During his pontificate, one of John Paul II’s chief goals was to improve relations with the Orthodox Church, making reunion a more viable possibility. Only certain pontiffs during the medieval period were comparable to his efforts in this m … [Read more...]
Book Reviews
If you are interested in reviewing a book, please see our Books Received page. For our submission guidelines, see the Submissions page.
The Crusades and the Catholic-Orthodox Schism
BYZANTIUM AND THE CRUSADES. By Jonathan Harris (London: Hambledon Press, 102 Gloucester Avenue, London NW 1 8HX, 2003). Available in US through Palgrave Macmillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Tel: +1 800 672 2054 www.palgrave-usot.com 256pp, $29.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Marriage is an Act of Faith
MARRIAGE AND CHRISTIAN LIFE: A THEOLOGY OF CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE, by Daniel Hauser, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Scarecrow Press, University Press of America, 2005, 196 pages, $30
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Dr. Hauser is a professor of theology at the University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois. His work is indebted to the writings of Pope John Paul II and Father Donald Keefe, S.J. His basic position is that marriage and human sexuality are … [Read more...]
The First Black Catholic Priest in the United States
FROM SLAVE TO PRIEST. By Sister Caroline Hemesath, S.S.F. (Ignatius Press, P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, Colo. 80522; 1973/2006 reprint), 251 pages, HB, $17.95
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
This book is a reprint of 1973. The Rev. Augustine Tolton, ordained in 1886, was the first black Catholic priest in the United States. There were a few mulattos ordained slightly ahead of him, but he was the first fully black American to be … [Read more...]
Marian Piety from the Cistercians
Mary Most Holy: Meditating with the Early Cistercians, ed. E. Rozanne Elder (Cistercian Publications: Kalamazoo, 2003), pp. 401, ISBN: 0879071656 -- $29.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
While Mary has continually been honored within the Christian tradition, her place was not always so prominent. One of the many developments of the twelfth century renaissance was an increased devotion to the cult of the Virgin Mary in … [Read more...]
Satan is alive and well
THE DECEIVER. Our Daily Struggle with Satan. By Livio Fanzaga; translated from the Italian (Roman Catholic Books, P.O. Box 2286, Fort Collins, Colo. 80522, 2000), 234 pp. PB $22.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Temptation to evil is something that all men are subject to. The three sources are the world, the flesh and the devil. C.S. Lewis in his masterful Screwtape Letters describes in great detail how the devil tempts weak human beings to embrace … [Read more...]
Who is Benedict XVI?
POPE BENEDICT XVI: A PERSONAL PORTRAIT. By Heinz-Joachim Fischer; translated by Brian McNeil (The Crossroad Publishing Company, 481 Eighth Ave., Suite 1550, New York, N.Y. 1000, 2005), 213 pp. HB $19.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Heinz-Joachim Fischer is a German journalist who studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and subsequently became a journalist writing for the prestigious German daily, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, … [Read more...]
The Disintegration of the Primitive Rite
Christian Initiation: Baptism in the Medieval West. By J.D.C. Fisher (Hillenbrand Books, 1000 E. Maple, Mundelein IL 60060, 2004; 1-847-837-4542), xvi +220 pp. PB. $24.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
A reprint of a 1965 edition first published in London, this work is sub-titled “A Study in the Disintegration of the Primitive Rite of Initiation.” This primitive rite integrated baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist into one ritual as the Ea … [Read more...]
St. Paul and St. Ignatius on Retreat
SPIRITUAL EXERCISES BASED ON PAUL’S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. By Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J. (Eerdmans Publishing Co., 255 Jefferson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49502 [2004]), 235 pp. PB $20.00.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Most priests and religious make a retreat of some days each year, often eight. Those in the Jesuit tradition follow the lead of the Exercises of St. Ignatius. Every retreatant likes to spend considerable time during these days with … [Read more...]
Dynamics of the Exercises
LIKE THE LIGHTNING. The Dynamics of the Ignatian Exercises. By David L. Fleming, S.J. (The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 3601 Lindell Blvd., Saint Louis, MO 63108, 2004), xv + 191. PB $18.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
In his introduction Father David Fleming tells his readers: “I do not intend to write a commentary on the Exercises…I am not writing a ‘how to’ book…I hope rather to reflect on the Exercises as a unit in their integral makeup and in their ov … [Read more...]
Fighting for the Truth
REFLECTIONS OF A PRO-LIFE WARRIOR. By Robert J. Cetrulo, J.D. (Northern Kentucky Right to Life Educational Foundation, Inc., 1822 Madison Avenue, P. O. Box 1202, Covington, KY 41012), xiii + 246 pp. PB $12.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
What is a pro-life warrior? Mr. Cetrulo cites the example of St. Thomas More, the patron saint of lawyers and statesmen, as the model for leaders in the pro-life movement: “He gave up everything—family, fortune, office, and ultimately his he … [Read more...]
A Bishop to Imitate
HE SPARED HIMSELF IN NOTHING. Essays on the Life and Thoughts of St. John Nepomucene Neumann, C.Ss.R. Edited by Joseph F. Chorpenning, O.S.F.S. (St. Joseph’s University Press, 5600 City Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. 19131, 2003), 236 pp. HB $35 plus $4 for S&H.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Fr. John N. Neumann, C.Ss.R. was the first U.S. male citizen to be canonized (1977) in the United State (beatification in 1863). St. Joseph’s Jesuit University in Philadelphia undertook to publish these nine essays to honor this devotee of J … [Read more...]
The Debate about Liturgy Continues
THE HISTORY AND THE FUTURE OF THE ROMAN LITURGY. By Denis Crouan, (Ignatius Press, P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, Colo. 80522, 2005), 324 pp. PB $19.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Debates continue about the present state of the liturgy in the Catholic Church and its future. Denis Crouan is President of Pro Liturgia, an organization interested in an authentic reform of the liturgy based upon the documents of the … [Read more...]
The Roman Question
ROME IN AMERICA: TRANSNATIONAL CATHOLIC IDEOLOGY FROM THE RISORGIMENTO TO FASCISM. By Peter R. D’Agostino (The University of North Carolina Press, P.O. Box 2288, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27515, 2004), 315pp. HB 59.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
A crucial moment for the modern papacy was brought about by the “Risorgimento” (1848-70) which led to the confiscation of the papal states in order to reunite the Italian peninsula. Catholic belief, at least since the time of Constantine, he … [Read more...]
The Rabbi and the Pope
THE MYTH OF HITLER’S POPE: HOW POPE PIUS XII RESCUED JEWS FROM THE NAZIS. By Rabbi David G. Dalin (Regnery Publishing, Inc., One Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001), 209 pp., HB $27.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
Few people will recall that 1965 was the year that Paul VI initiated Pius XII’s cause for canonization. As it turned out, it came at the beginning of a rhetorical guerre à outrance over the reputation of the former pope which, like some gr … [Read more...]
Maritain at the Cliff’s Edge
JACQUES MARITAIN: AN INTELLECTUAL PROFILE. By Jude Dougherty (The Catholic University of America Press, P.O. Box 50370, Baltimore, Md. 21211, 2003), 128 pp. PB $21.95.
April 1, 2009 by Book Reviews
The essays that comprise this volume reflect an understanding of Maritain’s life and thought that comes only from many years of reading and reflecting. If the essays were confined to Maritain’s thought, they would be interesting and inf … [Read more...]
Recent Comments