Arts and Culture

From Genesis to the Apocalypse

February 12, 2007

academyaward [images/stories/arts/academyaward.jpg]The most important information in the bookends of the Bible, Genesis and Apocalypse, is the stuff that tells us who we are. Identity is one of the most deeply religious questions we can ask.

Hollywood misses Jesus' humanity, divinity

February 12, 2007

jesushollywood [images/stories/books/jesushollywood.jpg]WATERLOO, Ont. - Hollywood has portrayed Jesus in various ways over the years in film but none has managed to adequately illustrate both His humanity and His divinity.

Play asks the ethical questions that need to be asked

January 29, 2007

Theatre review: Chimera Chimera is an engaging play about a topic which is rarely dealt with in theatre. For that reason alone it is well worth seeing, but it is also well acted and well staged, thought provoking and topical.

BOOK REVIEW: All we are saying is give faith a chance

January 29, 2007

God at Work [images/stories/books/0195314808.jpg]God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement by David W. Miller (Oxford University Press, 222 pages, hardcover, $38.95). In God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement, David W. Miller commits "to recognize the faith at work movement as a movement; to understand its roots and historical trajectory leading to its current form and substance; to offer a framework and language to analyse it, challenge it and assist it to realize its significant social possibilities; and to raise questions for further research." This is a tall order.

Giller Award winner has sense of service

January 26, 2007

dr. lam [images/stories/arts/lam.jpg]TORONTO - One gets the sense from reading selections from Dr. Vincent Lam's Scotiabank-Giller Prize-winning new collection, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, that the author would have made an excellent reporter had his time not already been taken up with medicine and fiction writing.

Painting aids retired bishop on spiritual journey

January 22, 2007

Bishop Lacey [images/stories/arts/lacey.jpg]TORONTO - There is barely a square inch of free wall space in Bishop Pearse Lacey's North York apartment. The walls are covered with dozens of portrait and landscape paintings, most of which he painted himself.

Essayists miss the faces of the church

January 17, 2007

Why I am still a Catholic [images/stories/books/why_am_i.jpg]When I first saw the title of this book of essays, my heart sank. Was it going to be full of whining about that faceless entity, "The Church," meaning that other faceless entity, "The Magisterium"? And indeed, one clever contributor, BBC radio presenter Edward Stourton, points out the dark connotations of the word still: "…I detect a whiff of prejudicing the argument in the use of the word 'still'; it suggests a 'despite' in the sub-text, a conviction that we apologists must make our case in the face of overwhelming evidence of the general ghastliness of the church under the long reign of John Paul II."

Hope in a child's birth

January 5, 2007

Children of Men [images/stories/movies/childrenofmen.jpg]Writer-director Alfonso Cuaron uses P.D. James's novel The Children of Men to show us a world worn out, spinning on the empty energy of caffeine, terrorism, anger, paranoia, suicide and the media's technology of mental chaos. He shows us the real culture of death. But then he shows us something more.

Spiritans go tubing

January 5, 2007

youtube [images/stories/misc/youtube.jpg]TORONTO - Some religious communities are turning to the latest technology to help promote vocations. Fr. Paul McAuley, C.S.Sp., decided to post some videos about TransCanada Province of the Spiritans on YouTube after reading about it in the news recently.

Where faith meets science

December 19, 2006

[images/stories/books/booksgod.jpg]The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, by Francis S. Collins (Free Press 304 pages, hardcover, $32.95). The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins (Houghton Mifflin, 288 pages, hardcover, $35.95). Challenging Nature: The Clash of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers of Life, by Lee M. Silver (Ecco, 464 pages, hardcover, $34.95). The relationship between science and religion is the focus of a small swarm of new books. Almost all of these books are written by scientists, suggesting that the scientific community is feeling some pressure to articulate just how its work relates to religion.