Book Reviews

Author leaves Hunthausen encased in superlatives

Jun 19, 2019

Book review: A Disarming Spirit traces Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen's momentous and unanticipated plunge into political dissent. The author's handful of cited interviews with Hunthausen may have probed the archbishop's retrospective views of the controversy surrounding his activism, but there is no evidence of that in the book.

Act of resistance leaves unsettling questions

by Tom Deignan

Jun 12, 2019

Book Review: Peter Duffy's absorbing history, a page-turner packed with colorful characters and events, paints a broader portrait of an angry, complex era that "precipitated a diplomatic controversy that engaged the highest levels of the American and Nazi governments."

Fracking becomes personal suffering

by Timothy Kelly

Jun 5, 2019

Book Review: Stacey Haney likely never read Pope Francis' encyclical on humans and the environment, but her experiences highlight the relevance of the pope's environmental concerns for ordinary Americans who often feel insulated from these matters.

Feminist theologians bring wisdom to fiction

by Mary E. Hunt

May 29, 2019

Book Review: Some of today's best feminist theologians are writing fiction. I do not refer to their erudite, critical analyses of texts and concepts as novels. Rather, I alert readers to their new excursus into literature. I wondered aloud why they have embraced this genre. So, I asked them.

Sections ›

Author leaves Hunthausen encased in superlatives

Act of resistance leaves unsettling questions

Fracking becomes personal suffering

Feminist theologians bring wisdom to fiction

Growing old, growing up, growing whole

Joan Chittister's book calls up prophets, the truth-tellers

Book explores the theology of the holy yet sinful church

'Color of Compromise' calls on American Christianity to face its racist past

Author makes case that sex in heaven could shape its place on Earth

The Native America of today

Author invites us to irreligious realm

Women are fully human agents of social, political change

New perspectives offered on nuances of St. Paul

'Future Corpses' reminds us: Death isn't an 'if'

'Honest Rituals' argues for sacrament update

Duplicity, hypocrisy of the prelates exposed in Martel's 'Closet' book

Books explore Merton the writer, Religion 101 and Antarctic ice

Hartke's book teaches about gifts of transgender Christians

Francis, friends share Wisdom of Time with youth

Author suggests the point of religion is to admit not knowing

Mentors of an American Gandhi

Contemplation reveals our grounding in God

Book explores how poetry scratches at the door of transcendence

In the face of Trumpism, Jon Meacham maintains belief in our national soul

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