Other editions of book Callista: a sketch of the third century

Recently "beatified" by the Catholic Church - one step away from official recognition as a saint - the life of John Henry Newman (1801-1890) paralleled the return of Catholicism to England as a legally recognized religion. As a leading figure in the Oxford Movement, an effort that sought to return the Church of England to its historical roots, and later as one of the more important Catholic writers, Newman worked to present his own position to his co-religionists, and to give an understanding of Catholicism to non-Catholic English men and women. His efforts are, in large measure, credited with making Catholicism acceptable, even respectable, in quarters where there had previously been only hostility. People of every faith mourned his death in 1890. "Callista" is a "Catholic" version of the "Early Christian Romance" genre that was popular in the nineteenth century. Most such productions rarely rose above the quality of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's "The Last Days of Pompeii" or Charles Kingsley's "Hypatia." Some authorities credit Kingley's jealousy over the success of "Callista" and the obvious quality of Newman's novel in contrast to his own as the source of Kingsley's later violent attacks on Newman, to which Newman responded with his monumental "Apologia Pro Vita Sua," one of the greatest "spiritual autobiographies" ever written. "Callista" not only exhibits a high degree of literary accomplishment and historical accuracy, but is entertaining. This edition features a foreword by Michael D. Greaney, Director of Research for the Center for Economic and Social Justice in Arlington, Virginia, USA.

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Excerpt from Callista: A Sketch of the Third CenturyIt is hardly necessary to say that the following sketch is a simple fiction from beginning to end. It has little in it actual history, and not much claim to antiquarian research; yet it has required more reading than may appear at first sight.It is an attempt to imagine and express, from a Catholic point of view, the feeling and mutual relations pf Christians and heathen at the period to which it belongs, and it has been undertaken as the nearest important work suggested to him from a high ecclesiastical.September 13, 1855.Postscript.Since the volume has been in print, the Author finds that his name has got abroad.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Through the mass of green, which extended still more thickly from the west round to the north, might be seen at intervals two solid causeways tracking their persevering course to the Mediterranean coast, the one to the ancient rival of Home, the other to Hippo Regius in Numidia. Tourists might have complained of the absence of water from the scene; but the native peasant would have explained to them that the eye alone had reason to be discontented, and that the thick foliage and the uneven surface did but conceal what mother earth with no niggard bounty supplied. The Bagradas, issuing from the spurs of the A tlas, made up in depth what it wanted in breadth of bed, and ploughed the rich and yielding mould with its rapid stream, till, after passing Sicca in its way, it fell into the sea near Carthage. It was but the largest of a multitude of others, most of them tributaries to it, deepening as much as they increased it. While channels had been cut from the larger rills for the irrigation of the open land, brooks, which sprang up in the gravel which lay against the hills, had been artificially banked with cut stones or paved with pebbles; and, where neither springs nor rivulets were to be found, wells had been dug, sometimes to the vast depth of as much as 200 fathoms, with such effect that the spurting column of water had in some instances drowned the zealous workmen who had been the first to reach it. A nd, while such were the resources of less favoured localities or seasons, profuse rains descended over the whole region for one half of the year, and the thick summer dews compensated by night for the daily tribute extorted by an African(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten

Callista is an arresting picture of Christian commitment under trial in the third century A.D. John Henry Newman's novel follows the moral and spiritual development of three very different characters caught up in the mysterious processes of divine Providence, who all fulfill their destinies through suffering and self-sacrifice. The Greek sculptress Callista, an exile from her native island in the Sea of Marmara, serves the cause of paganism by fashioning images of the gods. Agellius, her suitor, rediscovers his Christian duty and vocation in the terrifying circumstances in which he finds himself, while his brother Juba struggles to overcome his own passions and inner torment. Far from being tied to the past, Newman's novel challenges the assumptions of the modern reader in unexpected ways. More perhaps than his major works, Newman's fiction reveals the contours of his imaginative life, the range and power of his prose writing, and the wider literary culture which he so often subordinated to his higher vocation or the demands of controversy. Callista's picture of the Christian venture of faith, so close to Newman's own, and the setting in his beloved church of the Fathers in Roman North Africa, make it one of his most characteristic works. Callista is an important text for understanding Newman's lifelong vocation as a Christian apologist, and the importance for him of the early Church.

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