‘The Cross and the Olive Tree: Cultivating Palestinian Theology Amid Gaza,’ edited by the Palestinian theologians (and brothers) John and Samuel Munayer, can teach us much about a faith-based, justice response to the situation in the Middle East today.
Literature
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Review: War and (uneasy) peace
Helen Benedict’s latest novel, ‘The Soldier’s House,’ focuses on the Iraq war, the turmoil it caused in the lives of one Iraqi family, and the American soldier who tries to help them.
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Review: The American antichrists of our age
in ‘Defying Tyrants,’ Matthew Taylor argues that modern-day Christians concerned about the rise of Christian supremacist movements may benefit from recovering the early church’s understanding of the concept.
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‘Catcher in the Rye’ at 75: America magazine’s critiques (and defenses) of the classic novel
America more or less atoned over the years for its initial dismissal of Catcher in the Rye.
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A Cormac McCarthy novel tore my parish book club apart
I found no hope, no goodness, no warmth to redeem the post-apocalyptic world of ‘The Road.’ My fellow parishioners disagreed.
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Remembering Peter Henriot, a Jesuit scholar who helped put Catholic social teaching on the map
While U.S. Catholics might remember Peter Henriot, S.J., best for his social justice advocacy, he was better known in the minds of many for his decades of service to the church in Africa.
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Review: Rowan Williams on bringing back solidarity
In ‘Solidarity,’ Rowan Williams offers one imperative that reverberates through his book: If we are to recover a sustainable spirit of solidarity, we must work, both interpersonally and politically, to go beyond too-easy, sometimes performative declarations like “I feel for you and stand with you.”
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Annie Dillard: Our 20th-century Thoreau, nature writer and theologian
Annie Dillard on converting to Catholicism: “You go to a Catholic church, and there are people of all different colors and ages, and babies squalling. You’re taking a stand with these people. You’re saying: ‘Here I am. One of the people who love God.’”
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Review: Memory-keepers, death and grief in ‘Brother Epistles’
We think of letters as a two-way form of communication: They go to and fro in the world, from one writer to the reader, who becomes the writer of the next letter. But sometimes we write letters that are not returned in a traditional way. In Brother Epistles: A Sister’s Memoir, Shanda McManus does just […]
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Review: Rebecca Gayle Howell revisits the Book of Genesis
Rebecca Gayle Howell’s project in ‘Erase Gensis’ seems to exist in the tradition of midrash—the shaping of Scripture in light of contemporary concerns and creative interpretation.