Showing titles in Essays & Commentary

In Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart, Russ Ramsey examines what art can teach us about the wonder and struggle of being alive. He invites listeners to discover some of the world’s most celebrated artists and works, applying the beauty of the gospel in a way that speaks to the suffering and hope we all face. Each story from some of the history's most celebrated artists applies the beauty of the gospel in a way that speaks to the suffering and hope we all face.

Despite protests and warnings from friends and family, author Madeleine L’Engle, at the age of seventy-four, embarked on a rafting trip to Antarctica. Her journey through the startling beauty of the continent led her to write Penguins and Golden Calves, a captivating discussion of how opening oneself up to icons, or everyday “windows to God,” leads to the development of a rich and deeply spiritual faith.

Editors Denis Alexander and Alister McGrath gather other intelligent minds from around the world to share their startling commonality: Richard Dawkins and his fellow New Atheists were instrumental in their conversions to Christianity. Despite a wide range of backgrounds and cultures, all are united in the fact that they were first enthusiasts for the claims and writings of the New Atheists. But each became disillusioned by the arguments and conclusions of Dawkins, causing them to look deeper and with more objectivity at religious faith.

The critic and essayist Meghan O'Gieblyn was born into an evangelical family, attended the famed Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for a time before she had a crisis of belief, and still lives in the Midwest, aka "Flyover Country". She writes of her "existential dizziness, a sense that the rest of the world is moving while you remain still", and that rich sense of ambivalence and internal division inform the 15 superbly thoughtful and ironic essays in this collection.  

Is Joseph - the deserted son of Jacob from the Old Testament - relevant in our modern age? For Madeleine L'Engle, the answer is a resounding yes; not solely because Joseph is an important historical character, but primarily because his experiences of disenfranchisement, tragedy, and profound betrayal resonate within our own society. These thoughtful meditations on obedience, prophecy, forgiveness, and compassion are masterfully woven to bridge gaps of belief, politics, education, and even faith.

Former bookseller, longtime publisher, and author Jon M. Sweeney shows—with history and anecdotes centering around books such as Thoreau's Journal, Tagore's Gitanjali, Martin Buber's Hasidic Tales, and Tolstoy's Twenty-three Tales—what it means to be carried by a book. He explores the discovery that once accompanied finding books, and books finding us. He ponders the smell of an old volume, its heft, and why bibliophiles carry them around even without reading them. He demonstrates how and why there is magic and enchantment that takes place between people and books.

Father Paul Keenan was Director of Radio Ministry for the Archdiocese of New York and co-host of WABC’s "Religion on the Line" for over twelve years. From 1992 - 2002, he hosted "As You Think," a weekly inspirational radio program on which celebrities such as Larry King, Dick Cavett, Steve Allen, Harry Smith, Deepak Chopra, Annette Funicello, Joyce Randolph and Thomas Moore spoke informally with Father Paul about spirituality and inspiration. He served as commentator for such national broadcasts as the funeral of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (CBS Television); the funeral of Mother Teresa (...

Duffy engages with some of the central aspects of Western religion in the thousand years between the decline of pagan Rome and the rise of the Protestant Reformation. In the process, he opens windows on the vibrant and multifaceted beliefs and practices by which medieval people made sense of their world: the fear of death and the impact of devastating pandemic, holy war against Islam and the invention of the blood libel against the Jews, provision for the afterlife and the continuing power of the dead over the living, the meaning of pilgrimage and the evolution of Christian music.

Father Paul Keenan was Director of Radio Ministry for the Archdiocese of New York and co-host of WABC’s "Religion on the Line" for over twelve years. From 1992 - 2002, he hosted "As You Think," a weekly inspirational radio program on which celebrities such as Larry King, Dick Cavett, Steve Allen, Harry Smith, Deepak Chopra, Annette Funicello, Joyce Randolph and Thomas Moore spoke informally with Father Paul about spirituality and inspiration. He served as commentator for such national broadcasts as the funeral of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (CBS Television); the funeral of Mother Teresa (...

More than 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Much has transpired in the half-century since, and progress has been made in the issues that were close to Dr. King’s heart. Thankfully, the burning crosses, biting police dogs, and angry mobs of that day are long gone. But in their place, passivity has emerged. A passivity that must be addressed. That’s the aim of Letters to a Birmingham Jail. A collection of essays written by men of various ethnicities and ages.

For more than fifty years, Madeleine L'Engle has delighted and inspired readers/listeners with her warm, eloquent prose and inspirational poetry. She continues this tradition with Miracle on 10th Street, a collection of poignant writings and reflections that give listeners a glimpse of how the wonder of Christmas resonates in her personal life, which deeply involves her family and faith: "I think back to that Christmas when my husband and I did not know whether our little girl would live to grow up," she writes.

With childlilke boldness and profound logic, Martin Zender exposes the spiritual bankruptcy of the religious institution. Zender's mastery of satire separates him from the pious; his Scriptural expertise launches him as the primary spokesman for those who desire God, but don't trust the establishments that boast His name.

In Sips of Truth, the illustrious thinker Valiant Thor (also known as the "Stranger at the Pentagon") discusses various aspects of the Bible and how the modern Westerner can benefit from a clear picture of their meaning.

«Si solo leemos una obra de Chesterton —debería avergonzarnos si así fuera— ha de ser Ortodoxia. Seguramente, nadie ha defendido la fe cristiana con argumentos tan sorprendentes y ejemplos tan deslumbrantes, como Chesterton lo hizo en Ortodoxia. Una obra maestra de retórica que (...) realmente constituye uno de los libros mejor escritos del siglo XX» (Dale Ahlquist, presidente y cofundador de la American Society Ches- terton ). Ortodoxia es el libro más importante de una personalidad excepcional.

I was raised Catholic. You can all bless me now. Surviving a Catholic upbringing is a lot like surviving a repetitive hurricane. Just when you think you’ve got enough protection from the danger someone (Usually my Mother) throws a curve ball of Catholic guilt at you and you’re stuck trying to remember if it is a sin or not, whether it requires a confession, and the amount of shame you should feel. It’s like dodging the hurricane all over again. Depression runs a rough shot in the Catholic religion and trust me, I know why. Happiness is frowned upon.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, no more than 35 percent of the world's population is adhering to religions that have their origins and doctrinal foundations in the Bible. In the last century, at the height of European colonial expansion, almost the whole world was owned and governed directly by this minority. Now colonialism in its purest and most wicked form has faded, but the power of the nations with Judeo-Christian roots over the rest of the world are perhaps just as strong as it was then, although exercised in ways that are more sophisticated and respectful of human ...

The Walter Brueggemann Library brings together the wide-ranging and enlivening thought of popular biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann over his storied career. Each volume collects previously published work on a biblical theme that has deeply informed Brueggemann's scholarship.

La escuela del alma es una fascinante invitación para descubrir, partiendo de los cimientos de la educación, el horizonte de una vida madura, fecunda y espiritual. Paso a paso las realidades que nombran palabras como lugar, enseñanza, compañía, atención, mundo, cuidado, contemplación, creación... van iluminando el camino con luz propia, y nos descubren nuevos sentidos: cada ser humano se nos revela como origen y el encuentro, como "un alma que toca otra alma".

Much has been written about the concept of Trinity or three parts over the centuries. From simply meaning God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to what we hear in many churches is disturbing. Debates about predestination and subordination seem to never end. Due to the great number of denominations, the definition of a Christian has suffered, watered down in a corrupt world. From the simplicity of the Bible has come a rash of new doctrines that boggles the mind. What used to be straightforward in the 1st century is now twisted and turned into many ways of thinking about the Bible.

Immerse yourself in the wit and wisdom of Alice von Hildebrand with this new collection of her classic essays, published shortly after her death in 2022. Beloved for her classic books such as The Privilege of Being a Woman, The Soul of a Lion, and By Love Refined, Alice von Hildebrand was perhaps even better known during her lifetime for her innumerable television and radio appearances. Her in-person brilliance lends itself most favorably to the essay format, where her sharp cultural critiques and reverence for timeless truths are conveyed with intimate care and sparkling clarity.