Reviews for In Defense of Religious Liberty

The average rating for In Defense of Religious Liberty based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-02-04 00:00:00 James F. Youngkin Ii I loved these two biographies. I have always been very fond of Chesterton and I especially love his animal poems. He does a great job with these two life stories; I knew less about St. Thomas Aquinas than I did about St. Francis because St. Francis is a particular favourite of mine. Chesterton has made me like Aquinas much more. I was amused by Thomas' family when they were trying to stop him from becoming a monk. Their rough handling of their dreaming "dumb Ox" of a brother reminded me of the brothers of Joseph in the bible (although they were not quite so brutal). Now I know a lot more about Thomas and have grown to like him more. As for St. Francis he was already a friend of mine and Chesterton painted a lovely picture of him. Francis was almost the polar opposite of Thomas, he was impulsive, and he didn't care about books or even where he was particularly. He had a great love for his fellow man (and creature) and that was what made him tick. Thomas was far more disciplined; he could not survive without books and did not wish to wander as Francis did. But despite their differences they complement each other! Chesterton does not write like a superior professor but it seems to me more like a fellow Catholic who knows a lot more than I. He is however not perfect in his knowledge about some things and that just makes him more endearing, he tells the stories with true affection

Review # 2 was written on 2012-12-11 00:00:00 Darren Mohan I only read the Saint Francis half of this book. Saint Thomas Aquinas will have to wait for another day. Chesterton's biography of Francis is not the sort of straight-forward historical biography I'm used to reading. Although he describes it as an "introduction," Chestron assumes the reader already knows the basic story of Francis' life, he takes events out of order, and engages in debate with contemporary critics. So it's more like an essay or an anlysis than a biogrpahy. That said, Chestrton provides great insight into the life of this extraordinary saint. And Chestrton's writng style is just fun. It's also amazing how well read he was. Read it to learn about Francis, and read it to enjoy Chestrton.