The Dawn of All [Paperback]

Robert Hugh Benson (Author), Michael D. Greaney (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2005

The Dawn of All, the second of Robert Hugh Benson's two science fiction satires, is a "counterblast" to the terrifying Lord of the World. Contradiction the idea that this novel presents a blueprint for an ideal society, "Benson wrote often and emphatically that he did not for a moment expect the pictured solution to realize itself, and that he even hoped it would not. Neither Science, nor the State, nor Religion would ever, he was convinced, find themselves in such mutual relations as he had invented." (C. C. Martindale, S.J.) Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) enjoyed a career that lasted little over a decade. In addition to a great many non-fiction works, he authored a series of twenty novels and short story collections that combined a specific moral orientation with an astonishing popularity among the general public of the early twentieth century. As an Anglican and later a Catholic priest, Father Benson was in great demand as a speaker in both England and the United States. The most sensational English convert from the Anglican Communion to Catholicism since John Henry Newman, Benson was a son of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He wrote from a Catholic perspective, but with real understanding and sympathy for the Protestant position.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

THE DAWN OF ALL, the second of Benson’s two science fiction satires, is a "counter- blast " to the terrifying LORD OF THE WORLD. Contradicting the notion that this novel presents a blueprint for an ideal society, "Benson wrote often and emphatically that he did not for a moment expect the pictured solution to realize itself, and that he even hoped it would not. Neither Science, nor the State, nor Religion would ever, he was convinced, find themselves in such mutual relations as he had invented." (C. C. Martindale, S.J.)

From the Author

In a former book, called LORD OF THE WORLD, I attempted to sketch the kind of developments a hundred years hence which, I thought, might reasonably be expected if the present lines of what is called "modern thought" were only prolonged far enough; and I was informed repeatedly that the effect of the book was exceedingly depressing and discouraging to optimistic Christians. In the present book I am attempting — also in parable form — not in the least to withdraw anything that I said in the former, but to follow up the other lines instead, and to sketch — again in parable — the kind of developments about sixty years hence which, I think, may reasonably be expected should the opposite process begin, and ancient thought (which has stood the test of centuries, and is, in a very remarkable manner, being "rediscovered" by persons even more modern than modernists) be prolonged instead.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Once and Future Books (May 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972982159
• ISBN-13: 978-0972982153
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,343,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deathbed Conversion, July 10, 2010

By 

Virginian "He who runs away from one cross, w... (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dawn Of All (Hardcover)

A novel in which an apostate priest, on his deathbed, slips into a coma and is given the grace to see the world in a different light; a world in which Christ reigns Supreme. Through this revelation, he discovers the abundant errors of Modernism --the very errors that had led him away from the Catholic Faith. This is a blueprint for the Social Kingship of Christ in our times. Fascinating!