Stratford Caldecott
Stratford Caldecott | |
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J.R.R. Tolkien |
Stratford Caldecott (26 November 1953 – 17 July 2014) was a Catholic author, editor, publisher, and blogger.
Early life and education
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Stratford Caldecott was born in 1953, in London, England, to parents who had left South Africa in 1951. The family espoused no particular religious beliefs. As a child, he was sickly and bedridden, and developed a close relationship with his mother. His father was a publisher with
After taking his degree, Caldecott pursued a career in publishing and education as a senior editor for the publishers Routledge, HarperCollins, and T&T Clark. In 1977, he married fellow student Leonie Richards. The ceremony was held in an Anglican ceremony, in deference to her family. He and his wife had three daughters.
Caldecott came to realize that the stories which had informed his early youth, those of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the Quest of the Holy Grail, C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings all reflected a Christian worldview. "All along, my imagination had been built on a Christian foundation, and I had never noticed it before. I knew now that in some sense, on some level, I was already a Christian."[3] His reading then turned to Étienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain and Thomas Aquinas. In 1980 he was baptised into the Catholic Church. This was not well received by his father, who viewed Catholicism as "worse than apartheid".
Career
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Caldecott taught a course called "Christianity and Society" at Plater College in Headington, Oxford.
He was a G. K. Chesterton Research Fellow at St Benet's Hall, Oxford. His devotion to Chesterton led to his becoming something of an expert on him.[2] He also served as a commissioning editor for the Catholic Truth Society.
From 2010, he and his wife Leonie served as co-editors of the UK and Ireland edition of Magnificat.[4] He became the founding editor of the journal Humanum, under the aegis of the Washington DC John Paul II Institute.
Centre for Faith & Culture
In 1994 the Caldecotts founded a research centre in Oxford called the Centre for Faith & Culture (CFC),[2] associated with The Chesterton Review and the international review Communio. Its newsletter, the Faith & Culture Bulletin, was offered free of charge. The Oxford Centre was initially a partnership between Westminster College, Oxford and the Edinburgh theological publishers T&T Clark. The two partners divided the costs between them, and the Centre's activities were equally divided between conferences and publications. Before long it also provided a home for the G. K. Chesterton Library created by Aidan Mackey. In 1998, after Westminster College was acquired by Oxford Brookes University, the CFC moved to Plater College in Headington, maintaining its activities with partial support from T&T Clark and from the G. K. Chesterton Institute, founded by Rev. Ian J. Boyd, publisher of The Chesterton Review.
In 2002, after the demise of Plater College, the Centre for Faith & Culture merged for several years with the G. K. Chesterton Institute, creating the "G. K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture", which was eventually based at Seton Hall University in New Jersey with its Oxford Centre in King Street, Oxford. After 2006 Seton Hall ceased to support the Centre in Oxford and it became independent again.
Second Spring
Caldecott was a co-director of Second Spring, (named after John Henry Newman's famous sermon of 1852, in which Newman predicted a revival of Catholicism in England). Second Spring initially appeared in 1992 as an 8-page quarterly supplement in the American Catholic World Report. In 2001 Second Spring merged with the Newsletter of the Centre and started to appear as an 80-page journal twice a year.[5]
The Caldecotts, together with the artist David Clayton, started a company called "ResSource" to develop educational projects in the spirit of Second Spring, but it ceased trading after Clayton took up a post at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire. The Caldecotts, along with their eldest daughter Teresa, eventually founded their own company, Second Spring Oxford Ltd, in order to manage several editorial contracts as well as undertaking their own publishing programme. Thomas More College became the distributor of Second Spring Journal, as well as sending students to a summer school organised by Second Spring in Oxford.
Caldecott's blogs "Beauty in Education", "The Economy Project",[6] and "All Things Made New"[7] serve as resource collections on the topics of education, economics and social justice, and perennial wisdom, and served also as forums for a growing network of friends who, under the banner "Second Spring Associates", hoped to expand the reach of his Second Spring work internationally. The work in this direction was temporarily suspended at his death, but in 2017 Leonie used her own funds to re-launch the website at second spring.co.uk, including an online version of the journal, Second Spring Current.
Writing
Catholicism
Caldecott's writing draws on the work of Catholic intellectuals including
On Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien was among the writers whose works influenced Caldecott's conversion to Christianity. Caldecott became an authority on the Christian themes in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.[1] Caldecott was a contributing editor to A Hidden Presence, the Catholic Imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien.[10] In Catholic Literary Giants, Joseph Pearce notes Caldecott's contribution to A Hidden Presence and recommends the volume as a valuable scholarly contribution to the literature on Tolkien's work.[11] Caldecott's essay, "The Lord & Lady of the Rings",[12] describing Marian influences in Tolkien's work, was cited by Sarah Jane Boss in her work on traditions of Marian doctrine and devotion.[13]
The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind The Lord of the Rings (Crossroad, 2005, 2011) was originally called Secret Fire when first published by DLT. It was translated into Spanish, Italian, and Russian, and re-issued by Crossroad in an expanded edition in 2012. The Power of the Ring explores the spiritual, theological, and philosophical meaning of the work – Tolkien's faith, which was influenced by the Oratory of St Philip.
Death
As a teenager Caldecott had fallen in love with America because of its comic books. He loved the fight between good and evil, and the theme of hope that the comics portrayed. When he was dying from prostate cancer in May 2014, he was too ill to see the latest Avengers movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in the cinema and he was not expected to survive long enough for the Blu-ray release. His daughter, Sophie Caldecott Lippiatt, used an online campaign to persuade the producer Marvel Studios and distributor Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures to send a copy so that he could watch it at home. Many actors who had portrayed Marvel characters posted selfies in support.[18] Marvel arranged an exclusive advanced screening on DVD for Caldecott at his home.[19]
Caldecott's final thoughts on life and faith, death and eternal life were presented in an essay in the online journal The Imaginative Conservative.[20] His funeral Mass was celebrated at the Oxford Oratory on 31 July 2014.[1] He is buried in Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford, near Tolkien's grave.[21]
Many tributes appeared after his death.
Awards and distinctions
- Honorary doctorate in theology by the John Paul II Institute in Washington DC[26]
- Paideia Prize for work in education[26]
- A volume of essays in his honour, The Beauty of God's House was published posthumously in 2014. Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet and Nottingham Professor John Milbank contributed.[27]
Bibliography
Books
- Secret Fire: The Spiritual Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien (Darton, Longman, & Todd, 2003)
- revised as Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind The Lord of the Rings (Crossroad, 2005 and 2012)
- The Seven Sacraments: Entering the Mysteries of God (Crossroad, 2006)
- Beauty for Truth's Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education (Brazos, 2009; 2nd edition: 2017)
- All Things Made New: The Mysteries of the World in Christ (Angelico/Sophia Perennis, 2011)
- Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education (Angelico, 2011)
- The Radiance of Being: Dimensions of Cosmic Christianity (Angelico, 2013)
- Not as the World Gives: The Way of Creative Justice (Angelico, 2014)
Booklets
- Catholic Social Teaching: A Way In (Catholic Truth Society, 2001)
- Companion to the Book of Revelation (Catholic Truth Society, 2008)
- Catholicism and Other Religions: Introduction to Interfaith Dialogue (Catholic Truth Society, 2009)
Books from conferences
Stratford both edited and contributed to these volumes.
- Beyond the Prosaic: Renewing the Liturgical Movement (T&T Clark, 2000)
- Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: Sources of Inspiration (Co-editor: Thomas M. Honegger, Walking Tree, 2008)
- Eternity in Time: Christopher Dawson and the Catholic Idea of History (T&T Clark, 1997)
References
- ^ a b c Desmond, Joan (20 July 2014). "Stratford Caldecott, R.I.P." National Catholic Register.
- ^ a b c Bogle, James (2014). "The Constant Convert". Touchstone (Nov./Dec. 2014).
- ^ Longenecker, Dwight (18 July 2014). "Friend Strat: Further Up and Further In!". Patheos.com. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ a b Jones, Kevin J., "Catholic cultural renewal advocate Stratford Caldecott mourned", Catholic News Agency, 18 July 2014
- ^ "Historical Background", Second Spring
- ^ Caldecott, Stratford. The Economy Project
- ^ Caldecott, Stratford. All Things Made New
- ^ Mammana Jr., Richard J. "The Recovery of the Altars", Review of Beyond the Prosaic, (Stratford Caldecott, ed.), Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1998, Touchstone Magazine, January/February 2000
- ISBN 978-0-56708-548-1
- ^ The Hidden Presence, The Chesterton Press (2003) ASIN: B000NL05RE
- ISBN 978-1-58617-944-1
- ^ Caldecott, Stratford. "The Lord & Lady of the Rings", Touchstone Magazine, January/February 2002
- ^ Boss, Sarah Jane. Mary, Continuum Books 2003
- ^ Caldecott, Stratford. "Bibliography", Beauty in Education
- ISBN 978-0-41586-511-1.
- ^ S2CID 170098854.
- ^ S2CID 171600875.
- ^ Dickey, Josh. "Avengers Assemble for Terminal Cancer Patient's 'Winter Soldier' Wish", Mashable, May 16, 2014
- ^ Withnall, Adam (19 May 2014). "How I assembled the Avengers: Daughter of cancer patient Stratford Caldecott explains how Hollywood's biggest stars came together to grant a dying grandfather's wish". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
- ^ Caldecott, Stratford. "Search for the Secret of Life and Death", The Imaginative conservative, 21 May 2014
- ^ a b "Catholic Author to be Buried beside his Inspiration, Tolkien", Dodd, Liz., The Tablet, 21 July 2014
- ^ For example:
- "Requiescat in Pace, Stratford". Angelico Press. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- Aglialoro, Todd (18 July 2014). "Stratford Caldecott: Farewell". Catholic Answers. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- "Requiescat in pace, Stratford Caldecott". The Imaginative Conservative. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- "Leading Catholic writer Stratford Caldecott is mourned". CatholicHerald.co.uk. 18 July 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- Walker, Adrian. "In Memoriam: Stratford Caldecott (1953-2014)". Humanum Review. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- "In Memoriam: Stratford Caldecott - Edward Hadas". Retrieved 28 April 2017.
- ^ Schiffer, Kathy. "R.I.P. Stratford Caldecott, 'Marvel' of Catholicism", Patheos, 17 July 2014
- ISBN 978-0-56719-846-4.
- ISBN 978-0-80286-877-0.
- ^ a b "Stratford Caldecott". Angelico Press. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ Rowland, Tracey (28 August 2014). "Catholic Luminaries Pay Tribute to the Late Stratford Caldecott". Crisis.
External links
- Dwight Longnecker, "Stratford Caldecott – a Tribute", Patheos, 18 July 2014, includes Caldecott's account of his conversion, "Gnosis and Grace", first published in Longnecker's The Path to Rome – Modern Journeys to the Catholic Church.