Voices
The Rev. James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, author, editor at large at America and founder of Outreach.
Of Many Things
One of the interests that I share with my father is a taste for what the British used to call ripping good yarns, that is, stories of high adventure. My father and I are far from alone in our interest. A glance at recent best-seller lists will reveal a surprising number of adventure tales nestled am
Television
Unless you’ve been stranded on a desert island for the last few weeks, you know that the lucky winner of the CBS series Survivor was revealed during its Aug. 23 episode. America’s newest millionaire is the now-famous Richard Hatch, a Machiavellian corporate trainer, of whom we will undou
Of Many Things
My reading habits have recently taken a surprising turn. Despite the Jesuit training that introduced me to such recondite authors as Karl Rahner, Edward Schillebeeckx and Hans Urs von Balthasar (don’t theologians have great names?), I now find myself reading books no longer than 10 or 20 pages
Books
Not long ago a friend asked if I could recommend a good book on Ignatian spirituality He was an intelligent college-educated young man interested not simply in deepening his prayer but more specifically learning about what could be called the specifics of the way of Saint Ignatiusfor example t
Books
Not long ago a friend asked if I could recommend a good book on Ignatian spirituality He was an intelligent college-educated young man interested not simply in deepening his prayer but more specifically learning about what could be called the specifics of the way of Saint Ignatiusfor example t
Television
One of the givens about religious life is that after spending so much time in studies, and with so many friends working in schools, the year seems to end in the summertime, rather than at the end of December. As a result, one naturally tends to reminisce as soon as the mercury begins its annual clim
James Martin, S.J., on finding time for God
Of Many Things
Every time I see a movie (which is a lot) and a priest or a nun appears on screen (which is not a lot) I steel myself for the worst. Though directors, screenwriters and actors have of late been able to furnish moviegoers with convincing portrayals of, among other difficult subjects, middle-aged toba
Television
Woe to those who produce Jesus movies, for their worries will be many. The first task of a producer is to cast a credible Jesus. Such an actor must look at least something like the Everyman edition of Jesus: big, mysterious eyes, brown hair and full beard (with the notable exception of Willem Dafoe
Of Many Things
Channel surfing a few months ago, I was mildly astonished to come across a rerun of Davey and Goliath, the Eisenhower-era claymation series produced, as I recall, under the auspices of the Lutheran Church. For those of you who weren’t TV-addicted children in the 1960’s, Davey and Goliath