Is hell empty? Pope Francis hopes so. Among the thinkers of the past century who speculated it could be so was Hans Urs von Balthasar, a favorite of the past two popes and a prominent theologian of his time.
James T. Keane
James T. Keane is a Senior Editor at America.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
John W. Donohue: an ascetic Jesuit and bane of Christopher Hitchens
John W. Donohue, S.J., an associate editor of America from 1972 to 2007, was described by one Jesuit on staff as “a living rule. Were the Society of Jesus ever to lose its Constitutions, we would need only look to him to see how our life should be lived.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Short Take
Belichick’s downfall reminds us: Put not your faith in head coaches (or popes)
This week, the New England Patriots parted ways with their legendary head coach, Bill Belichick. Did he get too much credit for the team’s success?
Posted inFaith, Features
Bill Russell, K.C. Jones and the Black players who made basketball history at San Francisco’s Jesuit university
Men’s college basketball’s finest squad did not come from one of the N.C.A.A. powerhouses of the past three decades, but from the University of San Francisco, where Bill Russell led the team to consecutive national championships in 1955 and 1956.
Posted inFaith, Scripture Reflections
When we pray for what we want—and God gives us something else
A Reflection for Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time, by James T. Keane
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Jesuit George Dunne loved a good fight—and hated injustice
George Dunne, S.J., never backed down from a fight or a perceived injustice in a long career as a priest, academic and activist.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
C. S. Lewis wasn’t a writer of fantasy. He was a teller of hard truths.
C. S. Lewis was gifted with an expansive imagination—but much of his spiritual writing doesn’t flinch from the hard realities of life.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
There are lots of interesting Jesuits in America magazine’s history. C. J. McNaspy might take the cake.
Was there ever a scholar of more varied interests and fields of expertise than C. J. McNaspy, S.J.?
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Mary Karr and the art of the spiritual memoir
Though Mary Karr might not consider herself a conventional writer of spiritual autobiography, her three memoirs have made this poet and professor a standard-bearer in the genre.
Posted inFaith, Scripture Reflections
What John the Baptist knew: The truth is attractive
A Reflection for the Second Sunday of Advent, by James T. Keane