Book Reviews

If you are interested in reviewing a book, please see our Books Received page. For our submission guidelines, see the Submissions page.

Book Reviews – April 2019

Reflections on the Sacred Liturgy, Vol. I: Lent & Holy Week By Fr. Thomas Hoisington. Reviewed by Stephanie A. Mann. (skip to review) Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating, and Marriage in a Hookup World By Timothy P. O’Malley. Reviewed b … [Read more...]

Book Reviews – March 2019

Servant of All: Status, Ambition, and the Way of Jesus By Craig C. Hill. Reviewed by Matthew K. Minerd, PhD. (skip to review) The Priestly Blessing: Rediscovering the Gift By Stephen J. Rossetti. Reviewed by Fr. John Cush. (skip to … [Read more...]

Catherine O’Donnell’s Elizabeth Seton: American Saint

A Review Essay

O’Donnell, Catherine. Elizabeth Seton: American Saint. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018. 508 pages. As the only scholarly biography of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton to be published since her canonization in 1975, Christine O’Donnell’s w … [Read more...]

Fr. George Rutler’s Calm in Chaos: Catholic Wisdom for Anxious Times

A Review Essay

In his introduction to his book of essays titled Calm in Chaos: Essays for Anxious Times (Ignatius Press, 2018), Father George W. Rutler writes, “These essays touch upon confusions in the Church that are not without precedent but that are o … [Read more...]

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture Series

A Review Essay

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS) series is structured with the intention of meeting the need of the universal Church in studying Sacred Scripture in a manner that is both informative and insightful, while staying faithful … [Read more...]

Book Reviews for Winter 2018

Minor Setback or Major Disaster? The Rise and Demise of Minor Seminaries in the United States, 1958-1983 By Robert L. Anello, MSA. Reviewed by Fr. Scott Jones. (skip to review) One Beautiful Dream: The Rollicking Tale of Family Chaos, … [Read more...]

Book Reviews for Late Autumn 2018

The First Society: The Sacrament of Matrimony and the Restoration of the Social Order By Scott Hahn. Reviewed by Matthew Rose. (skip to review) In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk’s Memoir By Paul Quenon. Reviewed by Matthew K. M … [Read more...]

Late Summer Reading

Liturgy and Personality: The Healing Power of Formal Prayer, by Dietrich von Hildebrand; with a new foreword by Bishop Robert Barron (Sophia Institute Press [1943] 2018) $29.00. Reviewed by Fr. Ryan Rojo, S.T.L. The Porn Myth: Exposing … [Read more...]

Is the Holy Family a Realistic Model for Ordinary Families?

In this time of troubled marriages and beleaguered families, a renewed focus on the Holy Family, and what it teaches us, can act as a bracing support. Dr. Mary Shivanandan’s new book, The Holy Family, Model Not Exception, provides just such … [Read more...]

Early Summer Book Reviews

Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?: Questions and Answers about the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. By Carl E. Olson. (Ignatius Press, 2016), 199 pages. Reviewed by Matthew B. Rose The Walls Are Talking: Former Abortion … [Read more...]

Spring Book Reviews

Saint Mary Magdalene: Prophetess of Eucharistic Love by Fr. Sean Davidson (Ignatius Press, 2017). Reviewed by Rev. John P. Cush, STD. And Mary’s ‘Yes’ Continues. By the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, under the direc … [Read more...]

Who Knows? The Truth About Pope Pius XI and His Much-Maligned Successor.

A Book Review Essay

Hitler, Mussolini, and the Vatican: Pope Pius XI and the Speech That Was Never Made is an English translation published in 2011 of a book first published in 2007 by Emma Fattorini, professor of Modern History at the University of … [Read more...]

Late Winter Book Reviews

The Cardinal Müller Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church. By Gerhard Ludwig Müller with Carlos Granados. Translated by Richard Goodyear. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2017. pp. 221+xi. $17.95 pb. ISBN 9 … [Read more...]

Is There Really Any Hope for a Return to the Traditional Latin Mass?

Interview with Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

In the essays by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, collected in Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages, Dr. Kwasniewski writes as an unabashed adherent for the traditional Latin Mass. He is positive not only … [Read more...]