The Polish Society Yearbook 2018 Jaroslaw Plachecki (Polish Society, email: ips.dublin@gmail.com; post only, Polish House, 20 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland) The Irish Polish Society was established in Dublin in January 1979. The members were largely Poles who migrated from their country following World War II. The Society acquired its Centre – ‘Polish House’…
Irish Anglicanism 1969-2019: Essays to mark the 150th Anniversary of the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland edited by Kenneth Milne & Paul Harron(Four Courts Press, €24.95) Robert Marshall In 1970, to mark the centenary of its disestablishment, a volume of essays edited by Fr Michael Hurley SJ was generously presented by 17 ecumenical essayists…
Burned: The inside story of the ‘cash for ash’ scandal and Northern Ireland’s secretive new elite by Sam McBride (Merrion Press, €19.95) The scandal of Northern Ireland’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is one of bureaucratic failure, sloppy political oversight, and culpable procrastination, all leading to a colossal waste of public money. This book will…
Has Science Killed God? Faraday Papers on Science and Religion edited by Denis Alexander (SPCK, £19.99) Christopher Moriarty This is a truly amazing book. Written by a team of eminent scientists, who are also believers in the reality of the spiritual, it provides a great deal of comfort to people of faith who…
Dorothy Macardle by Leeann Lane (University College Dublin Press, €25.00) In this study the author sets out to explore Dorothy Macardle’s writings to reveal the development of her political thought and feminism. In so doing she has provided an excellent biography of her subject. Dorothy was born on March 7, 1889 in Dundalk, Co.…
Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Søren Kierkegaard by Clare Carlisle (Allen Lane, £25.00) Patrick Claffey This exploration of the tortured mind and faith of Kierkegaard is a challenging title with which to begin a fresh year of reading. Clare Carlisle opens her preface to this book on the philosopher with a reference…
Mainly About Books by the books editor Recently we reviewed Elizabeth Mac Donald’s novel A Matter of Interpretation about Michael Scot and his lifelong interaction with the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1195-1250), the Norman who ruled Sicily and Southern Italy, and was one of the leading figures in the political and…
Personal Struggle: Oppression, healing and liberation by Dr Seán Ruth (Atrium / Cork University Press, €14.95) The title may, for some, carry echoes of the 1970s. But in a sense the problems identified then by theologians and social activists have not gone away. They have got worse in many respects (especially in Latin American). Worse the…
All thoughts of Christmas might seem to have been far away from a late summer day in the warm climate of Provence, but such was not the case this year for me. We were on a trip to stay with friends and relations in Toulouse. During the days we were there we were taken to…
Some of our regular reviewers select the book or books they most enjoy or were impressed by over the course of the last year… Mary Kenny Although it’s a serious and scholarly book, Religion, Landscape & Settlement in Ireland – From Patrick to Present, by Kevin Whelan (Four Courts Press, €45.00), is clear, accessible and…
Peter Costello