Dawn of All [Paperback]

Robert Hugh Benson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2008

Robert Hugh Benson (1871 - 1914) was the youngest son of the Archbishop of Canterbury. After college Benson was ordained as a priest in the Church of England. While on a trip to the Middle East Benson began doubting the Church of England and eventually joined the Community of the Resurrection. In 1903 he became a Roman Catholic. In 1904 he was ordained as a priest. Benson wrote science fiction, children's books, historical fiction and devotional books. Dawn of All is the second science fiction book written by Benson. The story begins "The first objects of which he became aware were his own hands clasped on his lap before him, and the cloth cuffs from which they emerged; and it was these latter that puzzled him. So engrossed was he that at first he could not pay attention to the strange sounds in the air about him; for these cuffs, though black, were marked at their upper edges with a purpled line such as prelates wear. He mechanically turned the backs of his hands upwards; but there was no ring on his finger. Then he lifted his eyes and looked. He was seated on some kind of raised chair beneath a canopy. A carpet ran down over a couple of steps beneath his feet, and beyond stood the backs of a company of ecclesiastics-secular priests in cotta, cassock, and biretta, with three or four bare-footed Franciscans and a couple of Benedictines."

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.) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Book Jungle (December 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1438507151
• ISBN-13: 978-1438507156
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 9.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 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: #2,859,913 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!