“We need a new kind of mystic,” writes Fr. Robert Wild; and in The Tumbler of God, he presents a spiritual portrait of G.K. Chesterton that convincingly shows why he is precisely the kind of new mystic we need. Chesterton’s mysticism was grounded in an experiential knowledge that existence is a gift from God, and that the only response is a spirituality of gratitude and praise for the unveiled beauty of creation. Franz Kafka said of Chesterton, “He is so happy one might almost think he had discovered God.” And Fr. Wild adds that “indeed he had, and he was doing his best to live in the light of that discovery. What was his ‘secret’? It was to love the splendor of the real, and to live in adulthood the innocence and wonder of the child who sees everything for the first time. The Gospel tells us we must become again like little children in order to enter the kingdom. Chesterton shows us how.”
Praise
“One of the best books I have ever read on Chesterton.”
— DALE AHLQUIST|
President, American Chesterton Society
“There have been many good books on Chesterton in recent years. But until now we have lacked a book that spoke openly of what is, in the end, the most important thing about him: his friendship with God.”
— STRATFORD CALDECOTT
author of The Radiance of Being and Beauty in the Word
“The wise fruit of long years of study and reflection, The Tumbler of God is a ground-breaking examination of G.K. Chesterton as a man who by his own ineffable way of conceiving life and human existence has opened a vast, mystic window onto the eternal.”
— MARK SEBANC
co-author of The Stoneholding and Darkling Fields of Arvon
“Robert Wild’s research carefully studies Chesterton’s direct relationship with divine grace, and his fascinating perspective is a welcome addition to the enlivening field of Chestertonian studies.”
— CHRIS CHAN
Contributing Editor, Gilbert Magazine
“Fr. Wild’s book is an exploration, made with deep and affectionate familiarity with GKC’s writings, of what is meant by the word ‘mystic’.”
— FRANCIS PHILLIPS
The Catholic Herald
About the Author
Fr. Robert Wild is the author of Catherine’s Friends and editor of Compassionate Fire: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Catherine de Hueck Doherty, and Comrades Stumbling Along: The Friendship of Catherine de Hueck Doherty and Dorothy Day Through Their Letters. He has been a member of Madonna House Community, founded by Catherine Doherty, since 1971, and is the postulator for her cause.
