From the day the Gospel dawned in the World, Christians have occupied a remarkable place—citizens of heaven, but heirs to the world; loving the world, yet persecuted by the world. A second-century author remarked that Christians are to the world what the soul is to the body. It was people of faith who transformed Greco-Roman civilization and empowered it to thrive.

This is the way of believers in every age, “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested” (2 Cor 4:10).

In this book, Catholics in Exile: Biblical Wisdom for the Journey Home, authors Scott Hahn and Brandon McGinley demonstrate that the same power that converted the world in the first century is still converting the world today. Providence is not like a sporting event, or the stock market, or the battlefield, where progress can be measured. But it is more reliable than any measurement we have.

The message of this book is at once bracingly realistic and hopeful. Christians today are living in exile. But Christians have always lived as strangers in a strange land—and have nevertheless prevailed. It is a timeless message, but calibrated here precisely for our time.

Scott Hahn is the Fr. Michael Scanlan Professor of Biblical Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he has taught since 1990. Founder and President of the St. Paul Center, Dr. Hahn has been married to Kimberly since 1979; they have six children and twenty-one grandchildren. The author or editor of over forty popular and academic books, Dr. Hahn’s works include best-selling titles Rome Sweet Home, The Lamb’s Supper, and Hope to Die.

Brandon McGinley is the deputy editorial page editor for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. His work in politics included pro-life and pro-family advocacy with the Pennsylvania Family Institute. McGinley’s writing has appeared in the Washington Post, First Things, The Catholic Herald, The Lamp, and Plough, among other venues. He is the author of The Prodigal Church: Restoring Catholic Tradition in an Age of Deception and co-author with Scott Hahn of It is Right and Just: Why the Future of Civilization Depends on True Religion. He is a graduate of Princeton University, where he met his wife Katie. They have five young children.