View source for Joseph Pearce

{{Short description|British-American Catholic writer}}
{{Other people|Joseph Pearce}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Joseph Pearce
| image = Joseph Pearce speaking into a microphone.jpg
| caption = Pearce in 2007
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1961|2|12|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[North East (London sub region)|East London]], England
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| occupation = Biographer
| website = {{url|jpearce.co}}
}}

'''Joseph Pearce''' (born February 12, 1961), is a British-born American writer, and {{As of|2014|lc=on}} Director of the Center for Faith and Culture<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.aquinascollege.edu/joseph-pearce-director-faith-culture-writer-residence/ |title=Joseph Pearce Joins Aquinas College |publisher=[[Aquinas College (Tennessee)|Aquinas College, Nashville]] |date=23 April 2014 |access-date=13 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731070523/http://www.aquinascollege.edu/joseph-pearce-director-faith-culture-writer-residence/ |archive-date=31 July 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> at [[Aquinas College (Tennessee)|Aquinas College]] in [[Nashville, Tennessee]], before which he held positions at [[Thomas More College of Liberal Arts]] in [[Merrimack, New Hampshire]], [[Ave Maria College]] in [[Ypsilanti, Michigan]] and Ave Maria University in [[Ave Maria, Florida]].

He is a co-editor of the ''[[St. Austin Review]]''.

Pearce has written biographies of literary figures, often Christian, including [[William Shakespeare]], [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], [[Oscar Wilde]], [[C. S. Lewis]], [[G. K. Chesterton]], [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]] and [[Hilaire Belloc]].

==Biography==

===Early life===

Joseph Pearce was born in [[Barking, London]], and brought up in [[Haverhill, Suffolk]].<ref group=P>{{harvnb|Pearce|2013|pp=35–37}}</ref> His father, Albert Arthur Pearce, was a heavy drinker with a history of brawling in [[English pub|pub]]s with Irishmen and non-Whites, had an encyclopedic knowledge of [[English poetry]] and [[British military history]], and an intense [[nostalgia]] for the vanished [[British Empire]].<ref name="Gress 2013">{{cite news |last=Gress |first=Carrie |title=From Skinhead Bulldog to Catholic Man of Letters |url=https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2013/09/06/from-skinhead-bulldog-to-catholic-man-of-letters/ |access-date=4 March 2021 |work=Catholic World Report |date=6 September 2013}}</ref> In 1973 the family moved back to Barking in the [[East End of London]], so that the Pearce boys would grow up with [[Cockney accent]]s. Pearce had been a compliant pupil at the school in Haverhill, but at Eastbury [[comprehensive school]] in Barking he led the [[racist]] disruption of the lessons taught by a young [[Pakistani British]] mathematics teacher.<ref name="Race 37" group=P>{{harvnb|Pearce|2013|pp=37–48}}</ref>

===Early political activity===

At 15, Pearce joined the [[youth wing]] of the [[National Front (UK)|National Front]], an [[antisemitic]] and [[white supremacist]] [[political party]] advocating the compulsory repatriation of all legal [[immigration to the UK|immigrants]] and British-born non-Whites. He came to prominence in 1977 when he set up ''Bulldog'', the NF's openly racist newspaper.<ref name="Gress 2013"/> Like his father, Pearce became an enthusiastic supporter of [[Ulster Loyalism]] during [[the Troubles]] from 1978,<ref name="Gress 2013"/> and joined the [[Orange Order]], a  [[Protestant]] [[secret society]] closely linked to Ulster Loyalist [[paramilitary]] organizations.<ref name="Gress 2013"/> In 1980, he became editor of ''Nationalism Today'', advocating [[white supremacy]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Two booklets by Joseph 'Joe' Pearce |url=http://rootsofradicalism.com/publications/books_and_booklets/joe-pearce/ |website=Roots of Radicalism |access-date=4 March 2021}}</ref> Pearce was twice prosecuted and imprisoned under the [[Race Relations Act 1976|Race Relations Act of 1976]] for his writings, in 1981 and 1985.<ref name="Gress 2013"/><ref name="Walker 2013">{{cite web |last1=Walker |first1=Clare |title=Radical Conversion From 'Racial Hatred to Rational Love' |url=https://www.ncregister.com/news/radical-conversion-from-racial-hatred-to-rational-love |publisher=National Catholic Register |access-date=4 March 2021 |date=23 November 2013}}</ref> At one stage, he contacted [[John Tyndall (politician)|John Tyndall]] to suggest coalition talks with the [[British National Party]], but Tyndall rejected the plan.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Ray Hill |author2=A. Bell |title=The Other Face of Terror |location=London |publisher=Grafton |year=1988 |pages=173–174}}</ref> Pearce was a close associate of [[Nick Griffin]], whom he helped to oust [[Martin Webster]] from the NF's leadership.<ref>{{cite book |author=N. Copsey |title=Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy |location=Basingstoke |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2004 |page=34}}</ref> As a spokesman for the [[Strasserite]] Political Soldier faction within the NF, Pearce argued for white supremacy, publishing the ''Fight for Freedom!'' pamphlet in 1984.<ref>{{cite book |author=M. Durham |chapter=Women and the National Front |editor1=L. Cheles |editor2=R. Ferguson |editor3=M. Vaughan |title=Neo-Fascism in Europe |location=London |publisher=Longman |year=1991 |pages=265–266}}</ref> At the same time, however, Pearce adopted the group's support for [[ethnopluralism]], contacting the [[Embassy of Iran, London|Iranian embassy in London]] in 1984 in a vain attempt to secure funding from the Government of the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Ray Hill |author2=A. Bell |title=The Other Face of Terror |location=London |publisher=Grafton |year=1988 |page=254}}</ref> Pearce became a leading member of a new NF political faction known as the Flag Group, writing for its publications and contributing to its ideology. Pearce notably argued, based on the writings of [[G.K. Chesterton]] and [[Hilaire Belloc]], for [[distributism]] as an alternative to both [[Marxism]] and [[Laissez faire]] [[Capitalism]] in a 1987 article for the party magazine ''Vanguard''.<ref>{{cite book |author=G. Gable |author-link=Gerry Gable |chapter=The Far Right in the United Kingdom |editor1=L. Cheles |editor2=R. Ferguson |editor3=M. Vaughan |title=Neo-Fascism in Europe |location=London |publisher=Longman |year=1991 |page=262}}</ref>

===Conversion===
[[File:G. K. Chesterton at work.jpg|thumb|left|Pearce's conversion to Catholicism was influenced by the writings of [[G. K. Chesterton]].<ref name="Gress 2013"/>]]

Pearce converted to Catholicism during his second prison term (1985–1986).<ref name="Hall 2017">{{cite news |last1=Hall |first1=James |title=How Britain's Nazi punk bands became a gateway drug for US white supremacy |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/britains-nazi-punks-became-gateway-drug-us-white-supremacy/ |access-date=22 February 2021 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=23 August 2017}}</ref> He was received into the Catholic Church during [[Mass of Paul VI|Mass]] at Our Lady Mother of God Church in [[Norwich, England]] on [[Saint Joseph's Day]], 19 March 1989. Following the Mass, the women of the parish held a surprise party for Pearce, accompanied by a cake with, "Welcome Home, Joe", emblazoned on it.<ref name="Walker 2013"/><ref> Pearce (2013), ''Race with the Devil'', pages 203-205.</ref> Pearce has attributed his conversion to reading books by Catholic authors [[G. K. Chesterton]],<ref name="Gress 2013"/> [[John Henry Newman]], [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], and [[Hilaire Belloc]].<ref> Pearce (2005), ''Literary Giants, Literary Catholics'', [[Ignatius Press]]. Page 14.</ref>

===Biographer===

====Catholic subjects====

As a Catholic author, Pearce has focused mainly on the life and work of English Catholic writers, such as [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], [[G. K. Chesterton]] and [[Hilaire Belloc]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Salai |first=Sean (S.J.) |title=Writer Joseph Pearce on the Case for Shakespeare's Catholicism |publisher=[[America: The Jesuit Review]] |date=7 October 2019 |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2019/10/07/writer-joseph-pearce-case-shakespeares-catholicism}}</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]'' commented that ''Old Thunder: A Life of Hilaire Belloc'' "skates over" Belloc's [[antisemitism]], "the central disfiguring fact of his oeuvre".<ref name="Williams 2002">{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Hywel |title=Beer and Sussex |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/aug/17/featuresreviews.guardianreview |access-date=4 March 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=17 August 2002}}</ref>

He chose the [[pen name]] "Robert Williamson" after a character in the [[Ulster Loyalism|Ulster Loyalist]] ballad ''[[The Old Orange Flute]]'', who, like Pearce, is an [[Orange Order]] member who converts to [[Roman Catholicism]].<ref group=P>{{harvnb|Pearce|2013|pp=208–212}}</ref> Pearce's biography of [[G. K. Chesterton]], ''Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton'', was published, under the [[pseudonym]] of Robert Williamson, by [[Hodder and Stoughton]] in 1996. Jay P. Corrin, reviewing the book for ''[[The Catholic Historical Review]]'', called it "a venture of love and high praise", but which adds little to existing biographies. Its contribution, Corrin wrote, is its focus on Chesterton's religious vision and personal relationships, contrasting his friendly style with the combative Belloc.<ref name="Corrin 1998">{{cite journal |last=Corrin |first=Jay P. |title=Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton by Joseph Pearce | journal=The Catholic Historical Review |volume=84 |issue=1 |year=1998 |issn=1534-0708 |doi=10.1353/cat.1998.0149 |pages=134–136|s2cid=159438937 }}</ref>

Pearce's 2000 biography ''The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde'' focused on the conflict between [[Oscar Wilde]]'s [[homosexuality]] and his lifelong attraction to the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and how it was finally settled by his reception into the Church on his deathbed in [[Paris]].

In a review for ''The Wildean'' Michael Seeney described Pearce's biography as "badly written and muddled", "woefully poorly annotated" and using "odd sources without question".<ref name="Seeney 2000">{{cite journal |last=Seeney |first=Michael |title=Review: "The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde" by Joseph Pearce |journal=The Wildean |date=July 2000 |issue=17 |pages=65–67 |jstor=45270102 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45270102}}</ref> Seeney wrote that it "does not 'unmask' anything", but contains too much "cod psychology" and "hyperbolic cliché" to be a "workmanlike biography".<ref name="Seeney 2000"/>

In 2001, Pearce published a biography of [[Anglo-African|Anglo]]-[[South Africa|South African]] poet and Catholic convert [[Roy Campbell (poet)|Roy Campbell]], followed in 2003 by an edited anthology of Campbell's poetry and verse translations.

==== Tolkien ====

Pearce has written and published a variety of books of [[Tolkien studies]]. His essay ''Letting the Catholic Out of the Baggins'' discusses why. In 1997, the British people, in a nationwide poll by the [[Folio Society]], voted ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' the greatest book of the 20th century and the [[Reception of J. R. R. Tolkien#hostile|outraged reactions]] of literary celebrities such as [[Howard Jacobson]], [[Griff Rhys Jones]], and [[Germaine Greer]], inspired Pearce to write the books<ref> Pearce (2005), ''Literary Giants, Literary Catholics'', [[Ignatius Press]]. Pages 296-300.</ref> ''Tolkien: Man and Myth'' (1998), ''Tolkien, a Celebration'' (1999) and ''Bilbo's Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning in The Hobbit'' (2012). All of Pearce's Tolkien-themed books consider his subject's person and writings from a Catholic perspective. [[Bradley J. Birzer]] writes in ''[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]]'' that scholars had hardly discussed [[Christianity in Middle-earth|Tolkien's Catholicism]] until Pearce's ''Tolkien: Man and Myth'', describing the book as "outstanding", treating ''The Lord of the Rings'' as a "theological thriller" that "inspired a whole new wave of Christian evaluations".<ref name="Birzer 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Birzer |first=Bradley J. |author-link=Bradley J. Birzer  |title=Christian Readings of Tolkien |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |encyclopedia=[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=99–101}}</ref>

Pearce has credited his previously published books of [[Tolkien studies]] and "the wave of Tolkien enthusiasm" caused by [[Peter Jackson]]'s [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|film adaptation]] of ''The Lord of the Rings'', with making him into a celebrity intellectual following his 2001 emigration from England to the [[United States]].<ref> Pearce (2005), ''Literary Giants, Literary Catholics'', [[Ignatius Press]]. Pages 15-16.</ref>

===Move to the United States===

Pearce married Susannah Brown, an [[Irish-American]] woman with family roots in [[Dungannon]], [[County Tyrone]], in St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in [[Steubenville, Ohio]] in April 2001.<ref name="Race 226" group=P/> They have two children. He then received a telephone call and a job offer from the President of [[Ave Maria College]] in [[Michigan]]. The Pearces arrived in the [[United States]] on September 7, 2001. Pearce recalls that his first day of teaching coincided with the [[September 11 attacks]], "making my arrival in the States something of a baptism of fire."<ref name="Race 226" group=P>{{harvnb|Pearce|2013|pp=226–229}}</ref> The first issue of the Catholic [[literary magazine]] the ''[[St. Austin Review]]'', which Pearce has coedited ever since alongside [[Robert Asch]], was also published in September 2001.<ref> Pearce (2005), ''Literary Giants, Literary Catholics'', [[Ignatius Press]]. Page 16.</ref>

Pearce was the host of the 2009 [[EWTN]] television series ''[[The Quest for Shakespeare]]''. Based upon his eponymous book, the show is concerned with Pearce's belief that Shakespeare [[Religious views of William Shakespeare|was a Catholic]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090306191427/http://www.ewtn.com/series/2009/Shakespeare.htm ''The Quest for Shakespeare'']. [[EWTN]] Television, 6 March 2009 Accessed 5 May 2009.</ref>

In a 2014 essay, Pearce announced that he had become an American citizen.<ref> [https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/07/become-an-american-ponders.html From Mother England to Uncle Sam: An English American Ponders the Fourth of July], by Joseph Pearce, ''The Imaginative Conservative'', July 3, 2014.</ref>

In his 2017 [[stage play]] ''Death Comes for the War Poets'', according to ''Catholic Arts Today'', Pearce weaves "a verse tapestry," about the military and spiritual journeys of [[war poet]]s [[Siegfried Sassoon]] and [[Wilfred Owen]].<ref>{{cite web |author=((Catholic Arts Today Editors)) |title=Death Comes for the War Poets" An Interview with Joseph Pearce |publisher=Benedict XVI Institute |date=10 January 2018 |url=https://www.benedictinstitute.org/2018/01/death-comes-for-the-war-poets-the-joseph-pearce-interview/}}</ref>

In a 2022 interview with Pearce, Polish journalist Anna Szyda from the [[literary magazine]] ''Magna Polonia'' explained that the [[nihilism]] of modern [[American poetry]] is widely noticed and commented upon in the [[Third Polish Republic]] as reflecting, "the deleterious influence of the contemporary civilisation on the American soul." In response, Pearce described "the [[New Formalism|neo-formalist revival]]" inspired by the late [[Richard Wilbur]] and how it has been reflected in recent verse by the Catholic poets whom he and [[Robert Asch]] publish in the ''[[St. Austin Review]]''. Pearce said that the Catholic faith and [[optimism]] of the younger generation of Catholic poets made him feel hope for the future.<ref> [https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2022/05/poetry-modern-culture-joseph-pearce.html Poetry and Modern Culture: An Interview With Joseph Pearce] by Anna Szyda. May 17th, 2022.</ref>

In July 2022, Pearce was a speaker at the 41st Annual Conference of the American Chesterton Society in [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]]. Pearce's lecture was titled "How Chesterton Saved Me from [[anti-Semitism]]".<ref> [https://www.chesterton.org/41st-annual-chesterton-conference/ 41st Annual Chesterton Conference, July 28-30, 2022].</ref>

==Works==

===Publications===

*
* {{cite book |title=[[Skrewdriver]]: The First Ten Years: The Way It's Got to Be! |year=1987 |publisher=Skrewdriver Services |location=London }}
* {{cite book |title=Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of [[G. K. Chesterton]] |year=1996 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |isbn=0-340-67132-7}}
* {{cite book |title=The Three Ys Men |year=1998 |publisher=Saint Austin Press |location=London |isbn=1-901157-02-4}}
* {{cite book |title=[[Tolkien]]: Man and Myth |year=1998 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=0-00-274018-4}}
* {{cite book |title=Literary Converts: Spiritual Inspiration in an Age of Unbelief |year=1999 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=0-00-628111-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/literaryconverts0000pear }}
* {{cite book |title=[[Tolkien]]: A Celebration. Collected Writings on a Literary Legacy |year=1999 |publisher=Fount |location=London |isbn=0-00-628120-6 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |title=Flowers of Heaven: 1000 years of Christian Verse |year=1999 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |isbn=0-340-72220-7 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |title=[[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn|Solzhenitsyn]]: A Soul in Exile |year=1999 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=0-00-274040-0 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Unmasking of [[Oscar Wilde]] |year=2000 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=0-00-274042-7}}
* {{cite book |title=Bloomsbury and Beyond: The Friends and Enemies of Roy Campbell |year=2001 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=0-00-274092-3}} Published in the United States as {{cite book |title=Unafraid of [[Virginia Woolf]]: The Friends and Enemies of Roy Campbell |year=2004 |publisher=ISI Books |location=Wilmington, Delaware |isbn=978-1-932236-36-1}}
* {{cite book |title=Small Is Still Beautiful |year=2001 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=0-00-274090-7}} Published in the United States as {{cite book |title=Small Is Still Beautiful: Economics as if Families Mattered |year=2006 |publisher=ISI Books |location=Wilmington, Delaware |isbn=978-1-933859-05-7 }} [https://scienceinproducts.blogspot.com/2011/01/small-is-still-beautiful-review-part-i.html (Book Review and Summary)]
* {{cite book |title=Selected Poems |last=Campbell |first=Roy |editor1-first=Joseph |editor1-last=Pearce |year=2001 |publisher=Saint Austin |location=London |isbn=1-901157-59-8 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |title=Old Thunder: A Life of [[Hilaire Belloc]] |year=2002 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=0-00-274096-6}}
* {{cite book |title=[[C. S. Lewis]] and the Catholic Church |year=2003 |publisher=Ignatius Press |location=San Francisco |isbn=0-89870-979-2}}
* {{cite book |title=Literary Giants, Literary Catholics |year=2005 |publisher=Ignatius Press |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-1-58617-077-6}}
* {{cite book |title=The Quest for [[Shakespeare]]: The Bard of Avon and the Church of Rome |year=2008|publisher=Ignatius Press |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-1-58617-224-4}}
* {{cite book |title=Divining Divinity: A Book of Poems |year=2008 |publisher=Kaufmann Publishing |isbn=978-0-9768580-1-0}}
* {{cite book |title=Through Shakespeare's Eyes: Seeing the Catholic Presence in the Plays |year=2010 |publisher=Ignatius Press |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-1-58617-413-2}}
* {{cite book |title=Bilbo's Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning in The Hobbit |year=2012 |publisher=Saint Benedict Press |location=Charlotte, North Carolina |isbn=978-1-61890-058-6}}
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare on Love|year=2013 |publisher=Ignatius Press |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-1-58617-684-6}}
* {{cite book |title=Candles in the Dark: The Authorized Biography of Fr. Ho Lung and the [[Missionaries of the Poor]]|year=2013 |publisher=Saint Benedict Press |location=Charlotte, North Carolina |isbn=978-1-61890-398-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Pearce |first=Joseph |author-mask=0 |title=Race with the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love |year=2013 |publisher=Saint Benedict Press |location=Charlotte, North Carolina |isbn=978-1-61890-065-4}}
* {{cite book |title=Beauteous Truth: Faith, Reason, Literature and Culture |year=2014 |publisher=St. Augustine's Press |location=South Bend, Indiana |isbn=978-1-58731-067-6}}
* {{cite book |title=Frodo's Journey: Discover The Hidden Meaning Of The Lord Of The Rings |year=2015 |publisher=Saint Benedict Press |location=Charlotte, North Carolina |isbn=978-1618906755}}
* {{cite book |title=Poems Every Catholic Should Know |year=2016 |publisher=[[TAN Books]] |location=[[Gastonia, North Carolina]] |isbn=978-1505108620}}
* {{cite book |title=Merrie England: A Journey Through the Shire |year=2016 |publisher=Saint Benedict Press |location=Charlotte, North Carolina |isbn=978-1-50510-719-7}}
* {{cite book |title=[[Tom Monaghan|Monaghan]]: A Life |year=2016 |publisher=Saint Benedict Press |location=Charlotte, North Carolina |isbn=978-1-50510-890-3}}
* {{cite book |title=Further Up & Further In: Understanding Narnia |year=2018 |publisher=TAN Books |location=Gastonia, North Carolina |isbn=978-1505108668}}
* {{cite book |title=Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know |year=2019 |publisher=[[Augustine Institute]] |location=[[Greenwood Village, Colorado]] |isbn=978-1733522120}}
* {{cite book |title=Benedict XVI: Defender of the Faith |year=2022 |publisher=[[TAN Books]] |location=[[Gastonia, North Carolina]] |isbn=978-1618907363}}
* {{cite book |title=Faith of Our Fathers: A History of True England |year=2022 |publisher=[[Ignatius Press]] |location=San Francisco, California |isbn=978-1621644354}}
* Foreword to The Cenacle Press's 2023 republication of [[Robert Hugh Benson|Robert Hugh Benson's]] ''The King's Achievement''<ref>{{Cite web |title=The King's Achievement (Benson) |url=https://cenaclepress.com/en-us/products/the-kings-achievement-benson |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=The Cenacle Press at Silverstream Priory |language=en}}</ref>''.''
* Foreword to Os Justi Press's 2023 republication of [[Hilaire Belloc|Hilaire Belloc's]] ''The Cruise of the 'Nona'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Cruise of the Nona |url=https://osjustipress.com/products/cruise-of-the-nona |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Os Justi Press |language=en}}</ref>''.''

==References==

=== Primary ===

{{Reflist|group=P|30em}}

=== Secondary ===

{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}

* {{official website|https://jpearce.co/}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041207183340/http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2003/0305fea2.asp Autobiographical page]
* [http://www.staustinreview.org/ ''Saint Austin Review'']
* Clips of Joseph Pearce speaking about his conversion: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX0nHNV9vfs 1], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBvpa8dKBzQ 2]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081121110749/http://siministries.org/Podcast/TheConversionofJosephPearce Joseph Pearce speaks about his conversion]
* [http://www.ewtn.com/series/2009/Shakespeare.htm ''The Quest for Shakespeare''], EWTN's page for the TV show
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjCfb35jqZ0 Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings — A Catholic Worldview]

{{J. R. R. Tolkien}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Joseph}}
[[Category:1961 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American academics]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American poets]]
[[Category:21st-century British male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century British non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century British poets]]
[[Category:21st-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:American Catholic poets]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American male poets]]
[[Category:American modernist poets]]
[[Category:American religious writers]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholic writers]]
[[Category:Ave Maria University faculty]]
[[Category:British Catholic poets]]
[[Category:British emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:British expatriate academics in the United States]]
[[Category:British male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:British modernist poets]]
[[Category:British religious writers]]
[[Category:British Roman Catholic writers]]
[[Category:Catholics from Tennessee]]
[[Category:Catholic philosophers]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism]]
[[Category:Distributism]]
[[Category:English biographers]]
[[Category:Formalist poets]]
[[Category:Former white supremacists]]
[[Category:National Front (UK) politicians]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Category:People from Barking, London]]
[[Category:Shakespearean scholars]]
[[Category:Sonneteers]]
[[Category:Strasserism]]
[[Category:Tolkien scholars]]
[[Category:Writers from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham]]
[[Category:Writers from Nashville, Tennessee]]