Arts & Culture

W H Auden – who like T S Eliot was pre-eminent in 20th century English-language poetry – remained at or near the center of Western cultural life from the 1920 rsquo s until his death in the early 1970 rsquo s With his gaze focused unflinchingly on matters great and small during those years A

Anne Hunt an Australian Catholic theologian and author of several previous books on the doctrine of the Trinity aims in this book ldquo to explore and present the trinitarian nexus or interconnection of the mystery of the Trinity with the other great mysteries of the Christian faith rdquo Thus

This is a difficult book to classify It is not history or theology or philosophy nor is it poetry exegesis criticism or hagiography mdash although it includes something of each Perhaps it might be considered a manual for converts a handbook for participants in a parish adult initiation group

If she were a name-dropper Jane Kopas might tell us that she and Pope John XXIII agree about many things She would agree with his opening address at the Second Vatican Council when the pope attentive to reading the signs of the times said that the substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposi

A friend reports the story of a woman widowed from a Catholic husband with two small children Honoring her pledge to raise her children as Catholics she inquired whether she too might become a Catholic But she was discouraged from pursuing her interest by the indifference of the two priests she

For its ambitious scope the grace and beauty of its language and its compelling storytelling Cormac McCarthy rsquo s Border Trilogy – nbsp All the Pretty Horses The Crossing and Cities of the Plain – nbsp was a major literary achievement in American letters in the latter part of the 20th century

Despite its title this book is not about controversial displays of the Ten Commandments in public buildings This issue is not even mentioned Rather Chris Hedges focuses on the life-giving force of the Ten Commandments in our lives as individuals and as a country The commandments are guideposts

Increasingly the literary genre of the memoir has come to be associated with the second-rate politician and fourth-rate celebrity In a self-obsessed confessional world the memoir mdash and its Internet derivative the blog mdash has tweaked Descartes rsquo famous maxim I write therefore I am

For more than 20 years James J O rsquo Donnell has been a leading figure in Augustinian studies Best known for his three-volume commentary on the Confessions Oxford 1992 O rsquo Donnell has also pioneered the use of the Internet for humanistic study A decade ago while professor of classics at

Two decades ago outside on the bow of a Norwegian ice-breaker other scientists and I drank cognac poured over 10 000-year-old ice from a nearby glacier Bundled up only miles from the North Pole we enjoyed an August sunset a break in our scientific meetings to develop policy for protecting the