Person and Being (Aquinas Lecture) [Paperback]

W. Norris Clarke (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 121 pages
• Publisher: Marquette Univ Pr (March 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874621607
• ISBN-13: 978-0874621600
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #677,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Wisdom of a Lifetime, March 25, 2000

By 

Ronald K. Tacelli (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Person and Being (Aquinas Lecture) (Paperback)

Norris Clarke, in this remarkable little book, sums up many years of intense philosophical exploration into the meaning of personhood. He writes of deep things without a trace of affectation, never burying the light of his message beneath a bushel-basket of jargon and cant. With gentle but insistent urgency, he challenges readers to appropriate their personhood--with all the infinite longing and immeasurable richness that implies. How many contemporary philosophical books have the power to change lives? This one does. Read it and find out for yourself.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A genuine "self-help" book, March 28, 2003

By 

Adam DeMuro (Scottsdale, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Person and Being (Aquinas Lecture) (Paperback)

Why should you read this book? Let me try to answer that. This book is about the relational aspect of Being. That right there is what is remarkable. Fr. Clarke shows us how the revelation of the Trinity actually helps us understand ourselves more fully. If God relates to (within) himself through this combination of relationality (being relational in nature) and substantiality (being a substance, a thisness), then, upon further inspection of what it means that we share in that Being, we see that we too find our most authentic mode of existing by living in this tension between being ourselves (a stand alone substance) and being defined by how we relate to others. Practically speaking, I think it's good for people to recognize that their existence, for its fulfillment, requires that they develop both aspects of themselves. As a child grows up, they have to successfully progress through increasingly complex relations with others. They start with their parents, then their friends, then their boyfriends/girlfriends, then their spouses. And in each stage, they go out to others and then come back to themselves a little bit different each time. You've met people who close themselves off to these relations. They close in on themselves. And they fail to live an authentically human existence. I think it's a book that's encouragement and reassurance for people who are committed to being as fully human as possible. It shows them that God himself is not far removed from their quest when they see that He too is relational in nature (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars After all these years, August 9, 2006

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Dr R. J. Lofaro (AL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Person and Being (Aquinas Lecture) (Paperback)

Father Clarke was my teacher for in several courses at Fordham in the 1950's; I obtained a minor in Philosophy. He also was a spiritual advisor to me in a time of personal difficulty over matters of faith and belief. Finally, he was the most intelligent, modest and gentle man I can remember. If I had listened to him in 1958/9, I would have saved myself much grief, lapsing from the Church for 35 years ..and, who knows what else? Yet, even as we wrestled with my faith/belief, he reduced it all to a simple issue...as he was always able to get to the core of philosophical issues in his classes...and, he left me with hope and the offer to come to him whenever...even though I rejected his advice. He was a great teacher.
I never knew he was the giant in American philosophy that he was; sadly, after graduation from Fordham, I was commissioned in USAF, never returned to NYC, and my grad school career took other paths. Upon idly putting his name in Google, I saw all he had written and obtained 3 of his books, to include the above. It was wonderous to read him; I almost could hear and see him. As ever, he gave insights, makes you wrestle with concepts and shows how St. Thomas is relevant today. His writings, sadly too few are in print,must be experienced...and, I mean must be experienced/read. This one should lead to 2 of his books...they will also be well-worth your time.