetic songs prefiguring the suffering messiah to spring form his loins. His incomparable poetry has been recited and chanted as a sacred Psalter for over two thousand years. David’s son, King Solomon, imbibed his poetic skill and his wisdom and love from his father whom he surpassed with his inspired “Song of Songs”: the greatest love poem ever composed. The mystery of the Eucharist and the Body of Christ are hidden in this poetry which is a song of love sang by Christ to His beloved, Israel, beckoning her to become His betrothed and then His bride, the New Jerusalem, His mystical body to whom He longs to be united forever. This is mystical poetry at its finest!

Msgr. Philip Hughes History of the Church

Msgr. Philip Hughes History of the Church
History of the Ecumenical Councils including the theological, philosophical, social and historical trends, questions,and polemics faced by the Church throughout history as she endeavors to build the Kingdom of God throughout all the earth and at all times.