Dialogue Concerning Heresies

by Thomas More

Considered by C.S. Lewis as perhaps the best dialogue written in English, this friendly, spirited, and often merry exchange takes place at St. Thomas More's peaceful and cultured home in Chelsea. Dialogue Concerning Heresies is a conversation between the experienced humanist and statesman More and an intelligent college student who has been influenced by the spirit and ideas of the "new men" and reformers, especially Martin Luther and William Tyndale. It addresses questions that continue to be discussed Isn't it idolatry to pray to saints, venerate images, and go on pilgrimages? Why listen to what the Church teaches? Shouldn't we go only by Scripture, since it is the word of God? Why didn't the Church want laypeople to have their own Bible, and in English? How do we know which church is the true one? Why waste time on philosophy and other secular studies if the Bible is God's revealed word? This modernized edition of More's Dialogue brings this masterful work into wide circulation for the first time since its publication in 1529.

Genres: Philosophy, Religion, Theology

Paperback

First published January 1, 1529

About the author

Sir Thomas More (1477-1535), venerated by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was a councillor to Henry VIII and also served as Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532.

More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale. He also wrote Utopia, published in 1516, about the political system of an imaginary ideal island nation. More opposed the King's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and beheaded.

Pope Pius XI canonised More in 1935 as a martyr. Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared him the "heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians." Since 1980, the Church of England has remembered More liturgically as a Reformation martyr. The Soviet Union honoured him for the Communistic attitude toward property rights expressed in Utopia.

Reviews

[Alan Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

The bottom line of this book is that Thomas More (1478-1535) advocated, both here in theory and as a governmental official in practice, the burning and other persecution of people he considered religious heretics. This official policy of the Roman Catholic Church, strongly supported by More, was later adopted by most sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Protestant established churches to persecute those with whom they disagreed in theology. Thus, the Calvinist seventeenth-century Massachusetts Bay theocracy executed Quakers, whipped and imprisoned Baptists, and banished Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and other religious dissenters. Roger Williams (ca. 1603-83), a devout Christian minister, strongly opposed all such religiously motivated persecution. In a series of published writings and in his practical actions as founder of the Town of Providence and the colony of what became known as Rhode Island, Williams advanced what was then a radical doctrine: that every person, whatever their religion or lack thereof, should have complete freedom of conscience and that church and state should be totally separated. For a detailed discussion of Williams's historical actions and writings, see my book The First American Founder: Roger Williams and Freedom of Conscience.

For those of us who were raised in the Protestant tradition, More's Dialogue Concerning Heresies does contain many interesting criticisms of Protestant doctrine. More ably defends the Catholic Church against such (then) newfangled theological innovations as predestination, justification by faith, depreciation of good works, sola scriptura, and other typical Protestant views. But More, like theocrats of every denomination throughout the ages, was not content to disagree with his theological opponents on the level of argument. Rather, he had only one remedy for them: burning at the stake.

[Jhanpierre Sainea · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a clear understanding of why Protestantism have some errors that the separation from the church. How he sees the legitimacy of the king as the head of the church and how he speaks how a good catholic should act and not to live the Faith in a shallow manner but to see why what we hold is true and how the importance of tradition of the apostolic fathers help us to develop our faith not only scripture perse.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tour de force of arguments based in common sense, formal reason, Scripture, tradition, and the particulars of the cases of the time. Because More is both wise and shrewd, he artfully blends the abstract and the universal with the all-to-human and the particular, so while much of the material is timeless, some of his rhetoric might not serve as a model for prudent debate in our times. Over all, an incredible work by a man of wit and wisdom that amply displays the practical wisdom and knowledge of the human soul necessary for carrying out a long conversation about the most grave of topics.

[Sybil Bush]

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