The atomic bomb marked a catastrophic leap in the history of human achievement. Never before had a man-made instrument dealt out, in an instant, such death and destruction. Once done, it could not be undone. The leap was made; the atomic age begun. To live in this new age, a new spirit was required-a spirit that would prevent mankind becoming the destroyer of all worlds. The father of the atomic bomb himself, J. Robert Oppenheimer, perceived this need, calling for "radical changes not only in spirit, not only in law, but also in conception and feeling" between nations and peoples. And what are those changes? The priest, not the scientist, gives the answer. In God and the Atom, Monsignor Knox re-states the ever-ancient, ever-new principles of God's revelation and commandments, and their application to the conditions of the atomic age.First published in 1945, amid the immediate aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, God and the Atom was one of the first theological considerations of the atomic age and the ramifications and risks of atomic weaponry and proliferation. To a world which refuses to let peace prevail, Knox's work remains deeply-and tragically-relevant.
As Ronald Knox was preparing to enter the Catholic Church, he took with him, as a spiritual-reading traveling companion, Virgil's Aeneid. The physical journey of Aeneas toward Rome provided a well-polished mirror to the spiritual voyage of Knox to that other, perfect Rome-the Eternal City of Christendom. "Ingeniously constructed on the Virgillian frame," as Evelyn Waugh writes in his Foreword, A Spiritual Aeneid is Knox's account of his conversion from the Anglican Church to the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.As moving and memorable today as when it first appeared in 1918, A Spiritual Aeneid endures as the "essential introduction" to Monsignor Ronald Knox, a devoted servant to the One who makes all things new.
A translator, comments Monsignor Ronald Knox in his On Englishing the Bible, has two methods at his disposal: the literal and the literary. In translating Sacred Scripture "for the benefit of a person who wants to be able to read the word of God for ten minutes on end without laying it aside in sheer boredom or bewilderment," then only a literary translation will suffice. And such is the "Knox Bible," the fruit of nine years' solitary labor to craft a fresh translation of the sacred texts. That labor had a strong foundation in the abiding affection for and familiarity with Scripture on display in Meditations on the Psalms. In these fifty-two meditations, Knox leads his readers "from the less to the more 'interior' levels of the spiritual life," treating on select Psalms from the Douay-Rheims Bible as they pertain to the Christian life in general and the interior life in particular; observances of the Church; and "Songs of Ascents" toward ultimate unity with God.Pope Benedict XVI once described the Psalms as a "school of prayer." With Meditations on the Psalms, Ronald Knox serves as an excellent teacher in that school, cultivating with firm faith and deep conviction the capacity to speak to God in the words that God himself has given.
"And people go round saying, 'At least Catholics know what they believe,'" sarcastically remarks Charles Ryder of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. With The Belief of Catholics, Ronald Knox offers a stirring credo which puts the sarcasm of his friend and biographer Waugh's protagonist in its proper place. Building up the vast, intricate structure of Catholic doctrine from its foundation to its summit, Knox begins with a scrutiny of modernity's ill-founded aversion to religion and then proceeds, in measured, memorable style, to address those "essential and unavoidable" questions to which religion must provide the answers. Does God exist? Does he reveal himself to humanity? Is a loving relationship between God and human beings a myth or a reality? Is the Catholic Church what it claims to be: the means and end of salvation as promised by Jesus Christ?Celebrated since its first appearance in 1927 as a classic in Catholic apologetics, The Belief of Catholics offers a clear, stimulating, and persuasive presentation of orthodoxy. As a challenge to skeptics and a restorative for believers, Knox's work is the genuine article: the expression of the faith, freely received as it was freely given, ringing with the courage of one man's unflagging conviction.
The first of Ronald Knox's three "Slow Motion" collections, The Mass in Slow Motion comprises fourteen sermons preached during World War II to the students of the Assumption Sisters at Aldenham Park. Modest yet arresting in style, Knox explains the Mass from the opening psalm to the solemn words of conclusion: Ite missa est. While the liturgy Knox contemplates is that of the Tridentine Rite, the abundant fruits of his contemplation can be easily translated to the Ordinary Form of the present day. Indeed, their primary impetus is the powerful portrayal of the continuous action of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which formula yields to mystery and man participates in his own salvation.Along with its "Slow Motion" companions, The Mass in Slow Motion proved the most popular of Knox's writings. Evelyn Waugh called it "the ideal present for a convert of any age or intellectual equipment." More than seventy years since it first appeared in print, the truth of these words holds fast: The Mass in Slow Motion is sure to assist any Catholic-let alone any convert-to more worthily and wisely go up to the altar of the Lord.
In his own variation on C. S. Lewis's trilemma of "Lunatic, Liar, or Lord," Ronald Knox writes: "I do not believe that, human nature being what it is, the immediate impression made by the preaching of the Gospel could have been so profound, if its first missionaries had only told to the world the story of a Man, clearly not mad, clearly not an Impostor, who was nevertheless prepared to accept the worship due to a God." The Gospel possesses a unique power to persuade its hearers to believe in Jesus Christ, to accept the friendship of the Son of Man whose Word is Truth itself. Differing from the continuous commentary-style of his other two Slow Motion books, Knox communicates the power of the Gospel in sermons brimming with his customary freshness, ingenuity, and anecdotal brilliance.Culled by Knox himself from the extensive archives of his preaching over the years, the twenty-three sermons in The Gospel in Slow Motion offer a ready-bound retreat for religious and laity alike, for they are "Gospel" sermons in the fullest sense: their aim is the making of good Christians.
2023 Reprint of the 1927 Edition. In the Belief of Catholics Knox reconstructs the whole edifice of Catholic teaching step by step, from the ground up. He first clears the air by analyzing the modern distaste for religion. Then, with his celebrated insight and flair for the memorable phrase, he throws fresh light on the great fundamental questions on which religious faith stands or falls: Is there a God? Does He care about us? Has He ever revealed Himself? Can we prove that He established a Church? What does that Church teach? What is its spirit? Does it make any claim on our allegiance?Knox was uniquely qualified to write this book, for he understood the difficulties both of Catholics and of non-Catholics, having been an Anglican chaplain at Oxford before he entered the Catholic Church. His keen, questioning mind was never content with any argument that was not airtight, so that even the skeptical inquirer will find this a remarkably reasoned statement of Catholicism. And everyone, Catholic and non-Catholic, will find it clear, stimulating, brilliantly written--a pleasure to read. The Belief of Catholics has been a classic of Catholic Apologetics.
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
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