Customer Reviews

Thomas More (Jonathan Cape paperback ; 93)

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Thomas More links the Middle Ages with more modern times.
The treatise contains a Prologue, the Lawyer of Lincoln's Inn,
The King's Servant, The Lord Chancellor and an Epilogue.

The Sursum Corda summarizes the beliefs of More as follows:

" More believed, as Socrates believed that 'the god had given
him a station'. And he strengthened himself, as Socrates had
strengthened himself, with the conviction that no harm can come
to a good man after death, and that the gods do not neglect him
or his affairs. In Utopia and on the scaffold we have those two great articles of More's creed."

This is an important literary paragraph which encapsules
More's positive view that destiny will be sealed with
a Divine intervention on his behalf.

More was a scholar of great standing in the community.
"More had to answer extempore to the eloquent and loyal orations of the universities, and he missed no chance of attending and
joining in the official readings and disputations. His services
to Oxford varied from those of Sanitary Inspector in time of
plaque, to the defence of Erasmus and Greek against preachers
who attacked both."

The contents of this rendition of More has been debated
for centuries. It is still fascinating to literary and
theological scholars. I'm certain that the work will be
debated far into the future. The writings of More are an
important bridge between Middle Age life and the intellectual
underpinning of the industrial revolution.

Okay, Let's cut to the chase here. I'm Jewish. I don't know Dogma from Karma, but I love this book. R.W. Chambers was an English literary scholar who wrote at a time when history was considered more of an art than a science. As one would expect from a buddy of JRR Tolkien, he wrote with great beauty and imagination. He anticipated Robert Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons" by portraying Thomas More as a champion of the human conscience, rather than as a Catholic martyr. Moreover, Chambers wrote with a purpose. He had served in the trenches as a volunteer nurse during World War I and had seen the horrific impact the combination of propaganda and modern warfare had on humanity. He saw More as embodying the values that ordinary people needed to "stand fast a little, even at the risk of being heroes."

More and his circle wrote at a time when modern English was just beginning to "jell," and Chambers has a gift for ferreting-out wonderfully striking, idiosyncratic lines in the writings of More and of his brilliant son-in-law and biographer William Roper, the Younger. These quotes are instantly recognizable since they turn up later in Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons.

Chambers tends to gloss over More's faults. Was it accidental that Anne Cresacre, More's very wealthy ward, ended up marrying More's son? Did More's love of practical jokes border on the sadistic? More seriously, as a judge and as Lord Chancellor, More oversaw the burning of heretics. Chambers defends More by saying that the Church had condemned the heretics and More was merely doing his job as any magistrate was obligated to do. It's rather odd to see the champion of the human conscience retreat behind the fig leaf of "he was only following orders." Nonetheless, Chambers has a great imaginative grasp of More and his world and he brings the period to life.

An added point of interest is that Chambers and J.R.R. Tolkien were friends and both were scholars of Anglo-Saxon literature. Additionally both had first-hand experience of the horrors of World War I and in their writings, both envisioned a new sort of hero: a small person who almost by accident finds himself standing up for humanity against overwhelming opposition--be it the Dark Lord or Henry VIII.

Okay, Let's cut to the chase here. I'm Jewish. I don't know Dogma from Karma, but I love this book. R.W. Chambers was an English literary scholar who wrote at a time when history was considered more of an art than a science. As one would expect from a buddy of JRR Tolkien, he wrote with great beauty and imagination. He anticipated Robert Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons" by portraying Thomas More as a champion of the human conscience, rather than as a Catholic martyr. Moreover, Chambers wrote with a purpose. He had served in the trenches as a volunteer nurse during World War I and had seen the horrific impact the combination of propaganda and modern warfare had on humanity. He saw More as embodying the values that ordinary people needed to "stand fast a little, even at the risk of being heroes."

More and his circle wrote at a time when modern English was just beginning to "jell," and Chambers has a gift for ferreting-out wonderfully striking, idiosyncratic lines in the writings of More and of his brilliant son-in-law and biographer William Roper, the Younger. These quotes are instantly recognizable since they turn up later in Robert Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons."

Chambers tends to gloss over More's faults. Was it accidental that Anne Cresacre, More's very wealthy ward, ended up marrying More's son? Did More's love of practical jokes border on the sadistic? More seriously, as a judge and as Lord Chancellor, More oversaw the burning of heretics. Chambers defends More by saying that the Church had condemned the heretics and More was merely doing his job as any magistrate was obligated to do. It's rather odd to see the champion of the human conscience retreat behind the fig leaf of "he was only following orders." Nonetheless, Chambers has a great imaginative grasp of More and his world and he brings the period to life.