Perhaps no period in the history of ancient Israel is as controversial as the two centuries between the Exodus from Egypt and the establishment of kingship in the late 11th century B C E under Saul and his successor David Contemporary views run the gamut from essential acceptance of the biblical t
Books
Tensions in Balance
By any yardstick Contemplatives in Action The Jesuit Way surpasses all expectations This book is a gem and is destined to be a classic introduction for all future reading about Jesuits and their way William A Barry S J and Robert G Doherty S J accomplish something rather remarkable in thi
Unconscious Theologian
Flannery O rsquo Connor downplayed the deep spirituality that infused her life and her works She is probably saying ldquo Haw haw haw rdquo in the southern backwoods accent that she sometimes affected as she views this new title in the Modern Spiritual Masters series The series introduces read
Spectacleand Silence
Rosemary Mahoney is a good traveler and a good writerinterested interesting and strikingly unconventional in her perceptions In earlier books she has allowed us to listen to people in China The Early Arrival of Dreams and Ireland Whoredom in Kimmage a 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award f
A Sacerdotal Bildungsroman
The great bulk of Thomas Keneally rsquo s 30-some books have been fiction but he rsquo s at his best when dealing with facts as in his splendid novelized biography Schindler rsquo s List 1993 his family-clan-nation epic The Great Shame and the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking Worl
A Voice for the Voiceless
Not very long ago the only people who knew about Megan McKenna were those who heard her lecture in college courses or who were present at conferences conventions and retreats where she was a featured speaker Reports filtered back from these occasions that she was an accomplished storyteller who c
Tested to His Limit
A quaintly phrased prologue seeks a ldquo most gracious and deliberate rdquo reader rsquo s trust The voice of ldquo a minor cleric rdquo a preacher long at his post reveals that he has committed ldquo Davidic sins rdquo But now in older age he rests content in his work because of the st
If It Bleeds, It Leads
During a recent appearance on Bill Moyers rsquo s PBS news program ldquo Now rdquo 4 04 Susan Sontag ruefully noted the timeliness of her new book about pictures of the victims of violence in general and of war in particular It had she admitted ldquo an obscenely topical character rdquo
Riches in the Balance
The tax code according to a former I R S commissioner embodies all the essence of life greed politics power goodness charity Everything rsquo s in there With the estate tax everything is magnified dramatically In Wealth and Our Commonwealth William H Gates Sr and Chuck Collins make a f
Beyond Transactional
James MacGregor Burns rsquo s new book Transforming Leadership is a reformulation and update of his 1978 book Leadership which was the seminal text for the burgeoning new field of ldquo leadership studies rdquo There is a James MacGregor Burns Institute of Leadership at the University of Mary
