Confessions of a Convert: The Classic Spiritual Autobiography from the Author of "Lord of the World"

by Robert Hugh Benson, Dawn Eden (Foreword by)

Overview

Mentioned by Pope Francis as a writer whom everyone should read, Robert Hugh Benson, author of Lord of the World, shares his spiritual journey from being an Anglican and son of the archbishop of Canterbury to becoming a Roman Catholic priest. Through his humble, honest, and memorable story, Benson invites us—in this republished classic—to think about what it means to wrestle with the deep questions of our Catholic faith while rejoicing in the power of their universal truths.

In 1907, The Ave Maria magazine invited well-known English novelist Robert Hugh Benson to share his conversion story. He began the first of eight installments with a statement that captures the perils and joys faced by converts as they attempt to "cross the Tiber." "When one stands at last upon high ground, it is extraordinarily difficult to trace the road by which one has approached: it winds, rises, falls, broadens and narrows until the mind is bewildered."

Benson weaves those challenges into Confessions of a Convert as he examines his own life for the signs and wonders that illuminated his way. He was astonished at how the remote God of his Anglican upbringing drew close to him, igniting a fire in his to heart and a desire to know God on a deeper level. This transformation led him to the doorstep of the Catholic Church. Reluctant to venture further because he was known as an important figure in the Anglican world, Benson grappled with the sacrifices he would make, including the loss of his vocation, family, and friends. After the death of his father, Benson finally embraced the nearness of God found in the Eucharist.

He shows us that coming closer to Christ and his Church is not always neat and tidy. Benson’s humor and humility help bridge the century-long gap between his time and ours and he teaches us to embrace the questions, struggles, and falterings of our faith in a way that’s full of God’s love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870613050
Publisher:	Ave Maria Press
Publication date:	11/07/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) was an English Anglican priest who joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1903 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1904. He was lauded in his own day as one of the leading figures in English literature and was the author of many novels and apologetic works.

Dawn Eden is the author of Remembering God's Mercy. She is completing a doctorate in theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. She speaks throughout North America and abroad and has been featured in the New York Times and on EWTN.
Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) was an English Anglican priest who joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1903 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1904. He was lauded in his own day as one of the leading figures in English literature and was the author of many novels and apologetic works.
Dawn Eden is the award-winning author of Remembering God's Mercy, as well as The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On (Catholic Edition), and My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints.

Born into a Jewish family in New York City, Eden lost her faith as a teenager and became an agnostic. During the 1990s, she worked as a rock journalist in New York City, interviewing oldies and classic rock performers. She went on to work for the New York Post and the Daily News.

At age thirty-one, Eden underwent a dramatic conversion to Christianity, seeking Baptism as a Protestant; six years later, she entered the Catholic Church. She wrote the original edition of The Thrill of the Chaste while Protestant; its international success led her to revise it from a Catholic perspective in 2015. Both The Thrill of the Chaste and Eden’s 2012 book on healing from childhood sexual abuse, My Peace I Give You, have been featured in the New York Times and on numerous EWTN programs.

Eden received her pontifical licentiate in sacred theology from the Dominican House of Studies in 2014 and her canonical doctorate in sacred theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in 2016. She teaches theology at St. Mary's College, Oscott, in Birmingham, England, and will be teaching dogmatic theology at the Holy Apostles College and Seminary beginning in the fall of 2017. Eden speaks about spiritual healing and conversion to thousands of people throughout North America and abroad.

Editorial Reviews

"Just as John Henry Newman's Apologia Pro Vita Sua and G. K. Chesterton's The Thing continue to both encourage those on their way into the Church and sustain those already in it, so too, Robert Hugh Benson's 1913 memoir Confessions of a Convert retains its power to inspire. As a convert myself, having traveled through Judaism, agnosticism, and Evangelical Christianity before coming home to Rome, I find that Benson's breathtakingly intimate prose does even more. It jars. It enlightens. It surprises." —From the foreword by Dawn Eden, Author of Remembering God's Mercy

"Between Cardinal Newman and Dr. Scott Hahn, there was Robert Hugh Benson. The son of the Archbishop of Canterbury, his entrance into the Catholic Church in 1907 caused an uproar in English-speaking Christianity. Modern readers will find Confessions of a Convert to be a reliable guide to understand why Protestant clergy and lay people come home to the Catholic Church." —John Bergsma, Author of Bible Basics for Catholics

"As a convert myself, Confessions of a Convert startled me—all over again—with the same poignant, invigorating shock of my first breathtaking plunge into the deep waters of the ancient Truth that is our Catholic Faith." —Sonja Corbitt, Catholic speaker, radio host and author of Unleashed

"Robert Hugh Benson's Confessions of a Convert is a book of startling originality that charts the path of how a committed Anglican priest found himself called to Rome. The son of an Archbishop of Canterbury, Benson seemed an unlikely contender for the Catholic priesthood. But the stirrings of faith in his heart, soul, mind, and body are narrated in ways that are beautiful and moving. This account is set to surprise, inspire, nurture, nourish, and ultimately guide a new generation in its contemplation of the experience of conversion." —Martyn Sampson, English professor at the University of the West of England

From the Publisher