Ian Ker

'An excellent, very readable summary of Cardinal Newman's intellectual achievement - Ker's most original contribution lies in his attempt to credit Newman with an original theory of knowledge and enduring significance as a philosopher.' Library Journal

Achievement of John Henry Newman

Mere Catholicism explains in easily accessible, non-technical language the fundamental doctrines of Catholicism. It also shows how these doctrines follow naturally from the fundamental doctrines common to orthodox Christians ("mere Christianity"). Catholicism can mystify or even repel other Christians, while its complexities can confuse Catholics themselves. Ian Ker's stimulating book makes Catholicism come alive as the fullness of Christianity.

Mere Catholicism

The first full-length biography to pay equal attention to both Newman's achievements as a thinker and writer and his personal life-story. Newman, whose religious significance transcends his own culture and time, is here revealed in his complexity, his sadness and sensitivity set against his exuberance, humour, and strength in the face of adversity.

A Biography

John Henry Newman

G. K. Chesterton is remembered as a brilliant creator of nonsense and satirical verse, author of the Father Brown stories and the innovative novel, The Man who was Thursday, and yet today he is not counted among the major English novelists and poets. However, this major new biography argues that Chesterton should be seen as the successor of the great Victorian prose writers, Carlyle, Arnold, Ruskin, and above all Newman. Chesterton's achievement as one of the great English literary critics has not hitherto been fully recognized, perhaps because his best literary criticism is of prose rather than poetry. Ian Ker remedies this neglect, paying particular attention to Chesterton's writings on the Victorians, especially Dickens. As a social and political thinker, Chesterton is contrasted here with contemporary intellectuals like Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells in his championing of democracy and the masses. Pre-eminently a controversialist, as revealed in his prolific journalistic output, he became a formidable apologist for Christianity and Catholicism, as well as a powerful satirist of anti-Catholicism. This full-length life of G. K. Chesterton is the first comprehensive biography of both the man and the writer. It draws on many unpublished letters and papers to evoke Chesterton's joyful humour, his humility and affinity to the common man, and his love of the ordinary things of life.

G. K. Chesterton

Terrence Merrigan

As the leader of the Oxford or Tractarian Movement, Newman's influence continues to be felt on Anglicanism, and he is regarded by many as 'the Father' of the Second Vatican Council. His theology anticipates central themes in contemporary theology, and he can be viewed as a post-modern theologian.

The Cambridge Companion to John Henry Newman

This full-length life of G. K. Chesterton is the first comprehensive biography of both the man and the writer. It draws on many unpublished letters and papers to evoke Chesterton's joyful humour, his humility and affinity to the common man, and his love of the ordinary things of life.

Ian Ker

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