Late in Joseph O 8217 Connor 8217 s sprawling dazzling new novel Redemption Falls an elderly Columbia University professor watches a procession of aged Civil War veterans march down New York 8217 s Fifth Avenue seven decades after the War Between the States For all the rich history gathered d

With books and documentary films on environmental degradation appearing at a fast pace what particular niche does Taking Action Saving Lives designed to reach a broad audience fill Shrader-Frechette O 8217 Neill Family Professor of Philosophy and professor of biological sciences at the Univer

Jailhouse Blues Disturbing news from the vast American prison system suggests that a new kind of censorship is afoot, one far more draconian than anything even the most inventive of inquisitors might have dreamed up. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has used the excuse of potential terrorist agitatio

My days with Mother Teresa

Philosopher, theologian, teacher, spiritual director, custodian of souls, man of God— Marcel Dubois, O.P., was all of these. Of the Christians living in the State of Israel, he was one of those best known to Jews. By the time of his death last June, Father Dubois had taught philosophy to gener

As its title suggests The Florist 8217 s Daughter the fifth memoir by Patricia Hampl centers on her own life In her earlier books personal revelations were filtered through experiences of Prague Assisi and the paintings of Matisse But this is hardly a tell-all autobiography Hampl is seeking

This book is sure to garner much attention from professional sociologists of religion and probably historians of the Second Vatican Council as well In fact a blue-ribbon panel already responded and critiqued Melissa Wilde rsquo s volume at the annual meeting of the Association for the Sociology

The first and gospel readings need little explanation to be familiar to us Scholars though remind us that in both cases the sinful and scandalous situation is beyond while still including the personal Imperial aggression is expensive for the aggressed and so 8th century kings organized the econ

The pillars of the Jerusalem church are continuing their investigation of the teaching of Paul of Tarsus His statements on abandoning circumcision the irrelevance of the Jewish law for new Christians his practice of traveling with women co-workers and allowing men and women to pray together in p

Leading up to the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Harry Potter fans speculated as to who might die since author J K Rowling had indicated that major characters would meet their demise in the final book The biggest question of all involved Harry himself Would Rowling dare to

I promised in my last post that I would address the issue of what to do with all the violence and battles of the Old Testament I find that spiritualizing the battles of the Old Testament is an inadequate way of dealing with this dark side of the Bible but because of the complexity of the issue

Though we seldom speak of Charles Wright as a religious poet at least not as we might discuss George Herbert or Gerard Manley Hopkins he is nevertheless among the most spiritual of American poets of the last 50 years His poetry is relentlessly attendant to the numinous 8220 I am 8221 he wri

U.S. News and Catholic colleges

Not since the “Americanization” movement of the first quarter of the 20th century has the United States given the integration of its immigrants the kind of sustained policy attention it deserves. At its best, that movement sought to promote citizenship, to assure that government agencies

The Days of Awe, from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, afford Jews an opportunity to reflect on what the enterprise of Jewish life is all about. As with all religious traditions, it must be about more than the symbols or institutions of our respective communities of faith. For Christians,

Editors note: This week we have asked two doctors to discuss Michael Sandels The Case Against Perfection, a short but thought-provoking book that addresses the ethical dilemmas posed by genetic engineering. Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, a Franciscan friar, holds the Sisters of Charity Chair in Ethics at St. Vincents Hospital in Manhattan and is the author of numerous books on ethics and spirituality and health care. Dr. Kristi Kirschner is a physician at the Rehabilitation Intsitute of Chicago who specializes in disability ethics.

Dear Kristi,

It is a pleasure to engage in this dialogue with you about Michael Sandels The Case Against Perfection. I think youll agree that he has done a superb job making complex arguments accessible to a general readership. In fact, the book is written so compactly that I worry readers might miss the subtleties. One could read it in a couple of hours, but that would be a mistake. One should digest it slowly.

One of the most striking aspects of the book is its quasi-theological character. Sandel seems to understand that questions of biological enhancement, cloning and the use of stem cells are important not only for their socio-economic implications, but because they raise fundamental questions about what it means to be human. Contemporary Anglo-American philosophy has traditionally looked upon such questions as either meaningless or interesting language games. Or, alternatively, as the sorts of questions one cannot help but engage, but ought to do so with the knowing wink of irony. Sandel realizes that these questions cannot be addressed adequately with arguments about competing interests.

Yet, as a philosophical writer addressing a largely post-religious culture, he seems to feel the need to apologize for discussions that verge on theology or evoke a religious sensibility. What he has discovered is that when the most serious moral questions press upon us, we rediscover the fact that every ethos implies a mythos--that is, that every system of moral thinking must, at least implicitly, be founded upon some story about the nature of being human. He acknowledges that before we deal with serious ethical questions, we need to understand something about our proper stance towards the given world. In the words of William May, we need to have a sense of openness to the unbidden, to understand that our coming into being is a given, not something that we can control. Christian faith has answers for these questions. Sandel struggles to find non-religious answers to questions he thinks are fundamentally religious.

I look forward to your response.

Best wishes,

Sidney Callahan's latest book, reviewed

"I'm religious, not spiritual."