'Inventing American Religion,' by Robert Wuthnow

This stellar biography shows a truly courageous and holy man but also deeply unjust and humiliating actions by some church officials.

"Lost Classroom, Lost Community," by Margaret F. Brinig and Nicole Stelle Garnett

Many of us know the ruckus that emerged when Pope Francis tweeted nbsp ldquo Iniquitas Radix Malorum rdquo nbsp ldquo Inequality is the root of evil rdquo He got accused by the likes of Rush Limbaugh of being a Marxist But Francis made clear what he meant in a talk with U N representativ

Robert Wuthnow of Princeton University is now pretty much the dean of American sociologists of religion Much like the late Rev Andrew Greeley Wuthnow is a very prolific author penning a book about once a year All of Wuthnow rsquo s books show a sophisticated methodology that combines careful ce

Rarely has a film haunted me as much as Iranian director Asghar Farhadi 39 s French language film quot The Past quot It is a story about dysfunctional families and their miscommunications secrets and lies William Faulkner once said quot The past is never dead It 39 s not even past quot

For 100 years, the Catholic Church played a key role in San Francisco politics and culture.

From 2013: On several occasions, Francis has talked about tackling unemployment and signaled out the high unemployment of youth as one of the two most salient issues facing the world at present. He also attacked what he called unjust salaries.

From John A. Coleman, S.J.: "the point of being a Christian is to find a place of evident freedom, courage, joy and hope."

I have been re-reading parts of Walt Whitman 39 s Leaves of Grass since seeing the world premiere of a new play by Lauren Gunderson I and You at the Marin Theatre Company several nights ago The play is a product of the National New Play Network which is the country 39 s alliance of non-profit