Amidst the backdrop of World War II, the great Fulton Sheen wrote Preface to Religion, his first book published after the war ended. As the world was recovering from death, destruction, and despair, Sheen’s timely work tackles the most salient questions pertaining to happiness and sanity. With simplicity and frankness, Sheen declares, “If you do not worship God, you worship something, and nine times out of ten it will be yourself. If there is no God, then you are a god.” Throughout this work, Sheen addresses the perennial subjects of fallen nature, forgiveness, the four last things, how God remakes us, the role of religion in the process, and the gift of second chances. Contrary to the modern world, God does not give us what “we want for our pleasure” but “what we need for our perfection.” Preface to Religion reminds us of education’s primary purpose, which is to train the mind to use freedom rightly. God chose to make a moral universe, but morality is impossible without freedom. And therefore, the reader will see that the body must always serve the soul. Finally, Sheen writes on faith, that “the modern man who is not living according to his conscience wants a religion without a Cross, a Christ without a Calvary, a Kingdom without Justice,” and a pastor “who never mentions hell to ears polite.” For anyone seeking to find true happiness and true freedom, Preface to Religion will be your guide.
