University & Various Sermons

By Ronald Knox The sermons of Ronald Knox, in Evelyn Waugh’s estimation, contain the very best of his literary talent and pastoral sensibility. “Prepared, revised and rehearsed with every refinement of taste and skill,” the sermons convey their instruction simply and dir­ectly: refreshingly conversational in tone, faithfully and knowledgeably reliant on Sac­red Scripture, and profoundly powerful in content, allusion, and spiritual consolation. University & Various Sermons comprises a host of examples of this excellent preaching: the two books of his Oxford conferences (previously published in In Soft Garments and The Hidden Stream); twenty-eight previously uncollected sermons, delivered to various congregations, on topics ranging from Scripture and the sacraments to Divine Mercy and devotion to Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints; and fourteen of his Anglican sermons, each of which sheds light on Knox’s mind and heart as he drew near to fulfilling his lifelong desire of “membership in the body of people which Jesus Christ left to succeed Him when He was taken up from the earth”: by entering the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Like its companions in Pastoral Sermons and Occasional Sermons, Knox’s University & Various Sermons are compositions of great care and beauty that unfailingly instruct and dispose the faithful to know and love the Lord and his commandments.  The love of Christ, St. Paul tells us, is to bring our intellects into captivity; there are not many wise, not many mighty, that take a high place in the kingdom of heaven. Yet he is careful to claim that there is something to be said for cultivating our mental powers. We are to be innocent, not ignorant; in understanding we must be men. (Ronald Knox)   Ronald Knox (1888–1957) was an English Catholic priest, theologian, and author, and one of the most prominent twentieth-century converts from Anglicanism to Catholicism. Best known for his contemporary English translation of the Scriptures (the “Knox Bible”), he wrote numerous works of apologetics and collections of ser­mons, retreat conferences, and lectures, as well as six detective novels. * * * Paperback: 558pp. ISBN: 978-1685954338