Knox, Ronald

▪ British theologian

born Feb. 17, 1888, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire, Eng.

died Aug. 24, 1957, Mells, Somerset

 English author, theologian, and dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church, best known for his translation of the Bible.

      Born into an Anglican family, he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and in 1912 was appointed chaplain of Trinity College, Oxford. He became a Roman Catholic in 1917. From 1926 to 1939 he served as Roman Catholic chaplain to the university.

      Knox gave witty expression to the perplexities that bedeviled him between his graduation and conversion in Some Loose Stones (1913) and in Reunion All Round (1914). He chronicled his struggle and its resolution in A Spiritual Aeneid (1918). The final expression of his position appeared in The Belief of Catholics (1927). Six volumes of Knox's sermons were published, including Heaven and Charing Cross (1935) and Captive Flames (1940). Knox also wrote inventive and complex detective novels; Still Dead (1934) is generally considered the best among them. His version of the New Testament appeared in 1945. His Old Testament and On Englishing the Bible, a penetrating examination of the problems of a translator, were published in 1949. These were followed by his New Testament Commentaries in 1953, 1954, and 1956.

Additional Reading

Evelyn Waugh, The Life of the Right Reverend Ronald Knox (1959).

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