Holistic Healing: A Christian Approach by Pat Collins CM (Columba Books, €16.99) This book is only partly about healing. As with all medical matters health in mind, body and spirit begins not in curing but preventing. Living a whole life in a healthy way is the essence of the matter. And, Fr Collins [pictured below] suggests,…
You Have the Words of Eternal Life by Martin Hogan (Messenger Publications, €14.95/£13.95) In these daily reflections for the liturgical year to come, Martin Hogan, who worked as a co-parish priest on the North side of Dublin, provides reflections on the Gospels of the day that arise directly out of the life and needs of the…
New cinema releases are thin on the ground these days. A few brave souls are still calling “action” instead of “cut” as they seek to revive a form of entertainment that, like so many others these days, seems dangerously close to being on life support. Chemical Hearts chronicles the teenage romance of two high school…
Digging Up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon by Eric H. Cline (Princeton University Press, £30.00/$35.00) ‘Armageddon’ is a word that puts the fear of God in many people today. It is all very well having fears about the end of the world, the now fashionable ‘End Times’, when one is 12 –…
Thomas Cromwell: A Life by Diarmaid MacCulloch (Allen Lane, £22.50) Hillary Mantel’s inspired trilogy of novels beginning with Wolf Hall has prompted a lively interest in Thomas Cromwell, best known as Henry VIII’s consummate ‘fixer’. Her brilliant recreation of life in the 16th century remains in the demesne of fiction. Diarmaid McCulloch’s Life is an altogether…
In a Harbour Green: Celebrating Benedict Kiely by George O’Brien (Irish Academic Press, €19.95) In the hurry and bustle of modern Irish literature, Ben Kiely belongs seemingly to another world. This may well be because he was one of that generation of writers whose normal route to writing was though journalism and broadcasting. The broad rich…
While my late friend and revered music critic of the Irish Independent, Mary MacGoris, maintained danger lurked around every corner, I believe things are looking up. As Fred Astaire sang in the Gershwin brothers film A Damsel in Distress, “bitter was my cup/but no more will I be the mourner/for I’ve certainly turned the corner/oh,…
Alert, Aware, Attentive. Advent Reflections by John Cullen (Messenger Publications, €4.95/£4.50) From a background of service in Ireland and Kenya, John Cullen brings us some ideas about Advent. As the editor of Intercom he is a practised hand at communication. His little book will be an aid to many as Advent comes down on us to…
What have déjà vu and doublethink got in common? I got a strong sense of both in the media last week. Mostly it was in relation to the assisted suicide debate that kicked off during the week as Gino Kenny TD intends to introduce a Dying with Dignity Bill. On three Drivetime programmes (RTÉ Radio…
Conversations with René Girard. Prophet of Envy edited by Cynthia L. Haven (Bloomsbury Academic, £65.00 hb/£21.99 pb and Kindle) Frank Litton René Girard (1923-2015), the French literary historian and philosopher long resident in the United States, has been described as one of the 20th Century’s most original and important thinkers. It is hard to disagree, for his…
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan