“Francis, go and rebuild my church which is in ruins,” commanded the Lord in a mystical encounter and thus we learn how Francis did this, both on a physical and spiritual level. The mammoth intellects of these men, combined with their sanctity and love for the Lord, make them unmistakable as pivotal players.

Thus in The Pivotal Players we are introduced not just to the great thoughts and ideas of these men, but also their lives from birth to death. Finally we meet the winsome wordsmith Gilbert Keith Chesterton (one of my top three favorite thinkers of all-time) whose was referred to by one of his atheist debate opponents as “a man of colossal genius”. Thomas is the highly influential Anglican convert, Blessed John Henry Newman, whom Bishop Barron goes so far as to describe as a modern day thinker of Aquinas-like stature. And alongside the great theologian of St. Thomas Aquinas who asked his teacher as a young boy, “But master – what is God?” and spent his entire life seeking the answer. Thus he introduces us to the mind and thought of the great St. Reason poses no threat to religion when reason and religion are rightly understood. It moves us, through the strong yet imperfect gratification it causes in us, towards Godīut Bishop Barron also reminds us that there is no sacrifice of the mind required to be religious. Indeed beauty moves us towards the infinitely beautiful, the all-beatific. As Bishop Barron notes, through beauty something is works on us from within and yet beyond the art. In this first edition of The Pivotal Players (Word On Fire is already working on their second) we are introduced to the great Catholic artist of the Italian Renaissance, Michaelangelo, who through his sculptures (such as his Pietà), his painting in the Sistine chapel, and many other works of art, has lead many to experience the innate human desire for something infinitely greater and all-fulfilling.

Robert barron pivotal players