Callista: A Tale of the Third Century
1855
Third-century North Africa, where Christianity trembles on the edge of persecution. Into this world of sun-drenched decadence and flickering faith steps Agellius, a young man whose soul cannot find peace among the idols of Rome. Through the lush colonies of Sicca Veneria, Newman traces the agonizing collision between pagan indifference and Christian conviction, led by the mysterious figure of Callista herself. This is no mere period drama but a fever dream of the spirit: a novel written by a man in the midst of his own desperate theological transformation, who understood that to choose Christ in the ancient world was to choose crucifixion. The prose carries the weight of Victorian reverence, yet burns with genuine longing. For readers who crave historical fiction that interrogates rather than merely illustrates, that asks what it costs to believe when belief means standing alone.
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“If, on the other hand,” continued Cæcilius, not noticing her interruption, “if all your thoughts go one way; if you have needs, desires, aims, aspirations, all of which demand an Object, and imply, by their very existence, that such an Object does exist also; and if nothing here does satisfy them, and if there be a message which professes to come from that Object, of whom you already have the presentiment, and to teach you about Him, and to bring the remedy you crave; and if those who try that remedy say with one voice that the remedy answers; are you not bound, {221} Callista, at least to look that way, to inquire into what you hear about it, and to ask for His help, if He be, to enable you to believe in Him?””
— John Henry Newman
“The number of Thine own complete,Sum up and make an end;Sift clean the chaff, and house the wheat”
— John Henry Newman
“O wisdom of the world! and strength of the world! what are you when matched beside the foolishness and the weakness of the Christian? You are great in resources, manifold in methods, hopeful in prospects; but one thing you have not”
— John Henry Newman
“If Jucundus will listen to me,” said Aristo, “I could satisfy him that the Christians are actually falling off. They once were numerous in this very place; now there are hardly any. They have been declining for these fifty years; the danger from them is past. Do you want to know how to revive them? Put out an imperial edict, forbid them, denounce them.””
— John Henry Newman
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Newman, John Henry. Callista: A Tale of the Third Century. Lex, lex-books.com/book/callista-a-tale-of-the-third-century-497192a1-3d8a-4d57-9088-3f19f4d5c53e.Newman, J. H. (1855). Callista: A Tale of the Third Century. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/callista-a-tale-of-the-third-century-497192a1-3d8a-4d57-9088-3f19f4d5c53eNewman, John Henry. Callista: A Tale of the Third Century. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/callista-a-tale-of-the-third-century-497192a1-3d8a-4d57-9088-3f19f4d5c53e.
