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Catholic Literary Converts



 The Catholic Church has long been proud of its literary converts. The writers and intellectuals who have converted to the Catholic faith are impressive but critics will say this does not prove the truth of our faith. True, but it does suggest that the Catholic Faith is a live intellectual option worthy of investigation. This is what I seek to demonstrate because if people will ask for the faith it will be given to them, if they seek the faith they will find it, if they knock the door will be opened (Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9).

Here is my current list. If you have others you would like to add to the list, please leave a note in my guest book.

  1. Mortimer Adler
  2. James K. Baxter
  3. G. K. Chesterton
  4. Sir Kenneth Clark
  5. Dorothy Day
  6. Annie Dillard
  7. John Dryden
  8. Avery Dulles
  9. Graham Greene
  10. Scott Hahn
  11. Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness
  12. Clare Booth Luce
  13. Bruce Marshall
  14. Marshall McLuhan
  15. Thomas Merton
  16. Malcolm Muggeridge
  17. Father Richard Neuhaus
  18. Cardinal John Henry Newman
  19. Walker Percy
  20. E.F. Schmacher
  21. Muriel Spark
  22. Blessed Edith Stein
  23. Nobel Prize winner Sigrid Undset
  24. Evelyn Waugh

Here is a list of literary converts that could be controversial for various reasons, in some cases they later left the Church. Even if a major writer joined and later left the Church it still is evidence that the Catholic Church is a live option for intelligent people.

  1. Herman Broch converted as a young man, was planning to return to Judaism just before death
  2. Earnest Hemingway converted during World War 1, some people think he converted later when he married a Catholic, committed suicide
  3. Karl Kraus joined Catholic Church 1911, left 1923
  4. Joseph Roth may have converted late in life
  5. Oscar Wilde death bed conversion, had been considering it for a long time

This is a list of intellectuals whom I have heard converted but I have not been able to get confirmation. If you have information please put it in my guest book.

  1. Scott Morgan Peck
Here are a list of Catholics who had Catholic parents but it has been said incorrectly they were adult converts.
  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, his mother converted when he was about 8 years old. He was very devout.
  2. Erma Bombeck, My mother told me she was a convert, but I read she grew up Catholic.

Maybe there is some better information on this, did they leave the Church and then come back. I would like to hear about this in my guest book too.

Scandinavian Nobel Prize Winners

Thirteen people from Scandinavia have won the Nobel prize in literature. Two converted to the Catholic faith. This is impressive because Scandinavia is traditionally Lutheran. So they were going against the pressure of both family and the traditional religion of their nation.
Some people have kindly responded to my request to mention other writers who converted. One mentioned two poets, Wallace Stevens and Arthur Rimabud who both converted on their deathbeds. Another said that, "James K. Baxter, New Zealand's greatest poet, converted to Catholicism as an adult."
On a different, but at least somewhat related topic, I have a list of religious films that have been nominated for Oscars. It is at least a little surprising to see how many religious films Hollywood has honored.

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