Author Joseph Pearce to Deliver Thomas More College Commencement Address

Just in from Thomas More College (Merrimack, New Hampshire):

(Merrimack, New Hampshire)—On Saturday, May 14 at 2:00pm, author Joseph Pearce will appear as the keynote speaker at the Commencement exercises of the Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire.
He will speak to the graduating seniors and the entire College community on importance of an integrated liberal arts education.

Joseph Pearce is the author of a number of critically acclaimed, best-selling biographies of great 19th and 20th-century Christian authors. He is also the co-founder and co-editor of the St. Austin Review, an international magazine dedicated to reclaiming Catholic culture.  He is also Series Editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions and Editor-In-Chief of Sapientia Press.

Pearce has hosted two 13-part television series about Shakespeare on EWTN, the largest religious TV network in the world. He also wrote and presented a documentary on EWTN on the Catholicism of The Lord of the Rings. 

The internationally acclaimed author of many books, which include bestsellers such as The Quest for Shakespeare, Tolkien: Man and Myth, The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde, C. S. Lewis and The Catholic Church, Literary Converts, Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G.K. Chesterton, and Old Thunder:  A Life of Hilaire Belloc, Joseph Pearce is a world-recognized biographer of modern Christian literary figures.  Pearce's books have been published and translated into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and Polish.

Pearce converted to the Catholic faith in 1989 as a result of "becoming friends" with several 20th-century literary figures he researched who had been Christians, and ultimately converts to Catholicism – particularly G.K. Chesterton.  As a younger "extremely anti-Catholic" man, Pearce had opposed Pope John Paul II's visit to England.  His earlier viewpoint gradually shifted as he learned more about the writings and beliefs of the literary converts he would eventually profile.

A native of England, Pearce relocated to the United States in 2001 to serve at Ave Maria University.  He is also contributing writer to a number of newspapers and magazines in the United Kingdom, France, the U.S.A, Canada and South America.

An accomplished tutor, teacher and speaker, Pearce has participated and lectured at a wide variety of international and literary events at major colleges and universities in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Europe, Africa and South America.  He is also a regular guest on national and international television and radio programs, and has served as consultant for film documentaries on J.R.R. Tolkien and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts provides a four-year undergraduate education which develops young people intellectually, ethically, and spiritually in the Catholic tradition and in faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church.  Thomas More College introduces its students to the central questions of Western Civilization—and to the Church's response.  It teaches students how to reason, engage in academic discourse, and to write.  Students from Thomas More College are shaped into becoming faithful leaders who will be able to pursue the individual vocations which God has given each of them.

Congratulations to Joseph and to the 2011 graduating class of Thomas More College! Joseph's most recent book from Ignatius Press is an expanded and revised edition of Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile (also available in e-book format). Read more about Joseph and his many books on his Ignatius Insight author page.