The Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson

Published in 1907, The Lord of the World was one of the first dystopian novels. The action takes place in the early 21^st century where established religion has all but been abolished. Catholicism has been confined to the Vatican and its surrounding cities, but by the novel’s end, faith of any kind has been outlawed. Two young priests, Father Franklin and Father Francis, play key roles as these changes take place.

 I was fascinated by Benson’s prescience about the devastating effects that socialism and communism would have on societies that embraced them. He mentions Karl Marx and Gustave Hervé (still living at the time Benson wrote) as key influencers. In the book, Esperanto is the main language and Euthanasia is widely accepted as a way to escape physical and emotional pain. Humanitarianism (as expressed through the teachings of freemasonry) is the new world religion since superstition and progress were irreconcilable enemies.

Oliver Brand, a leading figure in this future society is happy in the knowledge that men and women had learnt at least the primary lesson of the gospel, that there was no God but man, no priest but the politician, no prophet but the schoolmaster. He explains to his wife that the precepts of Christianity were nice, but not true… My dear girl, if I had told you in your cradle that the moon was green cheese, and had hammered at you ever since, every day and all day, you’d very nearly believe it by now.

In spite of the government’s best efforts to abolish Christianity, people must worship something and a messiah figure comes on the scene. I can’t tell much more without spoilers. Needless to say, the premise of the book is fascinating and many quotes are a hundred years ahead of their time. Sometimes the writing was uneven, but when the story dragged, I could count on the audio version by the excellent Simon Vance to keep me going.

This novel should not be avoided because it is “too Catholic.” There is a lot of rich food for thought in its pages.

Blessings,