10 h 53 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What do you hold on to when keeping your faith means risking everything familiar?
In John Henry Newman’s historical novel Callista, the temples and marketplace of Sicca belong to a pagan world. Agellius lives quietly as a Christian among relatives who do not share his faith. Under the emperor Decius, Christians face a stark demand: sacrifice to the gods or suffer for refusing.
Callista, a gifted young Greek woman, feels a hunger the old religion cannot fill. As she is drawn toward Christianity, Agellius doubts his strength to bear its cost. Then locusts strip the fields around Sicca, hunger spreads, and frightened people seek someone to blame. Questions of conscience become choices neither can keep at a distance.
What you’ll discover
- A restless search Follow Callista as admiration and charm leave her longing for something deeper.
- Faith under pressure Meet Agellius, whose quiet belief faces the demands of family, love, and fear.
- A town in fear Enter a landscape where locusts strip fields and hardship turns people toward blame.
- The pull of family See how Juba and Jucundus draw Agellius toward loyalties that complicate his faith.
- Conscience beyond argument Explore Newman’s view that religious certainty grows through more than reasoned debate alone.
Who will love it
For readers who love historical fiction with a strong moral and religious core, and anyone curious about Christians under Roman rule.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A quiet Christian in a pagan town
- Callista, a Greek girl who seeks something more
- A plague of locusts and rising fear
- Faith tested by the pull of family and love
- What the story is really about
- How Newman tells it
Who’s who
- CallistaA gifted young Greek woman in Sicca, quick and admired, who feels a hunger that the old religion cannot fill.
- AgelliusA young Christian who works for his pagan uncle and keeps his faith quiet while he longs to be worthy of it.
- JucundusAgellius's uncle, a kindly pagan trader who wants peace, good trade and no trouble with the authorities.
- JubaAgellius's brother, a pagan whose family ties pull at the young Christian's loyalty.
- GurtaA fierce figure from the countryside, stirred to anger by hardship and rumor in the days of the locusts.
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- Large print hardcover
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Callista
by John Henry Newman · 1856
In Sicca, a Greek girl is drawn toward faith as a young Christian faces the price of holding to it.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A quiet Christian in a pagan town
The story opens in Sicca, a town in Roman Africa, where the old gods still fill the temples and the marketplace. Agellius is a young man who has been brought up as a Christian, yet he lives among relatives who are not. His uncle Jucundus is a pagan trader, comfortable and good humored, who runs a business and sees nothing odd in the town's religion. Agellius works for him and tries to be both a dutiful nephew and a faithful believer.
People bargain, gossip, worry about money and make offerings to the gods because that is what everyone does. Jucundus is not a villain. He is kind in his way, and he is afraid of anything that might disturb the peace of trade. Through him, the reader sees that the pressure on a Christian is not always a sword. It is often the steady pull of family, habit and the wish to be liked.
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What is Callista by John Henry Newman about?
It is a historical novel set in third century Roman Africa. It follows a Greek girl named Callista and a young Christian named Agellius as fear of persecution grows around their town of Sicca.
When was Callista written and is it a true story?
Newman published it in 1856. Most of the characters are invented, though the bishop Cyprian of Carthage also appears. The setting is real, namely the Roman province of Africa in the time of the emperor Decius and the persecution of Christians.
Who is Callista in the novel?
She is a clever and charming young Greek woman living in Sicca. She is restless in the pagan world and slowly moves toward the Christian faith that Agellius quietly holds.
The author
John Henry Newman
1801–1890 · English cardinal and theologian
John Henry Newman (1801–1890) was an English cleric and cardinal. Born in London, he lived in Oxford and later Birmingham, where he died. He became a Catholic in 1845. His books include An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845), Callista (1856), and Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864).
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