Archives for April 2009

Theologically Informed Movie

THE THEOLOGY OF THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, by Monica Migliorino Miller. New York: Alba House2187 Victory Blvd., Staten Island NY 10314, 2005. 170 pages, $14.95.

The film The Passion of the Christ has been lauded as the most theologically informed movie about Christ ever made. Unlike many other films drawn from the Gospels, it utilizes images, gestures and actions, which serve as commentary on the … [Read more...]

Mother, Doctor and Saint

SAINT GIANNA MOLLA: WIFE, MOTHER, DOCTOR. By Pietro Molla and Elio Guerriero. (Ignatius Press, P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, Colo. 80522, 2004), 153 pp. PB $10.95.

Saints come in all sizes, ages, colors and shapes. Here is the life of a newly canonized contemporary woman, Gianna Molla (1923-1962) who risked her life in order to save her unborn child. Diagnosed with uterine tumors, she refused a … [Read more...]

Willing the Good of the Other

101 TIPS FOR A HAPPIER MARRIAGE. By Jennifer Roback Morse (663 S. Rancho Santa Fe Road, #222, San Marcos, Calif. 92978, 2004; [j.morse@cos.net]), 17 pp. PB $4.77.

Jennifer Roback Morse is a theoretical economist, wife of an engineer, a mother of two, attached to the Hoover Institute at Stanford, a former professor at George Mason University. Her book, Love and Economics: Why the Laissez Faire Family … [Read more...]

A Thinking Woman’s Book

SMART SEX: FINDING LIFE-LONG LOVE IN A HOOK-UP WORLD. By Jennifer Roback Morse (Spence Publishing Co., 111 Cole St., Dallas, Tex. 75207, 2005), 260 pp. HB $27.95.

In the early part of the twentieth century, G. K Chesterton wrote two books, What’s Wrong with the World and Eugenics and Other Evils, in which he described the essential nature of the family, husband, wife, child, and property over against … [Read more...]

The Real Benedict XVI

LET GOD’S LIGHT SHINE FORTH: THE SPIRITUAL VISION OF POPE BENEDICT XVI. Edited and with an Introduction by Robert Moynihan (Doubleday, 1745 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019, 2005), 215 pp. HB $17.95.

The election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI has attracted the interest of Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Ratzinger was one of the promising young theologians during the Second Vatican Council. He later became a member … [Read more...]

The Highs and Lows of the Renaissance Church

THE POPE’S DAUGHTER: THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF FELICE DELLA ROVERE, by Caroline Murphy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005) 359 pages, ISBN 0-19-518268-5, $28.00

Julius II is best remembered in history as the warrior-pope. Whether that image is of the belligerent figure trying to storm the gates of heaven in Erasmus’ satire Julius Excluded or the gold-armored pontiff (as played by Rex Harrison) c … [Read more...]

The Bible and the Mass

WORTHY IS THE LAMB: THE BIBLICAL ROOTS OF THE MASS. By Thomas J. Nash (Ignatius Press, P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, Colo. 80522, 2004), 248 pp. PB $15.95.

The post-conciliar liturgical reform introduced a new Lectionary with a three-year cycle of Sunday readings, so as to open up the riches of Sacred Scripture to the average Catholic. It also recommended that the homily at Sunday Mass should … [Read more...]

Development of Moral Teaching

A CHURCH THAT CAN AND CANNOT CHANGE: The Development of Catholic Moral Teaching, by John T. Noonan, Jr., University of Notre Dame Press, 2005, cloth, 297 pages, HB $30.00

This is an important book. It argues strongly that, just as the Church revised dogmatic teaching over the years as it saw authentic development in some dogmas, so it has revised its practice (and thus its teaching) over the years as it has … [Read more...]

First, Catechize Adults

Deception: Catholic Education In America. By Steve Kellmeyer (Bridegroom Press, P.O. Box 96, Peoria, I11. 61650, 2005), 250 pp. HB $24.95.

(Note: The title has undergone a change since this review was printed. Look for the title Designed to Fail: Catholic Education in America.) Once upon a time in America, parents taught their children at home. They might use governesses, … [Read more...]

Apologetics for highschoolers

A PHILADELPHIA CATHOLIC IN KING JAMES'S COURT. By Martin de Porres Kennedy (Littlefield Press, W. 5180 Jefferson St., Necedah, Wis. 54646, 1999), 316 pp. PB $12.95.

I have always been Catholic; born and raised in the heavily Catholic community in San Francisco, I attended Catholic schools from Kindergarten through undergraduate. I never needed apologetics because everyone I knew was Catholic. My … [Read more...]

The Mystery of the Eucharist

WEDDING FEAST OF THE LAMB. Eucharistic Theology from a Historical, Biblical, and Systematic Perspective. By Roch A. Kereszty (Liturgy Training Publications, 1800 North Hermitage Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60622, 2004), 270 pp. HB $35.00.

Since Pope John Paul II has declared 2005 to be the year of the Holy Eucharist, this new book by Fr. Kereszty will help its readers to enter into the spirit of the celebration and also to understand better the theology and liturgy of the … [Read more...]

Ecological Breastfeeding

BREASTFEEDING AND CATHOLIC MOTHERHOOD: GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU AND YOUR BABY. By Sheila Kippley, (Sophia Institute Press, Box 5284, Manchester NH 03108) 128 pp. PB. $10.95

In a time when we wish to affirm the dignity of woman, Sheila Kippley provides a Catholic view of the importance of maternal breastfeeding and a practical, up-to-date summary of useful data for parents who desire to give the best care to … [Read more...]

John Paul II was a Counterculturist

CREED AND CULTURE: JESUIT STUDIES OF POPE JOHN PAUL II, by Joseph W. Koterski, S.J., and John C. Conley, S.J., eds., St. Joseph’s University Press, PA, 2004, xi + 256 pp., $35.00

The John Paul II Jesuit Symposium began in 1980 and since 1990 has sponsored a biennial conference devoted to the teaching of John Paul II. The book reviewed here presents the papers read at the 1998 conference at Georgetown University and … [Read more...]

No Academic Grounds Are Safe

THE CASE OF THE MUSE OF MADNESS. A Novel by Charles M. Kovich and Curtis L. Hancock, A Father Schrader Mystery, Book 2 (Liber Media and Publishing, 10401 Holmes Rd., #120, Kansas City, Mo. 64131, 2004), 166 pp. HB $21.88.

Rockhurst University’s two murder-mystery, academic novelists, Charles Kovich and Curtis Hancock, have teamed up to produce the second volume in their Father Dietrich Shrader series. We are not wrong to suspect that something both p … [Read more...]

A big house for a small house

THE PHILOSOPHY OF TOLKIEN. By Peter J. Kreeft (Ignatius Press, 2515 McAllister Street, San Francisco, CA 94118, 2005), 237 pp. PB. $15.95.

This masterpiece of philosophy and literary criticism epitomizes liberal education at its best and illuminates C.S. Lewis’s statement that Alexander Pope’s famous line, “The proper study of mankind is man,” needs correction: “The proper stud … [Read more...]