Lord of the World

By Robert Hugh Benson

Book Overview

"I advise you to read it."--Pope Francis on Lord of the World

In an airplane news conference on his return from the Philippines in January 2015, Pope Francis mentioned Robert Hugh Benson's Lord of the World. It wasn't the first time the Holy Father praised the book. This 1907 futuristic narrative has been hailed as the finest work of this unsung, but influential author and son of the Archbishop of Canterbury whose conversion to Catholicism rocked the Church of England in 1903. The compelling book includes a new introduction, a biography of Benson, and a theological reflection.

Popular young adult books such as The Hunger Games and Divergent, as well as literary classics such as Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins and Cormac McCarthy's The Road, have created a growing interest in dystopian novels. In one of the first such novels of the twentieth century, Robert Hugh Benson imagines a world where belief in God has been replaced by secular humanism. Lord of the World describes a world where Catholics are falling away and priests and bishops are defecting. Only a small remnant of the faithful remains. Julian Felsenburgh, a mysterious and compelling figure arises, promising peace in exchange for blind obedience. Those who resist are subjected to torture and execution. Soon the masses are in Felsenburgh's thrall and he becomes leader of the world. Into this melee steps the novel's protagonist, Fr. Percy Franklin. Dauntless and clear-sighted, Franklin is a bastion of stability as the Catholic Church in England disintegrates around him. Benson's harrowing plot soon brings these two charismatic men into a final apocalyptic conflict.

With an imagination to rival H. G. Wells and theological insight akin to G. K. Chesterton, Benson's astute novel has captured the attention of many today, including Popes Benedict and Francis. This new edition makes it easily available and features an insightful introduction by Rev. Mark Bosco, S.J., a brief biography of Benson by Martyn Sampson, and a theological reflection by Rev. Michael Murphy, S.J.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870612980
• ISBN13: 9780870612985
• Release Date: February 2016
• Publisher: Christian Classics
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

The Last of All

R.H. Benson wrote two mystical visions of the future. _The Dawn of All_ is an extremely romantic and improbable 1911 parable of a 1971 world mostly Catholic and at peace, ready for the Second Coming. _The Lord of the World_ came first, in 1907, and was a darker vision. A world of flying craft, major scientific advances, and comfort has become a place of materialist despair. Euthanasia is routine, for the desperately ill and the terminally bored. Oliver and Mabel Brand, a rising young couple, are the golden ones -- Oliver becomes a major political figure, but Mabel chooses the cool despairing end of legal euthanasia. Father Percy Franklin is one of the last Catholic priests in a world hostile to freedom, church, university, and history. Eventually elected the last Pope, he is restricted to the dusty forgotten village of Nazareth. Julian Felsenburgh is a charismatic American adventurer who means to and does become Lord of the World, anti-Christ. Details are less important than the very modern mood. Believing in progress as the only good, people are swept into any movement that promises it. The past is ruthlessly exterminated. The quest for one world government that begins with Esperanto ends with one world dictatorship.

An excellent edition of a classic book

This is an excellent edition of Benson's classic work. Unlike many other recent editions of Benson's books (Come Rack Come Rope, Oddsfish, etc.), this edition has not been abridged.It is the story of the future world from a turn of the century vantage point. Protestantism has fizzled, the Mason's have triumphed, and Catholicism is on the defensive. The world has divided into three parties, and a silver tongued savior comes to save the day. Benson believed that armageddon would more likely result from smooth talking and twisted ideologies than from naked evil.Although Benson may have over estimated the Masons and underestimated Protestants, he makes many surprisingly accurate predictions. The rhetoric used by the Bolshevists in Russia, the Nazi's in Germany, and the parties of the Spanish civil war was foreseen by Benson. The great white line Hitler painted around the Vatican and the Atomic bomb were also not beyond Benson's imagination. Unfortunately, only a small audience will appreciate this book, but that audience should include all Catholics who take ideas and the modern threat seriously. This book helps explain the beauty of pre-Vatican II ceremonies without siding against the changes of Vatican II.

The End of the World, Catholic Style!

As an evangelical with strong Catholic sympathies, I was excited to discover "Lord of the World" for another twist on the "Left Behind" scenario. The author writes at the dawn of the twentieth century and hits a few predictions about our world dead-on. But better yet is the sense of gravity Benson conveys in the novel. You really feel the earth coming to a conclusion, the ultimate clash of faith in God versus faith in Man.

Marvelous analysis of the end times and concurrent events

Msgr. Robert Benson analyses the end times and the influence of the antichrist upon government, individuals, and even the Church. His insightful approach and convincing arguments offer much for meditation regarding the direction of modern thought. Written at the turn of the century, Msgr. Benson's novel announces the conclusions of such trends with chilling accuracy. His style is simple, yet captivating, and far from striking terror and fear into his readers, however, Benson inspires with the Faith and the truths of salvation within the Church.