A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation [Paperback]

Saint Thomas More (Author), Mary Gottschalk (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1889334138 | ISBN-13: 978-1889334134 | Publication Date: 1998

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)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)

Product Details

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: Scepter Pubs (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1889334138
• ISBN-13: 978-1889334134
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #814,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of More's Last Works, April 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation (Hardcover)

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."