Albertus Magnus and the World of Nature by Irven M. Resnick and Kenneth F. Kitchell Jr
Being a religious scholar I felt I should have known Albertus Magnus, yet he is one of the people of Christianity’s past that had sadly eluded me. As the first biography of Albertus in a century, Albertus Magnus and the World of Nature by Irven M. Resnick and Kenneth F. Kitchell Jr is not just a comprehensive biography of his life, but of also the religious world in medieval times.
The thirteenth-century theologian, Albertus Magnus, also known as Saint Albert the Great or Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar, philosopher, scientist, and bishop of Regensburg. As well as being a medieval theologian, Albertus made significant contributions to the world of astronomy, geography, and natural philosophy. From his studies of the natural world, Pope Pius XII declared Albert patron saint of the natural sciences in 1931.
Charting Magnus’s life not just through the Dominican Order, the authors chart his life studying, teaching and his monastic life of poverty and how his influence enabled him to reach the position of Bishop and regarded as an equal to fellow Dominican, Thomas Aquinas, acknowledged by Dante Alighieri who owed a substantial debt to Albert’s work in the Divine Comedy.
Meticulously researched, Albertus Magnus and the World of Nature presents a fascinating insight into not just the theological and political worlds of the thirteenth century but also a valuable insight into the medieval life and customs that have long since past. An invaluable addition to any historian and anyone with a mind toward the past.
- Albertus Magnus and the World of Nature by Irven M. Resnick, Kenneth F. Kitchell Jr is published by Reaktion Books (£16.95). To order a copy go to www.reaktionbooks.co.uk
