Catholic Book Club

One of the world’s most influential contemporary theologians, and “the man who stood up to Hitler” (New York Times), the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was imprisoned in 1943—and executed in 1945—for his role in confronting The Final Solution and plotting the assassination of Adolf Hitler. His bestselling works, especially The Cost of Discipleship and Letters and Papers from Prison have influenced generations of students and Christian scholars. In a review of this masterful biography in the June 21 issue of America, Peter Heinegg assesses Bonhoeffer as “a thinker both innovative and conservative and a fearless teller of the truth” and this biography by Metaxas a “warm-hearted, lively chronicle.” (You may also visit Regina Nigro’s June 15 blog post for America, which stresses Bonhoeffer’s heroism and deep commitment to justice and “his decision to sacrifice all for faith, for the persecuted and for God.”) Bonhoeffer is a compelling, often spellbinding read that you will want to pass around to others after you have finished it.

Purchase Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy from amazon.com.

In light of the popular and critical response to Nancy Sherman’s The Untold War (reviewed in the June 7 issue of America), we bring to your attention two related books:

By now most of our readers have heard of this book and author a Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries mdash the largest gang intervention program in the country It rsquo s tough it rsquo s wrenching but it is also deeply inspiring and leaves the reader with a measured hope that these

This book traces the dramatic shifts in American Catholics’ prayer life from the style of the immigrant church (1865-1900) through and after the Second Vatican Council. James M. McCartin, a professor of history at Seton Hall University, notes in the prologue: “Positioned at opposite ends of the twentieth century, these two scenes suggest a remarkable alteration in the patterns of prayer and in the popular experience of the spiritual life.” And these shifts, as the book shows, came alongside larger changes within the American society and its political culture and reflect how prayer shaped people’s attitudes toward the hierarchy and the institutional church. What we see in the present, inspired by the post-Vatican II charismatic renewal movement, is a personal approach to prayer.

The author of the bestselling My Life With the Saints and culture editor of America magazine now offers The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything a helpful and insightful guide to finding God in all things ldquo the way of Ignatius rdquo Just published this month it has already garnered exten

The esteemed church historian John W O rsquo Malley who is currently a professor of theology at Georgetown University is no stranger to readers of America and members of the Catholic Book Club Publishing about year after Eamon Duffy rsquo s Keepers of the Keys of Heaven A History of the Papacy

This is the newest installment in the publisher rsquo s ldquo Engaging Theology Catholic Perspectives rdquo series acclaimed teaching resources on theological and doctrinal subjects Paul Lakeland the Aloysius P Kelley Professor of Catholic Studies at Fairfield University and director of the

This engaging book establishes a new framework for meeting the challenges facing the church in a changing world. John Allen is the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, a Vatican analyst for CNN and NPR and has a weekly Internet column called “All Things Catholic.”  He has drawn from thousands of hours of interviews with church hierarchy, priests, theologians, political activists, social workers, ecumenists and liturgists among others to survey—and provide context for—the most important currents shaping the Catholic Church today, “and to look down the line at how they might play out during the rest of the 21st century.”

Scholar, eco-theologian, priest, teacher, Thomas Berry established the History of Religions Program at Fordham University and, with Wm. Theodore de Bary, founded the Oriental Thought and Religion Seminar at Columbia University. Before his death this year he spent the better part of five decades studying, writing about and lecturing on the intersection of the spiritual and natural worlds, specifically humans’ engagement with the earth. The Sacred Universe brings together 13 of his essays—published between 1972 and 2001—and represent the evolution in Berry’s thinking and his call for dialogue with the world’s religions, with science and with the modern world in general. He talks, often prophetically, of religion in the global human community, “the cosmology of religions,” and “the sacred universe.” Thought-provoking, passionate and filled with wisdom, Berry’s writing is a gift to everyone on the planet who seek “to create a new story of the universe” and locate “a spiritual vision that  helps humans reclaim their place in the natural world.”

As a bonus this month, we also recommend a second collection of Berry’s writings: The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth, published by Orbis Books and edited by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. Part of the publisher’s Ecology and Justice Series, The Christian Future is a series of (brief) essays written over past decades that distills Berry’s thoughts on—among other subjects—“Women Religious: Voices of Earth,” the role of the church in the 21st century and “The Universe as Cosmic Liturgy.” Drawing heavily on the insights of both Thomas Aquinas and Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Berry sought to lift the Christian tradition toward care for all of creation. This volume is a worthy companion to the compendium described above.

Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim are founders of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University and co-directers of the Thomas Berry Foundation and the American Teilhard Association.

Purchase The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-first Century from amazon.com.

Purchase The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth (Ecology & Justice) from amazon.com.

From professor and scholar to the Vatican rsquo s enforcer of the faith and finally to the throne of St Peter Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI has become for the world the public face of the Roman Catholic Church Rev Thomas P Rausch S J mdash the T Marie Chilton Professor of Ca

Our book club members surely remember the wonderful books of this cloistered artist-nun some of which have been club offerings in past years We are happy then to call your attention to her latest A nun who has spent her life in prayer living close to God shares the power of beautiful icons