The New Testament: A Translation by david bentley hart yale, 616 pages, $35 David Bentley Hart’s new single-handed translation of the New Testament will strike the fair-minded reader by turns as startling, incisive, audacious, smug, shrewd, and quirky to the point of exasperation: everything, in . . . . Continue Reading »
Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisitedby philip eadehenry holt, 432 pages, $32 Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh was born in 1903 to upper-middle-class Anglicans who lived in a suburb of London. He attended a boarding secondary school (Lancing College), read history at Oxford, published his first book (a . . . . Continue Reading »
Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivityby james martin, s.j.harperone, 150 pages, $19.99 Is sodomy a sin? Perplexed readers of Fr. James Martin, S.J.’s latest book will want to put the question to him, . . . . Continue Reading »
Writing of her mother, Flannery OConnor once told a friend, I always thought that if she had a dog shed name him Spot”without irony. If I had a dog Id name him Spot, with irony. But for all practical purposes no one would know the difference. By its nature, irony . . . . Continue Reading »
(chanted to no tune in particular)BEFORE: by Julia Ward HoweMine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on!Glory, glory, . . . . Continue Reading »
Let me re-introduce you to Mr. Harold Skimpole. Skimpole lives in the pages of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House; he made his first appearance 140 years ago, yet those who are acquainted with the principal hierophants of New Age spirituality may receive more than a slight shock of recognition: He was . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus: A Life by A. N. Wilson Norton, 269 pages, $22.95 Live from Golgotha by Gore Vidal Random House, 225 pages , $22 Blasphemy is the derogation of God. To conceive of God apart from His holiness is intrinsically impossible. But to derogate God is precisely to deny His holiness. Therefore . . . . Continue Reading »
The Secularization of the Academy edited by George M. Marsden and Bradley J. Longfield Oxford University Press, 323 pages, $35 cloth, $15.95 paper The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that presentation to the vacant benefice of Brantham, in the Diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich, devolves on the . . . . Continue Reading »
“When you say hill,’ “ the Queen interrupted, “I could show you hills, in comparison with which you’d call that a valley.” “No, I shouldn’t,” said Alice, surprised into contradicting her at last: “a hill can’t be a valley, you . . . . Continue Reading »
The American Academy of Religion, in its statement of purpose, calls itself “an inclusive learned society and professional association in the field of the study of religion. The Academy [we are told] fosters teaching, research, scholarship, and critical awareness about the study of religion as . . . . Continue Reading »
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