I’ve been sampling a few TV dramas of late, and while some deal with religious themes it’s usually peripheral, as if the programme makers are either unwilling or incapable of more depth when it comes to religious faith. The Split (BBC1, Tuesdays) captures relationship conflict and family dysfunction in a credible way. The first few…
Thomas J. Morrissey Navigating the Zeitgeist: A Story of the Cold War, the New Left, Irish Republicanism, and International Communism by Helena Sheehan (Monthly Review Press, $US20.00/£18.99) Dr Helena Sheehan is a well-known left-wing intellectual. Her book, Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: Critical History, published in 1985, became a classic work on its subject. She…
Newman’s Oxford: The places and buildings associated with Saint John Henry Newman during his years in Oxford 1816-1846 by Fr Jerome Bertram FSA (Gracewing, £6.99) The canononisation of John Henry Newman will open the way to many more popular accounts of parts of his life. In this very appealing brochure Fr Jerome Bertram, a priest…
Modern Religious Architecture in Germany, Ireland and Beyond: Influence, Process and Afterlife since 1945 Lisa Godson & Kathleen James-Chakraborty (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, £44.95/$US80.00) This collection of 11 articles derives from a conference held in Newman House in Dublin back in 2014. Alas, for the general reader concerned with religious architecture it is written in the…
Dark Waters (PG) There are two ways of looking at a film like this, which is based on fact. On the one hand you commend Todd Haynes for resisting the temptation to give it a ‘wow’ factor, i.e. the obligatory scene in the underground car park where the hero’s life is threatened. Or when he…
Thomas Morrissey The Enigma of Arthur Griffith: ‘Father of Us All’ by Colum Kenny (Merrion Press, €19.95) The sub-title ‘Father of Us All’ stems from a declaration of W.T. Cosgrave in 1925 attributing to Michael Collins the statement: “Griffith was the greatest man of his age, the father of us all.” There have been a…
Womb with a Window: Ethical Reflections on the Personhood of the Unborn Through Scripture and Science by Msgr Dr Antony Perumayan (Shanway Press, £12.00; contact 15 Crumlin Road, Belfast, Antrim BT14 6AA; email infro@shanway.com; tel: Northern Ireland 028 9022 2070) The reverend author of this book is the National Co-ordinator of the Syro- Malabar Church…
Ampleforth College: The Emergence of Ampleforth College as the ‘Catholic Eaton’ by Peter Galliver (Gracewing, £12.99) Ampleforth College in Yorkshire over the past centuries as often been called ‘the Catholic Eton’, though this title might well be disputed by those who went to Stonyhurst. However, this short book is subtitled ‘We must look to…
The Irish Poet and the Natural World: An Anthology of Verse in English from the Tudors to the Romantics edited by Andrew Carpenter and Lucy Collins (Cork University Press, €39.00/£19.95) The many readers who would be interested in the theme of the American derived anthology above should also look out as well for the…
Christopher Moriarty Woven Shades of Green: An anthology of Irish nature literature by Tim Wenzell (Bucknell University Press / distributed by Rutgers University Press, $US29.95/£24.95) As one of the many writers on Irish nature who is not included in this anthology, I have to declare an interest. The preface indicates that the omission…
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone