Mainly about Books by the Books Editor It has long amazed me the amount of abuse that creationists and many evangelicals heap upon the head of Charles Darwin. Much of what is said is simply wrongheaded, or relies on over simplistic interpretations of the Book of Genesis (one of the most challenging books of the Bible…
Religion, Landscape & Settlement in Ireland, from Patrick to the Present by Kevin Whelan (Four Courts Press, €45.00) This book is one which will interest a wide range of readers. As it is already into a second printing it can be said to have scored a great success with many of them, and many more…
Mainly About Books by the Books Editor Since Donald Trump took office as President of the US, the world has been fascinated, indeed mesmerised, by his daily use of short tweets to express his changing opinion, his unfocussed anger at friends and enemies (often there seems little distinction), and announce, often daily, new and…
Medieval Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela by Bernadette Cunningham (Four Court Press, €19.95) I never pass St James’s Gate in Dublin without thinking of that ancient city portal as the starting place of the medieval version of the Camino. It has long seemed to me those wishing to promote the way of St James here in Ireland…
The Book of Common Prayer: The texts of 1549. 1559, and 1662 edited with an introduction and Notes by Brian Cummings (Oxford World Classics, £10.99) Though its influence over English life and writing since the reign of the Tudors has been immense, almost as great as the King James Bible itself, the Book of Common Prayer, the…
The World of Books by the books editor With Twelfth Night, the Epiphany, Old Christmas and the Christmas of the Eastern Churches behind us wherever we are, the holiday season is truly past. The Christmas trees have come down, along with the lights, tinsel and holly, the cards received have been packed away as…
The World of Books by the books editor When I was a child the Christmas season and after was ‘the world of books’; books as gifts to give, books as presents to receive, books to own, to read with the family, books to read in bed at night. Books were an essential part of…
In the popular story of the Nativity the Three Kings, along with the angels, the shepherds, and the manger, have long played an important role. They are an essential part of school Nativity playlets, often with surprising results. At Christmas time 1961 the English cartoonist Osbert Lancaster published one of his classic pocket cartoons, which…
Our regular reviewers provide some choices of what were the best, or at least for them, the most interesting, books of the year in 2018 ANTHONY REDMOND The well-known writer and educator, Fr Michael Paul Gallagher SJ, died from cancer in November 2015. Thomas G. Casey, an Irish Jesuit priest who knew Fr Gallagher,…
At Christmas it is nice to give people a book which they will enjoy on other occasions, a book that will provide not just interest and amusement, but also insights of lasting value. Here is a small selection of books currently in the shops which we think readers may want to give or would love…