Arts and Culture

Dark vs. light, Russian style

June 5, 2007

For those who found the Lord of the Rings trilogy a tad bombastic and perhaps simplistic in its fairyland reduction of the forces of light and forces of darkness into two massively clashing armies, now there’s an alternative — from Russia, with love.

Unmasking Amnesty’s hope-filled realist

June 5, 2007

Dispatches From the Global Village by Derek Evans (CopperHouse, softcover, 192 pages, $23.95). If you asked me today to name a sole companion on a desert island, my first choice — after my husband, of course — would be Derek Evans, former deputy secretary general of Amnesty International. Until now, he was only a name on mailings I would receive in return for my annual donation. But after reading Dispatches From the Global Village — a collection of 38 monthly columns he’s written for his village paper near Penticton, B.C. — I realized here truly was a man described in the foreword by a friend as a “gentle soul with a will of iron… an artist and a scientist” and one who, “in the midst of this global terror, introduces us to a diplomacy of light.”

Through the pages of a Jesuit life

May 24, 2007

The Greater Glory, Thirty-Seven Years With the Jesuits by Stephen Casey (McGill-Queen’s University Press, hardcover, 243 pages, $34.95). The immigrants to Canada in the mid-1800s brought with them their skills, dreams, fears, languages, customs, foods and their religions. As they clung to their heritage and memory from the Old World, they implanted what they considered to be the best of what they had known in Europe. This immigration married their religious expectations and traditions, for better or for worse, with those of the French Canadians who had preceded them in the flight from Europe.

Adapting the Eucharist has met world’s changing needs and context

May 18, 2007

A Short History of the Mass, by Alfred McBride, O.Praem (St. Anthony Messenger Press, softcover, 120 pages, $14.70). Anyone looking for a clear, concise history of the Mass from the upper room to the present need look no further than Alfred McBride’s A Short History of the Mass.

Not another John Paul II book

May 18, 2007

John Paul II: Man of History, by Edward Stourton (Hodder and Stoughton, 344 pages, hardcover, $42.99). A recent search of chapters.ca uncovered 81 titles listed as biographies of Pope John Paul II. It makes you wonder what a new book would have to say to merit its price. After reading Edward Stourton’s John Paul II: Man of History, you would still be wondering.

Tapping into the past to see how ideas and structures took form

May 18, 2007

Nuns: A History of Convent Life 1450-1700 by Silvia Evangelisti (Oxford University Press, 304 pages, hardcover, $39.95). Even if a period of our history may seem foreign, it may offer insight into creativity, daring and commitment — qualities still so needed to become the sisters God hopes to always see in each of our convents. God saw it through the stories of women like Ana de Jesús (faithful companion of St. Teresa of Avila). Surely God can still see it today.

Questioning some common beliefs

May 18, 2007

Tall Tales About The Mind & Brain, Separating Fact From Fiction edited by Sergio Della Sala (Oxford University Press, 548 pages, hardcover, $64.95). Having a set of beliefs does not mean we stop thinking or questioning our deepest held assumptions. One of the primary reasons I love Catholicism is that it encourages critical thinking. Catholics are required not to simply believe but to understand reasons behind their beliefs. There is a healthy role that doubt and questioning play in being able to appreciate the mystery in all things.

Making Mohammed real for 21st century

May 18, 2007

In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Mohammed by Tariq Ramadan (Oxford University Press, hardcover, 256 pages, $28.95). Many years ago, well before I ever became a priest, I found myself living a crisis of faith. In my searching I decided to make a detailed examination of other religions along with my own. In the end I concluded that only the Catholic faith could have a claim to being the truth, but I also came away with a healthy respect for the other world religions.

Across the editor’s desk

May 18, 2007

Every week at least half a dozen books drift across the editor’s desk at The Catholic Register. Most weeks we have barely enough space to thoughtfully review one. So, in the interest of fuller disclosure, here’s a few notes about some of the books we haven’t sent out for review.

American psychologists give tools to achieve goals

May 13, 2007

It’s Not My Fault, by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend (Integrity Publishers, 241 pages, softcover $19.13). TORONTO - It’s Not My Fault is a book for those who are seeking goals they cannot seem to reach, but goals they still would like to achieve. Authors Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend say the problem doesn’t stem from circumstances around a person, but from within themselves.