The Tilson Case: Church and State in 1950s Ireland, by David Jameson (Cork University Press, €39.00/£33.99) The Tilson Case hit the Irish public in the Holy Year of 1950. The West was over-charged with feeling, almost hysterical. In Hungary Cardinal Mindszenty had been imprisoned. The Korean War was in full swing, with the potential for…

Mary, Founder of Christianity by Chris Maunder (One World, €21.99/£18.99) Over the recent decades the role of women in the first centuries of the Church has come under more critical examination. One result of this, arising also from developed views of the role of women in society today, has been the demand for the ordination…

Comments on the margin By the books editor The other week, in a review of Bill Manley’s insightful book on the world’s most ancient book, recording the moral maxims of the ancient Egyptian sage Ptahhapt from about 2,400BC, I remarked that it set off in my mind a train of thought, but I postponed writing…

A New Ireland: Memories and Reflections of Cardinal Cahal B. Daly edited by Gemma Loughran, foreword by Archbishop Paul Gallagher (Veritas, €12.99 / £11.50) This little book was edited by Northern Ireland barrister Gemma Loughlan, who knew Cahal Daly from her days as a student. To mark the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement she…

Frank Litton   War By Other Means: The Pacifists of the Greatest Generation Who Revolutionised Resistance, by Daniel Akst (Brooklyn / London: Melville House, $28.99 / £22.94 / €28.00)   Paul Ricoeur, the French philosopher, observed that the state can be – has been – a source of great evil. Writing in the aftermath of…

Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker, by Aoife Brady, with essays by Babette Bohn and Jonquil O’Reilly (National Gallery of Ireland, distributed by Yale University Press, €40.00 / £35.00) Exhibition: May 6-August 27; Rooms 6-10, Beit Wing | Ticketed, check opening hours online.   Lavinia Fontana (1552 – 1614) was a remarkable artist of great achievement,…

Recently I came across in my files this letter which I received in February 1985 from my classmate and much-treasured friend, Fr Peter Lemass. Peter set out at the end of 1984 to join the Columban mission in Chile. Before his departure he promised his classmates to keep us informed on his experiences and the…

The Oldest Books in the World: Philosophy in the Age of the Pyramids, by Bill Manley (Thames and Hudson, £25.00/€29.00) How could any literate person resist the appeal of a title like this? Here for once they will find their expectations brilliantly fulfilled. This is indeed a most interesting book, but more than that it…

When Elizabeth II passed away at Balmoral, her beloved Scottish home, in September last, my first thought on her son’s coming Coronation, was “What are they going to do about the Stone of Scone?” This was the ancient inauguration stone of the Scottish nation. Having been removed from the royal site at the Moot Hill…

Recovering Politics, Civilisation, and the Soul: Essays on Pierre Manent and Roger Scruton, by Daniel J. Mahoney (St Augustine’s Press, paperback US$20.00; ebook) Frank Litton The Good Friday Agreement whose 25th anniversary we celebrate, or at the very least, acknowledge the enormous sigh of relief it occasioned, is taken as an example of politics at…