Edited by Christopher Dawson and T. F. Burns

The Persistence of Order, Vol. III

In 1931, preeminent historian and scholar Christopher Dawson commissioned a new series (titled Essays in Order), whose purpose was, in part, “to examine the possibilities of cooperation and of conflict that exist between the Catholic order and the new world.” The Persistence of Order comprises fourteen of those commissioned essays, published across three volumes. The third volume contains Haecker on “Virgil, Father of the West”; E. I. Watkin on “The Bow in the Clouds”; Gilby on “Poetic Experience”; Herbert Read on “Form in Modern Poetry”; and Mauriac on “God and Mammon.” Each with its own distinctive style and approach, the essays speak to the dynamic relationship between art and nature, the manifold manifestations of the artistic habit, and the unique power and responsibility of art to orient men and women to the truly good life.

“Art imitates Nature by doing or operating like Nature, ars imitatur naturam in sua operatione.” (Jacques Maritain)

Christopher Dawson (1889–1970) was a British Catholic historian and cultural scholar. A prolific, immensely influential author, he was also a lecturer and professor at numerous prestigious universities throughout Europe and the United States.

T. F. Burns (1906–1995) was a publisher and editor. Beginning in 1926 with the newly established Sheed and Ward, Burns went on to enjoy a distinguished, challenging career in Catholic publishing, receiving the Order of the British Empire in 1983.

Paperback: 390pp.

ISBN: 978-1950970391