The Christian Mind

By Anscar Vonier, O.S.B. “The Gospel,” wrote Pope Benedict XVI, “is not merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing.” By the power of the Incarnation, God extends to men and women the ability to live differently, the power to be and to act in ways after God’s own heart. The question, then, as Abbot Anscar Vonier puts it, is this: How does a man behave, to whom the Incarnation and all that it implies has become a living fact, and in whom the Son of God is an actual and pulsating life? How does such a man feel, how does he act, what does he dare, what view does he take of man in life and death? What sort of mind has he, what sort of heart, what sort of character? Guided by the wisdom of St. Paul, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas, The Christian Mind offers a robust answer to this line of inquiry, studying the specific spiritual character which is impressed upon the person who dares to live according to the light of Christ. The Christian mind is radically centripetal: all its tendencies and aspirations are towards God, and they make for harmony and unity. (Anscar Vonier, O.S.B.) First published in 1920, The Christian Mind is an emphatic articulation of Christian character, that way of being and living which is rooted in the transforming power of Christ’s Incarnation, always at work in His Church and at home in the hearts of those who love Him and seek to follow in His ways.   Anscar Vonier, O.S.B. (1878–1938) was a German Benedictine monk and the abbot of Buckfast Abbey from 1906 until his death. As abbot, he oversaw the rebuilding of the abbey’s church on its original foundations, work done solely by the monks of Buckfast themselves. As an author, he wrote numerous works of theology and spirituality aimed at the instruction and edification of the ordinary Catholic; most famous among these are A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist, The Personality of Christ, and The Victory of Christ. * * * Paperback: 182pp. ISBN: 978-1685954918