Dialogue Concerning Heresies [Hardcover]

Thomas More (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2006

Considered by C.S. Lewis as perhaps the best dialogue written in English, this friendly, spirited, and often merry exchange takes place at St. Thomas More's peaceful and cultured home in Chelsea. Dialogue Concerning Heresies is a conversation between the experienced humanist and statesman More and an intelligent college student who has been influenced by the spirit and ideas of the "new men" and reformers, especially Martin Luther and William Tyndale. It addresses questions that continue to be discussed today: Isn't it idolatry to pray to saints, venerate images, and go on pilgrimages? Why listen to what the Church teaches? Shouldn't we go only by Scripture, since it is the word of God? Why didn't the Church want laypeople to have their own Bible, and in English? How do we know which church is the true one? Why waste time on philosophy and other secular studies if the Bible is God's revealed word? This modernized edition of More's Dialogue brings this masterful work into wide circulation for the first time since its publication in 1529.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 491 pages
• Publisher: Scepter Publishers; First Edition edition (December 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594170444
• ISBN-13: 978-1594170447
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #713,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sixteenth-Century Book in Modern Spelling, July 28, 2008

By 

Anne M. O'Donnell (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dialogue Concerning Heresies (Hardcover)

Thomas More's "Dialogue Concerning Heresies" (1529) is his best book of religious controversy. The Lord Chancellor appears as a character in his own fiction defending Catholic doctrines and devotions against the objections of a university student conversant with Reformation thought. The two men meet in Chelsea in More's study and garden and after a two week break they meet again in the same places. In Book 1 More defends pilgrimages and miracles; in Book 2, praying to saints. In Book 3 More attacks William Tyndale's translation of the New Testament (1526); in Book 4, Luther's denial that human will has any role in salvation (1525).

This Scepter edition (2006) of "Dialogue Concerning Heresies" is a modern-spelling and updated version of the Yale edition (1981). For example, the editor Mary Gottschalk renders the phrase "the lewde loue that is bytwene flecke & his make" (Yale, p. 289) as "the lewd love there is between a lowlife and his ladylove" (Scepter, p. 331). Although it lacks the extensive commentary of the Yale edition, the Scepter version inserts all the many scriptural references into the body of the text in brackets. Even those who have access to the costly Yale edition will want to own the inexpensive Scepter version. Best of all, the modern spelling makes it easier to concentrate on More's argument.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Spiritual Masterpiece Borne of Sanctity, April 10, 2008

By 

Father Hoisington (Diocese of Wichita) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dialogue Concerning Heresies (Hardcover)

This spiritual masterpiece clearly reflects St. Thomas More's own struggles in life, which of course ended in his martyrdom. This work is a rare combination of practical, earthly, spiritual advice that any person can profit from greatly. It is practical in that it treats of concrete situations that face every person who takes life seriously. It is earthly in that the counsel it offers squarely faces the struggles that arise from wanting to live in the world, but not be of the world. St. Thomas does not offer "pie in the sky" spiritual counsel, but rather counsel that invites the hearer to make moral and spiritual choices that will bring the sort of consolation that only comes from placing one's whole hope in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.