Over the last half-century or so, art history has become one of the most popular subjects to be pursued at universities. This trend has produced large numbers of people to provide new insights both into the lives of artists and how art is conceived and made. This is all to the good. Yet sometimes there…
The Miracle of the Universe: Science, Christian Faith and Personal Experience, by Jim O’Connell, MHM (London St Pauls Publishing, €11.99 / £10.95) The author of this book is a Mill Hill Missionary, who has spent many years in Kenya, as well as at home, teaching and editing. This is his third book, and again…
The Living Image: Returning to the Heart, by Anna Burke (Messenger Publications, €9.95 / £8.95) Turning from Jim O’Connell to Anna Burke is to encounter a very different apprehension of the human and divine; yet what she has to say seems to grow out from what he writes in a living way, underlining the connectivity…
Vatican Spies, from the Second World War to Pope Francis, by Yvonnick Denoël (Hurst and Company, £25.00 / €32.99) This book first appeared in French back in 2021, so it is about time that an English language version appeared, for it will certainly be of great interest, not only to Catholics of all kinds, but also…
Dad, by Aubrey Malone (Penniless Press Publications, £.7.99; a print-on-demand book from the publisher Ken Clay at pennilesspress.co.uk; for residents of Ireland, through aubreypmalone@hotmail.com; or locally at the Book Stand, Tone Street, Ballina, Co. Mayo, F26 VF30; tel.: (096) 60370.) Aubrey Malone will be familiar to readers as the film critic of this paper, though he…
Robert St Leger SJ, by Thomas J Morrissey SJ (Messenger Publications, €12.95 / £11.50) When one considers the huge number of Irish men who answered the call of a priestly vocation, over the last three centuries it is inevitable that most of them will now be either forgotten or little known. The author of…
Crumbs from the Pastor’s Table: Reflection on the Catholic Lectionary – Three Year Cycle, by ‘Fr Francis’ (Scholastic Publications, available through Amazon.ie, €20.53 + €3.99 postage.) We have lived to see the end of the great days of sermons. In the Central Catholic Library, on Dublin’s Merrion Square, there is one wall in the…
This has been the week that people of Irish culture, wherever they are in the world, celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Our government ministers have sped around the world to capitals where they think Ireland can achieve better things. Otherwise, it has become, especially at home, a sort of carnival, with Mock Bishops surrounded by red-bearded…
Love, War, and Diplomacy: The discovery of the Amarna Letters & the Bronze Age world they revealed, by Eric H. Cline (Princeton University Press, £30.00 / €39.95) Prof. Eric H. Cline is a leading North American archaeologist of Middle Eastern archaeology. He is the author of a previous widely admired book 1177 B. C.: The Year…
The Complete Francis of Assisi: His Life, The Complete Writings, and The Little Flowers, by Paul Sabatier and others (Paraclete Press, €38.50) Currently the remains of St Francis of Assisi are on display in the Italian hilltop town where he died on October 3, 1226, some 800 years ago. They are on view until March…