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An examination of the philosophy underlying G.K. Chesterton's approach to perceiving the meaning in the world around us.
The jovial journalist, philosopher, and theologian G.K. Chesterton felt that the world was almost always in permanent danger of being misjudged or even overlooked, and so the pursuit of understanding, insight, and awareness was his perpetual preoccupation. Being sensitive to the boundaries and possibilities of perception, he believed that it really was possible, albeit in a limited way, to see things as they are. Duncan Reyburn, marrying Chesterton's unique perspective with the discipline of philosophical hermeneutics, aims to outline what Chesterton can teach us about reading, interpreting, and participating in the drama of meaning as it unfolds before us in words and in the world. Chesterton's unique interpretive approach seems to be the implicit fascination of all Chesterton scholarship to date, and yet this book is the first to comprehensively focus on the issue. By taking Chesterton back to his philosophical roots - via his marginalia, his approach to literary criticism, his Platonist-Thomist metaphysics, and his Roman Catholic theology - Reyburn explicitly and compellingly tackles the philosophical assumptions and goals that underpin his unique posture towards reality.
The jovial journalist, philosopher, and theologian G.K. Chesterton felt that the world was almost always in permanent danger of being misjudged or even overlooked, and so the pursuit of understanding, insight, and awareness was his perpetual preoccupation. Being sensitive to the boundaries and possibilities of perception, he believed that it really was possible, albeit in a limited way, to see things as they are. Duncan Reyburn, marrying Chesterton's unique perspective with the discipline of philosophical hermeneutics, aims to outline what Chesterton can teach us about reading, interpreting, and participating in the drama of meaning as it unfolds before us in words and in the world. Chesterton's unique interpretive approach seems to be the implicit fascination of all Chesterton scholarship to date, and yet this book is the first to comprehensively focus on the issue. By taking Chesterton back to his philosophical roots - via his marginalia, his approach to literary criticism, his Platonist-Thomist metaphysics, and his Roman Catholic theology - Reyburn explicitly and compellingly tackles the philosophical assumptions and goals that underpin his unique posture towards reality.
Price: $40.95
Pages: 310
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: Lutterworth Press
Publication Date:
31 August 2017
Trim Size: 9.02 X 6.02 in
ISBN: 9780718895013
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
RELIGION / Christian Theology / General, Christianity, Theology
Philosophically sophisticated but readily accessible, this highly original study shows what it was that made Chesterton so excellent a reader both of texts and of the world as a whole.
— Aidan Nichols, Prior, Blackfriars Cambridge, UK; Author, G.K. Chesterton, Theologian
What trait do we most admire in Chesterton? I submit it is his vision, his ability to see things as they are. In this remarkably thorough and well-documented book, Reyburn transfers Chesterton's pince-nez to our own noses. He conveys not just a description of Chesterton's hermeneutic, but gives us a rewarding experience of it. A welcome romp with Chesterton, the ocular athlete.
— David W. Fagerberg, Professor, University of Notre Dame; Author, The Size of Chesterton's Catholicism
In this work on Chesterton's drama of meaning, he shines forth as characteristically holistic, sane, joyous, and alert-at once wary of any easy 'self-evident' access to the way things are and yet hopeful in presenting ways to see the world more clearly. Reyburn's book, both scholarly and accessible, is more lively than any work about philosophical hermeneutics has the right to be.
— Christopher Ben Simpson, Professor of Philosophical Theology, Lincoln Christian University; Author, The Truth Is the Way: Kierkegaard's Theologia Viatorum
Of the many books on G.K. Chesterton, Duncan Reyburn's deserves its own special place. Indeed it is unique. For the first time, those wishing to dig deep into the mind of Chesterton, the master of paradox, can follow the hermeneutic path that Reyburn ploughs, in which, page after page, he churns up the surface of Chesterton's wit that he might get to the heart of the wisdom that lies beneath.
— -Joseph Pearce, Director, Center for Faith and Culture, Aquinas College; Author, Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G.K. Chesterton
— Aidan Nichols, Prior, Blackfriars Cambridge, UK; Author, G.K. Chesterton, Theologian
What trait do we most admire in Chesterton? I submit it is his vision, his ability to see things as they are. In this remarkably thorough and well-documented book, Reyburn transfers Chesterton's pince-nez to our own noses. He conveys not just a description of Chesterton's hermeneutic, but gives us a rewarding experience of it. A welcome romp with Chesterton, the ocular athlete.
— David W. Fagerberg, Professor, University of Notre Dame; Author, The Size of Chesterton's Catholicism
In this work on Chesterton's drama of meaning, he shines forth as characteristically holistic, sane, joyous, and alert-at once wary of any easy 'self-evident' access to the way things are and yet hopeful in presenting ways to see the world more clearly. Reyburn's book, both scholarly and accessible, is more lively than any work about philosophical hermeneutics has the right to be.
— Christopher Ben Simpson, Professor of Philosophical Theology, Lincoln Christian University; Author, The Truth Is the Way: Kierkegaard's Theologia Viatorum
Of the many books on G.K. Chesterton, Duncan Reyburn's deserves its own special place. Indeed it is unique. For the first time, those wishing to dig deep into the mind of Chesterton, the master of paradox, can follow the hermeneutic path that Reyburn ploughs, in which, page after page, he churns up the surface of Chesterton's wit that he might get to the heart of the wisdom that lies beneath.
— -Joseph Pearce, Director, Center for Faith and Culture, Aquinas College; Author, Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G.K. Chesterton
Preface and Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
2 The Context of Chesterton's Hermeneutic
3 The Foundation of Chesterton's Hermeneutic
4 The Task of Chesterton's Hermeneutic
5 The Tools of Chesterton's Hermeneutic
6 The Event of Understanding in Chesterton's Hermeneutic
7 Conclusion: The Grace of Mediation
Bibliography
Index
1 Introduction
2 The Context of Chesterton's Hermeneutic
3 The Foundation of Chesterton's Hermeneutic
4 The Task of Chesterton's Hermeneutic
5 The Tools of Chesterton's Hermeneutic
6 The Event of Understanding in Chesterton's Hermeneutic
7 Conclusion: The Grace of Mediation
Bibliography
Index