John Fisher and Thomas More

Keeping Their Souls While Losing Their Heads

Robert J Conrad

$49.95

Hardback

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English

Tan Books
15 June 2021

Biography: religious & spiritual; Religion & beliefs; Religious intolerance, persecution & conflict; Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church

"In 1929, nearly four hundred years after the deaths of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher, G.K. Chesterton observed in words equally attributable to Fisher, ""Blessed Thomas More is more important at this moment than at any moment since his death, even perhaps the great moment of his dying; but he is not quite so important as he will be in a hundred years.""

Judge Robert J Conrad, Jr. anticipates Chesterton's one-hundred-year mark in a collection of stories from the lives of More and Fisher, demonstrating how their sanctity and integrity carried them and those who loved them through tumultuous and heart-wrenching times which, perhaps surprisingly, bear a striking resemblance to the present epoch.

At first blush, nothing could appear more different than the pre-industrial sixteenth century and the tech-centered modern era. But a closer examination presents a similar tale of political maneuvering and hostile hearings, legal corruption, viral pandemics, riots, suppression of speech, loss of religious liberty, and a profound indifference for truth. Judge Conrad effortlessly weaves together tales of both men and what made them who they were--family, faith, friendship, oaths, vocation, detachment, conscience--inviting those who strive for holiness down the same narrow path these two martyrs walked with a clarity founded upon the truth of Christ's Church, and a wit that charmed even their persecutors.

Both these men refused to consent to the theological farce that would permit the king's divorce and remarriage and drive a wedge into the unity of the Christian world, and both paid for their convictions with their lives. More died the king's good servant and God's first. Fisher approached his execution with joy befit for a wedding. And yet, both stand today, long after they are gone, as models of courage in a time when it is desperately needed.

Discover in this volume of powerful stories two saints whose lives could not be timelier for the present age."

By: Robert J Conrad
Imprint: Tan Books
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 218mm, Width: 142mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 376g
ISBN: 9781505118490
ISBN 10: 1505118492
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 15 June 2021
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Robert J. Bob Conrad Jr is a trial judge, ex-federal prosecutor, former ACC college basketball player, father, grandfather, coach, mentor, teacher, and amateur historian who examines the lives of John Fisher and Thomas More with a trial lawyer's love for advocacy, and an Irishman's love for a well-told story. He brings to life Thomas More and John Fisher's example of fidelity to a well-formed conscience, vision of eternal life with God, and willingness to die rather than submit to a raw exercise of royal power. The father of five children and grandfather to ten (at last count), Judge Conrad hopes that the lessons he learned from More and Fisher might resonate with his family and the readers of this work.

Reviews for John Fisher and Thomas More: Keeping Their Souls While Losing Their Heads

Ambivalence and ambiguity do not inhabit these pages. Validated historic lives project principles desperately needed by our modern culture of convenience and 'compromised integrity.' Don't read this unless you are prepared, first to be intimidated by the lives of focused virtue; and then inspired with God's help to imitate them. --Former Attorney General John Ashcroft Robert Conrad has brought together in one book the witness of these two unlikely friends, the ascetic John Fisher and the mirthful Thomas More. Their complementary witness shows how cleric and layman alike are to respond to persecutions. Given the Church's current challenges, this is more than just a reflection on the virtues of past figures. By applying the example of these saints to our own day, Conrad traces the way for Catholics to respond to the persecutions soon upon us. -Reverend Paul Scalia, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy for the Diocese of Arlington, and author of Sermons in Times of Crisis Robert Conrad's John Fisher and Thomas More is the most inspiring book I've read in years. By connecting these courageous martyrs to eternal verities like Providence and vocation, the author renders these men instantly relevant to our time, and does so with literary panache. The book is both storytelling at its finest, and a treasure trove of thoughts on which to meditate. It will make an outstanding gift to any Catholic - or to any student of human nature. --Mary Eberstadt, Panula Chair in Christian Culture at the Catholic Information Center