The Power of Catholic Literature

Written By PS Team

What if great literature could be the very thing that draws a soul from darkness into the light of Christ? Catholic author and literary scholar Joseph Pearce joins Jim and Meghan to share his remarkable journey from white supremacism to Catholic conversion, sparked entirely by the power of books. Drawing on decades of writing, teaching, and producing series with EWTN, Joseph offers a compelling vision of how beauty, truth, and goodness work together to transform families and evangelize a culture in desperate need of both.

What’s in this episode:

  • Joseph's conversion from racial hatred to Catholicism through Catholic literature

  • The Catholic significance of March 25th in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

  • Three ways to evangelize: goodness, truth, and beauty

  • Joseph's documentaries and 13-part Shakespeare series with EWTN

  • The upcoming 20-part EWTN series on The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful

  • An overview of Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know

  • Why reading well is essential to thinking, writing, and knowing God

  • Walking through providential open doors with courage and trust

  • The call to fast from technology and rediscover silence with God

  • One resource every Catholic family should know: Homeschool Connections

  • Book he is currently reading: Initiation by Robert Hugh Benson

  • Advice to his younger self: Listen to your elders

  • Final wisdom for listeners: Disconnect from technology to reconnect with God

Resources Mentioned:

jpearce.co – Joseph's personal website with video podcasts, articles, and all his books

Homeschool Connections – Online live and recorded courses for homeschoolers from grade school through high school

Race With the Devil by Joseph Pearce –– His personal memoir of conversion from racial hatred to rational love

Literary Converts by Joseph Pearce – A history of the Catholic literary revival in 20th-century England

Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know by Joseph Pearce – A panoramic guide to 3,000 years of Catholic literary tradition

The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful by Joseph Pearce – A history of Christendom in 20 centuries, basis of an upcoming EWTN series

Initiation by Robert Hugh Benson – A novel on the mystery of suffering and the lessons we carry through it

St. Austin Review – Journal of Catholic culture and thought, edited by Joseph Pearce

PS Team
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Breathing Light into Dark Places