THE END OF RELIGION

by Dom Aelred Graham ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 21, 1971

Dom Aelred's book is an ""autobiographical exploration"" and the title is less pessimistic than it sounds for it signifies the ""ultimate religion"" to the quest for which the author, a Benedictine monk, has devoted his life. The story of that quest, and of that life, is the skeleton of the present work, which is filled out with the author's observations and reflections on a variety of subjects, from proposed reforms in auricular confession to the analysis of Hindu and Buddhist thought (on the latter Graham is an authority) and Gnostic phenomena. The various threads form, in the final chapter, the fabric of an ""ultimate religion"" which is love. Graham, despite the clarity of his vision and his stylistic grace, has never been one of Catholicism's ""popular"" writers, and one wonders whether this work, for all its wisdom and charm, will do any better than its predecessors. However it should find a limited audience among those who revere the memory of Newman's Apologia.

Pub Date: April 21, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION