Many volumes have been written about St. Thomas More: some from the viewpoint of his historical significance in England and the Church, some about his works, others about his brilliance as a scholar and author, and still others about the man himself - his family life, his friends, his wit and humor, his successes and failures, his great holiness. This new book differs from all the rest, both fictional and biographical, in that it treats More's life entirely from the standpoint of his sainthood. All other aspects of his life are subordinated to the fact - just as St. Thomas himself found it necessary to subordinate all else to his pursuit of sanctity. Because the theme of the book represents so faithfully the ultimate goal of the man, "A Man Born Again" offers one of the most intimate and believable portraits of St. Thomas More ever presented creatively. Actually it is both fiction and nonfiction. Careful historical research and a close study of the life and writings of the Saint give this book factual substance. But the presentation is fictional in form, enlivened by the author's skill in imaginative characterization and his ability to recapture sixteenth-century England as seen through the eyes of one of its foremost figures. Written in the first person in the manner of an autobiography and in an style suggestive of the English prose of More's day, the story is convincingly realistic. It begins in the gloomy Tower of London where More is imprisoned for his refusal to take the Oath of Supremacy whereby Henry VIII made himself head of the Church in England. Alone in his cell, abandoned in his beliefs by those he loves, fully aware that he will be executed soon, More reflects on his life in a sort of soliloquy. Only the most significant details from the many known about his life were chosen for this book. These are intuitively correlated to reveal the dramatic final struggle of choosing between life and death, between Henry and God. More's desire to become a writer and then a priest, his dislike of, but inescapable genius for law, his love of learning, all are shown to lead to the ultimate realization that pride is his worst enemy, the main obstacle in the way of the discovery of God's will for himself.
