Riassunto
Riassunto di Callista
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love historical fiction with a strong moral and religious core, and anyone curious about Christians under Roman rule.
Che cos’è questo libro
Callista is a historical novel by John Henry Newman, published in 1856. It is set in the middle of the third century, in the Roman province of Africa, in the years when the emperor Decius ordered Christians to sacrifice to the gods or suffer for it. Newman wrote it as a Catholic priest and scholar who knew the early Church from years of reading its Fathers. He wanted readers to feel what it was like to live among pagans as a small and often hidden community of believers.
The book follows a Greek girl named Callista and a young Christian man named Agellius, who live in and around the town of Sicca. One is drawn toward the faith by the beauty of what she hears. The other holds it quietly and is not sure he can bear its price. You will meet traders, priests, rough country people, and a land struck by a plague of locusts. Along the way the story asks what a person is ready to give up for the truth. Let us begin with the world in which Agellius lives.
In questo riassunto
- 1A quiet Christian in a pagan townFree
- 2Callista, a Greek girl who seeks something more
- 3A plague of locusts and rising fear
- 4Faith tested by the pull of family and love
- 5What the story is really about
- 6How Newman tells it
Punto chiave 1 di 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.
Agellius keeps his faith largely to himself. He does not boast of it, and he does not yet say it plainly to those closest to him. He is young, and his belief is real but untested. Newman lets us see that a faith kept in private can be both sincere and a little timid.
This opening matters because the whole book rests on contrast. On one side there is a world of ease, custom and respectable religion. On the other there is a small group that believes something that could cost everything. Before any danger comes, we are shown what Agellius stands to lose, and why holding on will not be simple.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Callista
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.
Is Callista hard to read?
Readers who enjoy ideas and history will find it rewarding.
Why did Newman write Callista?
He wrote it to show early Christian life from the inside, drawing on his study of the early Church. It followed Nicholas Wiseman's novel Fabiola, which also dealt with Christians under Rome.