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SciFi Writer, John C. Wright, Enters Catholic Church at Easter Vigil (conversion story)
Et Tu ^ | March 15, 2007

Posted on 03/26/2008 11:16:26 AM PDT by NYer

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To: NYer

Interesting writer. What has he published?


21 posted on 03/26/2008 1:02:55 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("Everything is either willed or permitted by God, and nothing can hurt me." Bl. Charles de Foucauld)
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To: NYer

Great Conversion story.


22 posted on 03/26/2008 1:04:25 PM PDT by Jaded ("I have a mustard- seed; and I am not afraid to use it."- Joseph Ratzinger)
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To: Ransomed

Not allowed to kill the monsters (I cut that part off when I was spell checking - sorry!).


23 posted on 03/26/2008 2:26:31 PM PDT by livius
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To: PurpleMan

It’s a race between that or some atheist going their version of the same gig.


24 posted on 03/26/2008 2:34:11 PM PDT by FormerLib (Sacrificing our land and our blood cannot buy protection from jihad.-Bishop Artemije of Kosovo)
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To: NYer
In 2008 he converted to the Roman Catholic Church of which he approvingly stated "If Vulcans had a church, they'd be Catholics."

LOL! I haven't read any of his books or stories.

25 posted on 03/26/2008 3:38:50 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("Everything is either willed or permitted by God, and nothing can hurt me." Bl. Charles de Foucauld)
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To: livius
Dear livius,

“...A Canticle for Leibowitz, which is now forgotten but I believe to be very important still.”

Not in all quarters. I know a tenured professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of America who teaches this novel every year to his incoming freshmen.


sitetest

26 posted on 03/26/2008 3:59:09 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: Tax-chick
LOL! I haven't read any of his books or stories.

Neither have I but, from what I understand, he is a well read SciFi writer. My SciFi years ended year ago and were replaced with saintly diaries.

I particularly enjoyed the part where he asked God to reveal Himself and suffered a heart attack 2 days later. Reminds me of that saying: "Be carefule what you ask for, you might just get it". God does indeed have a sense of humor.

27 posted on 03/26/2008 4:00:41 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: livius; Straight Vermonter

Hey livius! I think you meant to post #23 to the uncurved gentleman from the Green Mt. State. Unless this is part of the new top secret Catholic code and my Jesuit masters forgot to tell me, in which case nevermind.

Freegards


28 posted on 03/26/2008 4:30:47 PM PDT by Ransomed (Son of Ransomed says Keep the Faith!)
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To: Ransomed

Sorry! Don’t be alarmed - no hidden messages intended! Tin foil hat down...


29 posted on 03/26/2008 4:39:28 PM PDT by livius
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To: sitetest

That’s good news. I’m not a true sci-fi addict, but that one really made an impression on me. I wonder how the freshmen react to it.


30 posted on 03/26/2008 4:43:18 PM PDT by livius
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To: sitetest; livius
I read it on my own, long before I was a Catholic.

Still have a 1950s era paperback copy somewhere.

An interesting and far, far darker view of the same issue is Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker. It is a beautifully written book, Hoban is a powerful writer. But don't read it unless you want to be really, really depressed.

31 posted on 03/26/2008 5:36:16 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: Ransomed; livius

I saw the answer you gave livius. Thanks for straightening it out. The book sounds interesting I’ll have to pick it up.


32 posted on 03/26/2008 7:30:03 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: NYer

A Sci-Fi writer? He’s gotta the one who’s been writing the encyclicals for while now.


33 posted on 03/26/2008 7:50:00 PM PDT by joebuck (Finitum non capax infinitum!)
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To: NYer

Thanks. This was vivifying to read.


34 posted on 03/26/2008 8:05:19 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: livius
Dear livius,

“That’s good news. I’m not a true sci-fi addict, but that one really made an impression on me.”

I only recently read the book in the past year. My older son, who is 13, read the book at the suggestion of the professor. After he read it, I read it, too.

“I wonder how the freshmen react to it.”

I'm not sure. The professor provides a roughly 30-page handout to explain to students a lot of the Latin and old prayers in the book, as well as some of the other obscure stuff. My sense is that his students pretty much just take it as one more assignment to get through. Comparing the reaction of my own son to what the professor apparently gets from his college students, my sense is that the impact on his college students may be a little underwhelming.


sitetest

35 posted on 03/26/2008 8:21:59 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: AnAmericanMother
Dear AnAmericanMother,

Thanks. I think I'll pass. I only read Canticle because my older son had read it and had been very much affected by it. He wanted to be able to discuss it more in depth with me, so I read it. Then, in a moment of weakness last autumn, I also agreed to let my 10 year-old son read it, too.

Miller wrote a sequel to Canticle, but I'm made to understand that it was a poor work, marred especially by Miller's encroaching mental illness and ostensible loss of faith. Knowing his end, one can see foreshadowing of it in Canticle. Very sad.


sitetest

36 posted on 03/26/2008 8:26:54 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: NYer

Welcome home, John C. Wright!


37 posted on 03/26/2008 8:46:52 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: PurpleMan

You mean the whole Protestant “Catholics aren’t Christian” crowd that ignore the fact that Catholics accept Jesus Christ as their Savior? That Catholics pray to the same God? That, aside from some theological and practical differences, Catholic and Orthodox Christians just place more emphasis on ritual and tradition in their worship than the average Protestant.

It bothers me that some people only see what divides us, not the common beliefs that we all share.


38 posted on 03/27/2008 7:34:11 AM PDT by ChurtleDawg (voting only encourages them)
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To: ChurtleDawg

I mean whoever bring up any arguement for whatever reasons they hold dear.


39 posted on 03/27/2008 7:43:43 AM PDT by PurpleMan
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To: ChurtleDawg

“shrill psychological flatulence” has got to be one of the tenets of the Democrat Party for all those talking points. I think I will have to remember that one!

As for his focus when he was in the hospital recovering from his quintuple bypass, well as it has been said “Nothing so focuses the mind as the prospect of being hanged in the morning.”

Finally, I like his observation that the people without religion write characters without souls. I wonder if Larry Niven is an atheist? I always assumed his characters in Oath of Fealty were cardboard figures because he was an engineer.


40 posted on 03/27/2008 7:52:14 AM PDT by Appleby
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