Charles Williams : The New Christian Year: Feast of the Nativity of St. John, The Baptist

This is a reprint of 2 devotionals, "The New Christian Year" (1941) and "The Passion of Christ: Being the Gospel Narrative of the Passion with Short Passages Taken from the Saints and Doctors of the Church" (1939), both chosen by Charles Williams, an English poet, novelist, theologian, literary critic, and teacher. Charles Walter Stansby Williams was most often associated with the Inklings (a group of christian writers including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis), Williams was also cited as a major influence on W.H. Auden's conversion to christianity and he was a peer and friend of T.S. Eliot, Dorothy Sayers and Evelyn Underhill. These devotionals collect writings from throughout the history of christian thought. His choices were novel at the time, referencing Kierkegaard just as his translations were appearing in english print (Williams helped edit the first translations in England) and drawing upon the little known sermons of the poet John Donne. For each day of the Church year (starting in Advent), quotes will be posted as they appeared in the 1941 edition of "The New Christian Year". They are categorized by the source on the left, so that readers can read more from each author. I will also add links to websites about each source. During lent the "The New Christian Year" will be supplemented by quotes from "The Passion of the Christ". This text has passages from the Gospel accounts of the passion supplemented by quotes from the "Saints and Doctors of the Church".

Feast of the Nativity of St. John, The Baptist

The precursor (John the Baptist) confirms Christ as being he who is expected. But . . . that is not a respectful relationship, for in order to confirm something one must oneself be the stronger. It is therefore John the Baptist who sends disciples to Christ in order to ask him whether he is the one who was to come—so that it is Christ who after having answered the disciples ends by confirming John the Baptist, saying he is quite truly the precursor; it is not Christ who confirms himself by the authority of the precursor . . . no, it is he who draws the precursor within the sphere of his authority and by virtue of his authority confirms him as being the genuine precursor. The word of the precursor, that Christ is the expected, is only to be believed after Christ has confirmed the fact that the precursor really is the precursor.

Søren Kierkegaard: Journals.

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Charles Williams : The New Christian Year

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