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Newman is a magnificent guide for all those who perceive that the key, the focal point and the goal of all human history is to be found in Christ.-St. John Paul IICarefully composed over twenty years, Newman's Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent is an acknowledged masterpiece both for its apologetic response to atheistic naturalism and its positive contribution to the Catholic theology of faith.Newman confronts the dilemma of modern skepticism through a sustained investigation of what it means for the mind to give assent. He shows how the believer, who encounters the light of Christ, can give a certain assent to the propositions of the faith even in the absence of demonstrative proof.Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman was England's greatest Catholic convert and theologian of the nineteenth century. Newman's many written contributions to Catholic theology and culture include An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, The Idea of a University, and Apologia pro Vita Sua. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

Dom Anscar Vonier, Abbot of Buckfast, was among England's greatest homilists and theologians of the early twentieth century. His works include "A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist" and "The Personality of Christ." In this work of remarkable eloquence, Abbot Vonier explores the reality of the Church as a permanent sign of the Holy Spirit dwelling on Earth. Through a sustained reflection on the miracle of Pentecost, Vonier shows that the same presence of the Spirit, revealed in miracles on that day, abides in the Church even now-a truth clearly seen in the Church's power to heal the sins of her members, as "a function of Christ's risen life." Vonier's powerful, Biblical theology of the Church features impressively clear explanations of continuity and change in the Church, renewal, liturgy, and the sacramental life, which anticipate many of the great theological insights that would later animate the Second Vatican Council. He writes, "We are all plunged into one river of life, the Spirit; we all drink the same cup of life, the Spirit; through the Spirit we are as one life. Such unity never existed before: it is the miracle of Pentecost, a miracle that will last through all eternity."

Dom Anscar Vonier, Abbot of Buckfast, was among England's greatest homilists and theologians of the early twentieth century. His many classic works include A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist, The Life of the World to Come, and The Personality of Christ. In Christianus, Abbot Vonier presents an absorbing theological reflection on how the indwelling of Christ expresses itself in the Christian moral life, in the visible "form of the Christian Person." Through a series of meditations on the distinct components of Catholic morality and spirituality-discipleship, prayer, liturgy, fruitfulness, temptation, citizenship, preparation for death-Vonier offers a view of how the whole Christian person is formed, from the center out, by the charity of Christ. Both personally inspiring and theologically exact, Vonier's reflections lead the reader to a distinctly Christ-centered view of the truly happy life. He insists that to experience joy in the practice of virtue, "We must, above all things, become wise in the mysteries of Christ's personality."

In The Christian Mind, Abbot Vonier presents a Catholic reading of the theology of St. Paul, unfolding the roots of the Christian moral life in Christology and justification. Vonier shows from St. Paul's teachings how the life of Christ in the Christian person begets a unique "attitude of man's mind caused directly and totally by the Incarnation." Beginning with a concise yet thorough interpretation of St. Paul's central arguments and metaphors for the doctrine of justification, Vonier explores the effects of indwelling grace in forming the Christian's entire consciousness and moral character. Deeply biblical and thoroughly Catholic, Vonier's study reveals the great and beautiful vistas that the life of Christ opens to the Christian mind as the source of authentic peace in this world and the next.

At Cardinal Newman's Mass of Beatification in 2013, Pope Benedict XVI praised "The warmth and humanity underlying his appreciation of the pastoral ministry." Those qualities are on full display in this remarkable collection of Catholic sermons unpublished in Newman's lifetime. These include the first two sermons Newman ever delivered as a Catholic, meditations on Mary in the gospels and divine adoption, and a strikingly accurate set of predictions of future challenges to Church posed by the advance of secularism in society. This edition has also added to the original collection Newman's final sermon in the Church of England, with its apt and kindly title, "The Parting of Friends."

Dom Anscar Vonier was one of England's most popular Catholic preachers and theologians of the early twentieth century, famous for clearly explaining the theology of Aquinas for lay readers. Faced with the rising tide of modern skepticism about the spiritual nature of the soul, Vonier composed this book as a study in two great themes of Catholic theology: the immortality of the soul and the goodness of divine judgment. His treatment of the soul presents the Church's teaching on the state of the soul after death, and the delivery from death found only in the resurrection. In his reflections on divine judgement, Vonier emphasizes the essential goodness of judgement as "the moral side of providence." Contrary to the fear and anxiety often associated with Christian judgment, Vonier shows that Christ's perfection as a judge is one of his most lovable aspects, insisting that "Genuine Christian sentiment has ever been deeply impregnated with this trait of Christ as the just Judge, and Christians have always found it possible to love him with the tenderest love because they know him to be such. ... Our Jesus would be less amiable if he were less true and less powerful in his judgements." Praise for Abbot Vonier and "Death and Judgement" "In this little book, Dom Vonier confronts the leaders of soul-shrinking secularism with the glorious standard of the risen Christ." -Edwin V. O'Hara, Bishop of Great Falls "Dom Vonier's aim in all his spiritual writings is the instruction of Catholics. ... In his pages we have the accuracy of a theological textbook combined with the enthusiasm of the pulpit." -Michael Harty, in "The Furrow" "To our thinking, Abbot Vonier is by all odds the foremost theological writer in the English language today. Although a Thomistic scholar, he can present doctrine not merely in the systematized manner of the scholastics, but also in the living manner of the liturgy, or, if you will, in the ... tradition of the Fathers, for whom theology was a loving consideration of the ways of God with man, and the appeal of whose writings consequently embraces heart and mind with equal immediacy. ... Thus many of his theological writings are simultaneously most fruitful 'spiritual reading'-which is what all theology should be." --"Orate Fratres"

Abbot Vonier begins his Christological Trilogy with "The Personality of Christ," a meditation on how Our Lord, while remaining a divine person, brings salvation to humanity precisely through his human actions. This illuminating study is marked by a memorably clear explanation of the meaning of "person" in the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, and a perceptive Biblical study of Christ's acts and relationships within human society. Vonier shows that much of the unique, dramatic character of the gospels derives from the distance between Christ's infinite, divine personality and the finite, human personalities that he touches and elevates. "The Personality of Christ" is followed by "Christ the King of Glory," and "The Victory of Christ." "These are no mere exegetical treatises for the trained philosopher; their common purpose is to strengthen devotion, not by appealing to sentiment but by adapting to modern needs the classical exposition of the Fathers and Scholastics, especially those of his great Master in Divinity-St. Thomas Aquinas. The style however is clear and free from technical terms." -The Irish Monthly

George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a Scottish minister who is widely recognized as the most influential fantasist of the nineteenth century. His many works include Phantastes, Lilith, The Princess and the Goblin, and The Gifts of the Child Christ. In Adela Cathcart, MacDonald writes about a group of friends who nurse a sick young woman back to health by meeting together to tell stories. In the vein of The Canterbury Tales, the many legends and ballads they invent include some of MacDonald's richest and most original writing. The most famous of these stories include: The Light Princess. A child is cursed with an inability to recognize anything serious or sorrowful in life, but can only find happiness by learning to weep. The Shadows. A man is transported to the kingdom of fairies and beholds how these dark spirits work to spread happiness and consolation through the world. The Giant's Heart. A deathless giant with no heart in his body captures six princes and their wives in his enchanted castle. The youngest brother of the princes goes on a quest to rescue them by finding the hiding place of the giant's heart. The collection also includes The Broken Swords, The Cruel Painter, The Castle, My Uncle Peter, A Child's Holiday, and Birth, Dreaming, Death.

In The People of God, Abbot Vonier gives a biblical and Catholic account of Church's covenantal life and activities that define her as a "people," a "kingdom," and a "Church." Beginning with the literary imagery and historical unfolding of "the people of God" throughout the Old Testament, Vonier shows how the fulfillment of Israel in the Christian Chruch involves a public and liturgical life essential to her special identity as a morally unified people. His enlightening exposition of the Lord's Prayer and study of the Sacraments further show how the liturgical elements of the Christian life belong to the Church's eternal identity, so that "Where there is an altar, there is the people of God."

In this gripping novel of faith and persecution, Bl. Newman tells the story of Callista, a young pagan woman, loved by a Christian man, who is posed with a choice between denying Christ or professing faith and the highest cost. Writing as both a convert and a scholar of the early Church, Newman presents his reader with a rich and challenging story, deeply personal and also highly informative in its representation of early Christian life amid pagan society, in its divine raptures and earthly pains. This edition features the original text of Newman's novel along with additional notes by Søren Filipski (MA, Franciscan University of Steubenville) providing explanations of various terms in Latin and other ancient languages that appear throughout the text.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria (298-373), Confessor and Doctor of the Church, was one of the principal architects of the Nicene Creed. He persisted throughout his life, in and out of persecution, in explaining and defending Christ's divinity and the teachings of the Nicene Council. In his Defense of the Nicene Definition, Athanasius defends the specific doctrine of the Council of Nicaea that the Father and the Son are "one in substance." Responding to Arian efforts to show from Scripture that Christ is a created being, Athanasius examines the witness of Isaiah and the Gospels, showing that Christ is an eternal person, because he possesses the same undivided divine substance as the Father. This translation by Bl. John Henry Newman, one of England's greatest modern theologians, combines the best of Newman's extensive scholarship of the Greek language and Early Church and his high mastery of English prose. He provides a clear and accessible entryway into the thought of one of the Church's greatest and holiest teachers.

This collection assembles six of George MacDonald's best works of short fiction, which have inspired the imaginations of readers for over a century. From the the titular story of a neglected child who restores her family through a heart-rending discovery on Christmas, to the great fairy tale "Photogen and Nycteris," about two children raised in isolation by a witch, these stories are marked by rich diversity in content and style. Yet the common current running through all of them is the simple image of Christ, revealing himself quietly in the many and varied expressions of human love.

Dom Anscar Vonier, Abbot of Buckfast, was among England's most celebrated homilists and theological writers in the early twentieth century. In this concise primer, Vonier introduces the reader to one of the most noble, but overlooked, elements of Catholic theology: the nature of angels. Drawing from Scripture, Patristic sources, and St. Thomas Aquinas, Vonier unfolds the metaphysical and moral characteristics of this mysterious group of spirits. Far from the soft, sentimentalized depiction of angels in much modern artwork, what emerges from Vonier's account is a picture of sheer vastness and awe, of an innumerable variety of pure spirits, filling the infinite space between God and humanity. To know these greatest of created beings, Vonier writes, will be "a great element in man's eternal happiness" and "the last thing in created love; greater love than that there could not be except man's communion with God himself."

One of Newman's best and most accessible books, The Idea of a University stands among the central texts of the Oxford Movement and remains a crucial reference point for the modern revival of Catholic education. Newman assembles a series of his key discourses and lectures exploring the purpose and mission of Catholic liberal education, the primacy of theology and its relation to other disciplines, classical studies, modern science, and intellectual rigor. The result is a profound and energetic exploration of the centrality of wisdom in academic culture and Christian life.

Blessed Newman's Dream of Gerontius is a beautiful and subtle poem about the soul of a man who has died in a state of grace as he is led by his guardian angel past the bounds of material existence toward the merciful judgment seat of God. In the vein of Dante and Calderón, Newman's poem gives exquisite expression to the content of Catholic theology by placing it the dramatic context of the most central human aim: the life of the soul striving upward towards its greatest good, eternal union with God.

Dom Anscar Vonier, Abbot of Buckfast, was among England's greatest homilists and theologians of the early twentieth century. His works include "A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist" and "The Spirit and the Bride." In this final book of his Christological Trilogy, Abbot Vonier gives an inspiring account of Christ's triumph over death and its centrality to the life of the Church. Through a close study of the New Testament, Vonier unfolds how the truth of Christ as Victor informs the Church's liturgy and aposotolic mission, giving to all Christian spirits the means of understanding and confronting the presence of evil in the world. Vonier writes, "The Catholic Church then, must at all times be viewed in the light of Christ's victory; it is her very life to believe in that victory, to feed on it, to glorify it through the Spirit that is in her. Any diminution of her faith in Christ's victory would be a death-blow to her; for she is not living on an edifying memory, but she fights for the King of Glory whom the heavens have received." Praise for "The Victory of Christ": "The Victory of Christ is a literary mosaic portraying the meaning of the eternal triumph of the Redeemer as seen from various points of view and as it should be imprinted as a reality on the mind of the faithful." -Dom Bernard Moss, in "The Downside Review" "The gripping reality of Christ's victory cannot be set forth in few words, nor can it be understood by the unbeliever. But the sincere Christian who reads this book once, and perhaps again, will be rewarded and comforted by a clear realization of the truth which the Christian ages celebrate as the Victory of Christ." -Orate Fratres

Dom Anscar Vonier, Abbot of Buckfast, was among England's greatest homilists and theologians of the early twentieth century. His works include "A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist" and "The Spirit and the Bride." Having explored the unity of Christ's Divine Person in The Personality of Christ, Abbot Vonier now considers his duality of natures, divine and human. In a penetrating account, he shows how both the divine and the human in Christ, by retaining their distinction and individual integrity, each operate fully in Christ's priestly work of obtaining eternal redemption for humanity. In consequence, the Church approaches both natures with an attitude of reverence and "worships everything in Christ, his body and his blood, his heart and his head, his acts and his thoughts." These are no mere exegetical treatises for the trained philosopher; their common purpose is to strengthen devotion, not by appealing to sentiment but by adapting to modern needs the classical exposition of the Fathers and Scholastics, especially those of his great Master in Divinity-St. Thomas Aquinas. The style however is clear and free from technical terms." - The Irish Monthly

Bl. John Henry Newman wrote this pair of essays at a time when historical-critical biblical research was beginning to exert its powerful influence on Scriptural studies. He presents his position on what the Councils of Trent and Vatican I require all Catholics to believe about Scripture, and explores areas where he sees room for Catholics to differ in their viewpoints. Faced with the problem of the apparently limited scope of inspiration to "matters of faith and morals" Newman shows how teachings on faith and morals pervade the whole of Scripture, taking in account historical statements and incidental remarks by the Bible's human writers. Newman's essays, which contributed to the theological grounding on which the teachings of Vatican II and the modern Magisterium stand, are essential reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the Scriptural doctrine of the Church, and to engage faithfully and fruitfully with modern methods of Biblical criticism.

Abbot Vonier's famous study of the Blessed Virgin's divine motherhood is both a deep theological catechesis and a profound call to Catholic devotion. Vonier begins with a close reading of the revelation of divine motherhood in the gospels, contained especially in Luke's accounts of the Annunciation, Visitation, and Presentation. He then moves to a theological reflection on God's unlimited power to impart his glory to creation, even to the point of elevating Mary, a particular creature, to the status of a universal good, "the vastest, the most efficient, the most universal supernatural power in heaven and on earth, outside the Three Divine Persons." He writes, "Catholic theological thought ... starts with the assumption that it is God's wonderful purpose to make the things He creates as great as possible, to make very great things indeed. ... God is wonderful not only in Himself, He is wonderful in His creatures."

Written in the course of his conversion to Catholicism, Newman's "Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine" ranks among the most decisive breakthroughs in systematic and historical theology of the modern era. Newman confronts the age-old problem, which he had wrestled with for his entire life, of how Christian doctrine can develop over time while retaining its roots in the original revelation of Christ. Newman first shows that constructive development is a natural, even predictable consequence of Christ's investment of authority in the Church. He then provides clear, historically grounded criteria for distinguishing authentic developments from false novelties and fads. The result is a profound interpretation and defense of the Church's mission and of its power to proclaim the whole counsel of God.