Monsignor Ronald Knox: Convert, Priest, Apologist | An Interview with Fr. Milton Walsh,
author of "Ronald Knox As Apologist" | IgnatiusInsight.com
Monsignor Ronald Knox: Convert, Priest, Apologist | An Interview with Fr. Milton Walsh, author of Ronald Knox As Apologist: Wit,
Laughter, and the Popish Creed
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2007/mwalsh_interview_may07.asp
Throughout the first half of the
past century, both as an Anglican and then as a Catholic priest, Ronald Knox
was a well-known part of the English literary landscape. He was a favored
preacher for occasions great and small; his articles on a host of topics found
a place in the newspapers and monthly literary magazines; his voice was heard
often on the BBC. Most significant was the tide of books that flowed from his
pen and found a wide readership in Great Britain and the USA.
In his book, Ronald Knox As
Apologist, Fr. Milton Walsh, an expert on Knox's writing, has analyzed and
provided ample quotations from the most significant writings of Knox that fall
under the genre of apologetics. Knox was a superb apologist because as a priest
he was a man of deep faith, and as a writer he had a wonderful way of
expressing the Christian truths in an elegant and clear language. Knox was also
a man with a grand sense of humor and a keen wit, as well as empathy and
kindness, and both his humor and charity are captured well in these writings. Ronald
Knox stands alongside G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and Evelyn Waugh as a great
spiritual and literary British writer whose works are once again receiving wide
readership and appreciation.
Carl E. Olson, editor of IgnatiusInsight.com, recently interviewed Fr. Walsh
about the life and work of Monsignor Ronald Knox.
IgnatiusInsight.com: How and when did you first encounter
Ronald Knox? What attracted you to his writings?
Fr. Milton Walsh:
When I was in high school I was introduced to the writings of Knox, along with
those of Cardinal Newman, G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis. Those are formative
years for all of us--a time when we are beginning to think for ourselves and
become aware of the power of language. An added element in the mix for me was
that I was in a minor seminary right after the Second Vatican Council, in the
San Francisco area, which was certainly one of the centers of student
unrest--re: Vietnam, etc. I found in these writers authors who could offer
solid reasons for believing, and who expressed their convictions in a manner
both profound and entertaining.
As I continued through the seminary my reading of Knox
continued as well: both his more serious theological writings and his lighter
essays. As an habitue of second-hand
book stores I picked up copies of his works whenever I came across them. Later,
as a priest and professor in the seminary I found him to be a good role model:
in his writings Knox did not shy away from addressing serious theological
issues, but in a way that was "user friendly". I have never tired of
reading him. As with some other writers, he is initially attractive because of
his cleverness; but repeated readings reveal the spiritual depth beneath the
clever surface.
IgnatiusInsight.com: If I'm not mistaken, you studied in
Rome. Was it there that you wrote a dissertation on Knox? What was the specific
focus of that work? Was it a precursor of sorts to your book?
Fr. Walsh: In 1982
I was privileged to go to the Gregorian University to pursue doctoral studies.
I had wanted to concentrate on spirituality (reasoning that if people had a
right to expect expertise of some kind from a priest, it would be in prayer).
My bishop had other ideas. He said that in his opinion I wrote very clearly,
and that the Church needed people who could express clearly what we believe as
Catholics. He told me he wanted me to do something in the area of apologetics.
My idea then was to write a comparison of the apologetics of Ronald Knox and C.
S. Lewis. However, there were time constraints and my director (Fr. Gerald
O'Collins, S.J.), suggested I just write about Knox. Very little had been done
on him.
In conjunction with my research I interviewed Dom Hubert
van Zeller, who had been a close friend of Ronald Knox. Dom Hubert suggested
that I contact the Earl of Oxford and Asquith, who had Knox's papers. Lord
Oxford and his wife were delighted that someone was writing on Knox and were
most hospitable. In going through Knox's papers I struck oil: several
conferences by Knox which had escaped the otherwise thorough attention of
Evelyn Waugh, who years before had organized his friend's papers and published
many of his talks posthumously.
In 1985 I successfully defended my dissertation
"Ronald Knox as Apologist", which included not only my own research
but also eleven previously unpublished conferences. When I returned home I sent
a copy of my dissertation to Fr. Joseph Fessio, who told me that while Ignatius
Press was interested in apologetic books, they had a policy of not publishing
dissertations. He confided that they had made one exception--the dissertation
of Karol Wojtyla! I admitted that he was setting the bar rather high for me. A
few years ago I was able to significantly rework my dissertation, and am very
happy that Ignatius Press has now brought it out.
IgnatiusInsight.com: You emphasize, in Ronald Knox
As Apologist, that although Knox
died prior the Second Vatican Council (in 1957, fifty years ago), his
apologetic work is just as relevant as ever. How so?
Fr. Walsh: In a
sense, his work is more relevant now than it was twenty years ago when I wrote
my dissertation. At that time there was a kind of prejudice against apologetics
in Catholic circles. (In the introduction to my dissertation I noted that in a
standard English dictionary "apologetics" comes right after
"Apollyon: the angel of hell.") I think Knox and other Catholic
writers were set aside because they seemed to smack of pre-conciliar Catholic
triumphalism, and there was a reaction against an emphasis on intellectual
defenses of the faith. Discussing specifically Catholic doctrines was perceived
as an ecumenical gaffe. Now the situation is different. We have a whole
generation that has grown up without little or no exposure to basic Catholic
beliefs, and those who want to remain Catholic need reasons for what they
believe. We also have many converts who want to know why the Church
teaches what she does.
As to what Knox himself brings to the table, there is a
lot that could be said, but I will limit myself to two points. 1. He is among
the finest proponents of traditional Catholic apologetics, which seeks to
present a rational argument for our faith. 2. Along with his masterful
intellectual presentation, Knox has a vivid imagination, which gives him
a remarkable ability to appeal to the common experience of his readers.
The first approach grew out of the Christian response to the Enlightenment: the
only common ground between believer and non-believer was reason.
Later in life Knox felt that our Catholic apologetics
tended to rely too much on reason alone, and he hoped to produce a new
approach, which would not sacrifice intellectual rigor, but would find other
ways to connect with non-believers as well. The fundamental contention of my
book is that the problem he did not solve in theory he had already solved in
practice: by his use of imagination and appeal to the ordinary experience of
readers he could help them see the truth and beauty of our faith.
IgnatiusInsight.com: Knox was not only an apologist but a
scholar and an acclaimed stylist. How did those three qualities work together?
What were Knox's strengths as a defender and teacher of the Catholic Faith?
Fr. Walsh: Knox
had a first-class mind, and was fortunate to receive a first-class education.
He was part of a remarkable generation of Englishmen, many of whom died in the
trenches of the First World War. Most of the leading figures in science,
literature, philosophy and the arts in England in the first half of the 20th
century emerged from the same intellectual world as Knox. As a scholar Knox
could hold his own with any of these minds. In addition he wrote beautifully,
and excelled in a variety of genres (everything from Limericks to biblical
translation). He always read his talks, but those who heard them report that
one never felt that Knox was reading to them; he wrote the way he spoke. He
also "recycled" his talks many times, so that by the time they were
published he had polished them perfectly. He also tended (for the most part) to
shy away from polemics. When you read his books, especially his sermons and
conferences, you find a combination of intellectual depth and imaginative
expression. Some of his writings are definitely "period pieces"; but
most have stood the test of time, because they deal with fundamental matters
clearly and positively.
IgnatiusInsight.com: It seems that there are some
interesting similarities between the lives and work of C.S. Lewis and Knox,
notably their Anglo-Catholic backgrounds, their education, and their popular
(but very learned) approach to apologetics. Is that an accurate statement? Do
you know if Lewis was familiar with Knox or his writing?
Fr. Walsh: There
are many similarities between Knox and C. S. Lewis, and I am
currently writing a book comparing their thought. They both came from
Evangelical backgrounds; they both combined a love of logic with a romantic
view of life. They were both very much at home in the world of Oxford, and
wrote in a variety of genres. Knox was about ten years older than Lewis, so
they did not know one another in student days. I have found references to each
man's writings in the other man's books and letters; they were familiar with
one another's work.
When I went to Oxford a couple of years ago I made an
interesting discovery. Every afternoon Lewis used to take a walk in the meadow
behind Magdalen College, and Knox would take a walk in Christ
Church Meadow. I found out they were practically across the street from
each other! They had friends in common, and one of them reports that he invited
them to lunch one day in 1936. They hit it off very well, and it is enjoyable
to speculate what might have happened had Knox not left Oxford a couple of
years later. They may have gotten better acquainted, although Lewis'
discomfort with "Papists" (excluding such exceptions as Tolkien), and
Knox's reticence to go "convert hunting" may have been enough to keep
them apart. I like to think they're together now!
IgnatiusInsight.com: You state in the book that throughout
Knox's life--"and in his apologetics--there is a tension between the
rational and the affective. Both elements are always present, vying for center
stage." Can you provide an example of this? How did Knox cope with this
tension, and how did it affect his apologetic efforts?
Fr. Walsh: On the
intellectual front, Knox had a reputation as a great debater at Oxford. Had he
gone into politics instead of the Church, I think he would have made a
significant contribution to the English political scene. When he applied this
talent to the study of theology, it brought him into the Catholic Church. He
recounts this journey in A Spiritual Aeneid. Upon
examination of her claims, Knox became convinced that the intellectual
arguments for the Catholic communion as the Church founded by Christ were true.
In some writings, such as the first half of The Belief of
Catholics and his conferences to Oxford students (The
Hidden Stream and In Soft
Garments) Knox sets forth an intellectual
presentation of these claims.
At the same time, his earliest introduction to Catholicism
came from reading a collection of short stories by R.H. Benson (written while
Benson was still an Anglican) that described the Catholic ethos, which Knox
found very attractive. You get a taste of this appeal in the second half of The
Belief of Catholics in which Knox tries to
convey something of the "feel" of Catholicism from the inside. I
think Knox strove to aim for both the head and the heart.
IgnatiusInsight.com: Knox once told Arnold Lunn that he
was "more of a crook than a hook." What did he mean by that and what
does it say about his approach to being a pastor and apologist?
Fr. Walsh: This
line is related to a very interesting story. When A Spiritual Aeneid
was published, Arnold Lunn was an agnostic. He had known and admired Knox in
his school days, but was horrified by his conversion and wrote a scathing
review of the book; so scathing that he could not get it published. He then
wrote a longer work called "Roman Converts" which attacked not only
Knox, but Newman and Chesterton. Knox dropped him a note: "Thank you for
the compliment. At least, I think it was a compliment--rather like the
crocodile chasing Captain Hook."
Lunn was amazed that Knox could meet his diatribe with
such equanimity. Later he wrote to Knox about apologetics, and observed that in
most such books the believer presents both sides of the argument. Lunn
proposed that they exchange letters with a view to publication, and this book
came out in 1933 under the title Difficulties. [1] A couple of years later Lunn himself became a Catholic, and
entered the lists as an apologist. Knox was still Chaplain at Oxford, and Lunn
(along with Belloc) urged him to write more apologetics. Knox demurred, saying,
"The Church gets along by hook or by crook--the hook of the fisherman and
the crook of the shepherd. I'm more of a crook than a hook." Knox saw his
job at Oxford as assisting students who were already Catholic, not seeking to
make converts. He ordinarily sent would-be converts to the Jesuits or
Dominicans. Many of his writings were directed at helping Catholics understand
their faith better. I think this gives his approach a gentleness that is
appealing. He was also aware of the real human problems converts face, and this
suffuses many of his writings with a note of sympathy for others who do not see
things as he does.
IgnatiusInsight.com: You note that one of Knox's greatest
arguments for Catholicism was his own life. How hard was it for him to become
Catholic? What finally convinced him that he must turn to Rome? What was the
reaction to him becoming Catholic?
Fr. Walsh: It was
an extremely painful process. Whatever the strengths and weaknesses of A
Spiritual Aeneid (and Knox himself was not enthused about having it
republished in the 1950's), it does capture something of his struggles. Waugh's
biography and Penelope Fitzgerald's The Knox Brothers also help us appreciate what it cost him.
Had Knox remained an Anglican, he would have had an
illustrious career; he sacrificed that and entered a Church which in some ways
did not know quite what to do with him. (I think Waugh exaggerates this a bit.)
Conversion meant a parting from some of his dearest friends, and several others
were killed in the First World War. Most painful was its effect on his
relationship to his father, who was a bishop in the Church of England, and very
hostile to Anglo-Catholicism. Knox and his father loved each other deeply, and
the agony caused by Knox's entrance into the Catholic Church was excruciating
for both of them.
In some ways, Knox's path to Rome was similar to Newman's.
He began with the conviction that the Anglican Communion is part of the
historic Catholic Church, and needs to recover elements of its identity lost in
the wake of the Reformation. Upon closer examination, such a claim struck each
of them as untenable as a matter of historic record; there was a fundamental
discontinuity between the Church before and after Queen Elizabeth. On a deeper
level, Knox recognized that the Christian faith is founded on the conviction of
certain truths revealed by God in Christ, and that all theology must be built
on the foundation of these truths. To his mind, the Church of England was
abandoning this understanding of theology and seeking to present the faith
solely in terms of human reasoning. He came to see that the magisterium of the
Catholic Church was crucial to maintaining fidelity to Tradition while at the
same time growing in the understanding of that Tradition with changing times.
Regarding reactions to his conversion: many people were
surprised that he waited as long as he did, some mourned his loss to the
Catholic cause in the Church of England. I have read through a collection of
letters he received when his conversion became known, and even those who
disagreed with him respected his integrity.
IgnatiusInsight.com: What can apologists and other
Catholics learn from Knox?
Fr. Walsh: A lot!
Along with his apologetics Knox offers solid fare for prayer and meditation. I
would encourage people to pick up a copy of Pastoral and
Occasional Sermons and read through his sermons on the Eucharist, or what he has to say for
various feasts and seasons of the Church year. From his Evangelical upbringing
Knox received a deep love for the Bible, and all of his writings are steeped in
the Scriptures.
His sermons on the saints are delightful. His
conferences to schoolgirls (The Mass in Slow Motion and The Creed in Slow Motion) are out of print, but available in libraries and
second-hand book stores, and they combine spiritual depth with a lightness of
touch. Similarly with his books of retreat conferences, which show a great
awareness of our human condition. In his conferences Knox is hardly ever
autobiographical, and yet his personality shines through. He combines
intellectual conviction with great sympathy for those who struggle to come to
faith, or to hold onto it.
ENDNOTES:
[1] Editor's note: A portion of Difficulties is published in
Controversies: High Level
Catholic Apologetics (Ignatius Press, 2001), by Karl Keating, which also provides a
detailed introduction to the Knox vs. Lunn debate (pp 75-116).
Related IgnatiusInsight.com Links:
• IgnatiusInsight.com Author Page for Monsignor Ronald Knox
• Experience, Reason, and Authority in the Apologetics of Ronald Knox |
Milton Walsh | From Ronald Knox As Apologist: Wit, Laughter, and the Popish Creed
• The Four Marks of the Church | Ronald A. Knox
• Review of The Belief of Catholics | Carl E. Olson
• Ronald Knox, Apologist | Carl E. Olson
• Converts and Saints | An Interview with Joseph Pearce
• The History and Purpose of Apologetics |
An Interview with Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.
• Foreword to A History of Apologetics | Dr. Timothy George
• "Be a Catholic
Apologist Without Apology" | Carl E. Olson
• "Love Alone
is Believable: Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Apologetics" | by Fr. John R. Cihak
• "Kreeft On Apologetics"
| An interview with Peter Kreeft
Fr. Milton Walsh is a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He wrote his dissertation on Ronald Knox and is a longtime reader
and researcher of the works of Knox. His next book,
Second Friends: C.S. Lewis and Ronald Knox in Conversation, will be available in May 2008 from Ignatius Press.
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