Some books—the detective novel is the most obvious genre—must be read as they are written, front to back. Peeking ahead spoils everything. Others, Hebrew texts and now Robert Jay Lifton and Eric Markusen’s The Genocidal Mentality are better approached (though for different . . . . Continue Reading »
The Jesuits and the Third Reich by vincent a. lapomarda, s. j. the edwin mellen press, 375 pages, $39.95 At the beginning of this valuable study, Vincent A. Lapomarda, who is Curator of the Hiatt Collection of Holocaust Materials at Holy Cross College, allows that Catholics have not recounted . . . . Continue Reading »
In Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana the dissolute but not, he emphatically insists, officially “defrocked” Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon has been “collecting evidence . . . of man’s inhumanity to God.” When asked what he means by that. Shannon indicates that he refers to the . . . . Continue Reading »
The Political Meaning of Christianity: An Interpretation by glenn tinder louisiana state university press, 257pages, $29.95 I seek God! I seek God,” wails the madman. “Whither is God?” “We have killed him,” cries the crowd, “you and I. All of us are his murderers . . . God is dead. . . . . Continue Reading »
Recent reports from a French laboratory contain some good news and some bad news for the prochoice movement. The good news is that abortion is not the taking of human life. Studies conducted by the French geneticist Jacques “Mad Jack” Junot of the Institut Genetique in Paris reveal that, . . . . Continue Reading »
What is the crisis of the West? In some cases the sense of this frequently asked if daunting question may be quite specific. It may refer, say, to an economic crisis: trade deficits, foreign indebtedness, or the collapse of the Third World. If something is not done immediately to cure this . . . . Continue Reading »
Women and Evil by nell noddings university of california press, 284 pages, $25 For centuries theologians and philosophers have been struggling with the agonizing and bewildering problem of evil. Believing Jews and Christians cannot escape the perennial dilemma of reconciling the existence of . . . . Continue Reading »
It is hard to imagine a Jew today who would come to Germany without a profound sense of uneasiness. Considering the agony of the Jewish people at the hands of the Germans from 1933 to 1945, one can well understand the attitude of many Jews today—even forty-five years after the Nazi horror has . . . . Continue Reading »
The Giving and Taking of Life: Essays Ethicalby james turnstead burchtaelluniversity of notre dame press, 324 pages, $29.95 A powerful truth, pressed too far, may finally mislead. That, or something like it, seems to me the right way to describe this book. The essays gathered in this volume are . . . . Continue Reading »