Let’s hear it for the Good Book . . .

. . . in English to die for:

Though Ronald Knox (1888-1957) won renown as a Catholic priest, university chaplain, retreat master, and author of spiritual books, it is at least arguable that he made his living from his bestselling detective stories. In fact, it was Msgr. Knox who wrote the widely accepted rules the Ten Commandments that guided the so-called Golden Age of Detective Fiction. He was a keen reader of Arthur Conan Doyle, and he even established a satirical genre of mock-scholarship of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

He made a respectable living that way, but he knew that Man cannot live by bread only; there is life for him in all the words which proceed from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4). And so Msgr. Knox gave his life to deeper mysteries than any earthly detective could solve.

Thing is, the English is not mysterious in this translation…