Rather than cover the signature of the Treaty on December 6, 1921 this year the pages devoted to the past will reflect upon the Dáil vote to accept the Treaty, the centenary of which falls tomorrow on January 7. This may well be, in the fuller retrospect of history, a far more important date, it…
The story is told, by the Victorian writer H.C. Adams, of a student in the 1870s who was asked by an academic in an early exam in divinity at Oxford, “What is the distance from Bethany to Jerusalem?” “A mile and a half,” was the immediate reply. “I think not sir,” re-joined the examiner: “the…
World of Books Selected by the Books Editor The December and January holiday season is the most important sales period of the year for many publishers and bookshops. The tables in the books-sellers are piled with books of all kinds, many on topics that would get better attention at another time of the year, such…
Books are among the most acceptable gifts we can give to others, especially children. Here is a small selection of what is now available, for young people of all ages, with a reminder too that Christmas is still a religious celebration, whatever the bizarre commercial activities that now surround it. Remember books are not just…
by the Books Editor When they were in doubt about a book to give a child or young person, our parents, grandparents and great grandparents gave a classic and in doing so followed an important tradition. But it is one with for some people disconcerting results. The philosopher L.P. Jacks, the once eminent editor of…
The World of Books by the books editor The other day I was reading a book by the American palaeontologist George Gaylord Simpson about his expedition through part of Patagonia in 1930 in search of fossils. His finds helped recreate an idea of past life; but it was not his comments on geology that caught…
My Words will not Pass Away by Fr Martin Hogan (Messenger Publications, €19.95/£18.95) Fr Martin Hogan formerly lectured in New Testament studies at Mater Dei in Dublin, and had written some five previous books on reflections for the liturgical years. These commentaries allow readers to enjoy a period of reflection in their own time, recollections…
Karl I, destined to be the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary (where he ruled as Karoly IV), succeeded on the death of his great-uncle Franz Joseph who had blundered into war with Serbia and so opened the way to the ruin of Europe. When the Emperor Karl gave up the government of…
The Birth of Jesus the Jew: Midrash and the Infancy Gospels by Peter Keenan (Columba Books, €14.99/£12.99) Peter Keenan is a man with a mission. He styles himself “a post-holocaust Christian”, and believes that the outlook of all Christians of every persuasion should be shaped by the fact of the Shoah. This has a bearing…
Chaplains: Ministers of Hope ed by Alan Hilliard, with a foreword by Bishop Eamonn Walsh (Messenger Publications, €19.95/£18.95) Unheard Voices: Reflections of a prison chaplain by Imelda Wickham PBVM, foreword by Peter McVerry SJ (Messenger Publications, €12.95/£11.95) Our attitudes to chaplains may well depend on our own experiences. One of my brothers, who lived in…