The Eightfold Kingdom Within - (Collected Works) by Carol Jackson Robinson (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published as a series titled "Eight Keys to the Kingdom" in the Ave Maria magazine for nine consecutive weeks in 1962 as a series on the beatitudes and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. The subsequent two works, "The Poor in Spirit", and "The Meek", included as chapters 10 and 11, were small pamphlets written in 1963.

Book Synopsis

This book is the second in Carol Robinson's Collected Works series. Her penetrating and original analysis of the modern world show the fruit of a mind absorbed in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas - her life-long companion. We hope that these essays will help Catholics understand how the Faith has importance for the totality of their lives which must not be hidden away from the public square.

Excerpt from the Foreword

"Christianity, when it is orthodox, is a religion of the heart, but not one of sentimentality. Catholicism in all its tradition has been a religion illuminating the mind so that the spirit might find dwelling with God.

Confusion and discomfort: this is the prospect of embracing the Gospel in the modern world. Add to these the incomprehension or enmity from others, and you have a potent source of discouragement to living an integral and integrated Catholic life today.

Must it be so?

The Good One of course remains ever the same in charity and omnipotence, so the root and source of all holiness is still sound. The unknown factor then must lie in the hearts of men if Christianity is to be put into action. There will always be some - "the world" - who will consistently resist the grace and action of the Almighty. Holding this book, it must be otherwise with us. Faith has been given, grace has taken root, and so must the flourishing of fidelity and holiness. Is this the happiness we seek?....

The Beatitudes act as a defibrillator to these lethal conditions, should we choose to listen. They re-animate the soul by enkindling charity and warmth within a heart that has grown cold. And everyone knows that without a healthy heart one eventually dies for good." - Fr. James Doran

Excerpt from the Introduction

"Carol Jackson Robinson's Eightfold Kingdom Within is a noteworthy attempt to communicate Thomas' developed thought of the Beatitudes to a non-academic audience, and while she does eschew any discussion of the intricacies of doctrinal development, subjects of undoubted interest to the historical theologians, nonetheless her series of remarkable articles reveal that Robinson was a careful and highly insightful reader of Aquinas. Over the course of her essays, Robinson rightly focuses on the task of placing the Beatitudes and their attendant Gifts once again at the center of Christian spiritual life. Perhaps Robinson's insightfulness is most evident in the way she grasps that for Thomas, and indeed for much of the Christian tradition both East and West, the purpose and aim of the spiritual life is deification, what she refers to as the ongoing process of "being supernaturalized." Moreover, Robinson stresses that this process of conversion, of becoming progressively more deiform, perforce requires our adoption as earthly children of the heavenly Father. If truth be told, that the process cannot proceed at all unless, like obedient children, we meekly receive the divine instigation of the Spirit, for only in this manner will we be established "firmly in the family of God our Father." - Gregorio Montejo, PhD (Assistant Professor of Historical Theology, Boston College)

Review Quotes

Written in the early 1960s, the reflections on spiritual themes found herein are altogether different from most. Rather than consider the Beatitudes as disembodied guideposts along some kind of ethical path, Carol Robinson places them squarely within the messiness that is our modern context. She sees them as they have ever been: not to make us "spiritual", but how to be Catholic in this world as it is, and this is only possible when the human heart has been healed and regenerated through the happiness of restored wholeness. Grace is still efficacious even in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

These are not poetry embroidered and framed on a parlor wall; they are eternal brilliance from the Logos as spoken in the world. Carol Robinson establishes them within our world - not embroidered, not framed, not, really, even pretty, but attractive all the same as they have ever been to those who accept discipleship along the dusty and rugged paths of the divine Rabbi from Galilee.

These considerations are well worth perusal and practice. - Rev. Fr. James Doran, Saint Joseph Antiochene Syriac Maronite Catholic Church

How can someone be a Christian in today's world? Practically, what does it mean to be a saint? With a rare combination of theological subtlety and down-to-earth clarity, Robinson guides the reader through specific challenges of the lives of ordinary Christians and shows how we are called to live in Christ. The Beatitudes and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are generally things Catholics memorize for Confirmation and forget about. In her gifts as both intellectual and clear communicator, Robinson opens up the Beatitudes and Gifts of the Holy Spirit for all of us non-priests and sisters to live in our lives. Holiness is always possible in any situation we find ourselves and Robinson shows the way to living a Christ-powered life. Following Christ in our circumstances takes sacrifice, but Robinson leads us into seeing our problems with God's eyes and trusting that He will always provide for those who conform their loves to Christ. If you want a book that will show you what it means to live like Our Lord in the modern world, look no further! - Professor Edmund Lazzari, Mount Saint Mary's University

The Eightfold Kingdom Within is an accessible, attractively written and down-to-earth account of the spiritual life. Its central theme, of the difficulties and rewards of striving for holiness in a secular age is only more relevant now than when the author was writing. - Fr Thomas Crean OP