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Book Reviews

Read: Mothers of the Church

Wednesday, May 9, 2012
By Online Editor
Mothers of the ChurchBy Mike Aquilina & Christopher Bailey (OSV, 2012)In elementary school I always looked forward to women’s history month each March. Unfortunately, by sixth grade the basic lesson—that in the past women were denied things like voting and jobs just because they were women—was growing a little stale.
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Read: Voting and Holiness

Tuesday, May 8, 2012
By Online Editor
Voting and HolinessEdited by Nicholas Cafardi (Paulist Press, 2012)Elections have become something of a cross to bear for American Catholics. Not only is it difficult to find a candidate who does not hold a position at variance with Catholic teaching, the debate over how Catholics should respond to this reality has become increasingly bitter.
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USC Book Club: Jesus and the Emergence of a Catholic Imagination

Monday, April 30, 2012
By Online Editor
May 2012: Jesus and the Emergence of a Catholic ImaginationBy John Pfordresher Review: In this fascinating account, John Pfordresher, an English professor at Georgetown University, traces the roots of the Catholic imagination from Jesus to the arts of the West through the centuries.His chapter on Jesus, “the poet of everyday life,” takes apart his imagination and preaching techniques: parable
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Read: Happiness

Friday, April 6, 2012
By Online Editor
Read: Happiness
By Joan Chittister (Eerdmans, 2011)Joan Chittister’s admirers take up her books expecting to draw from a well of wisdom and insight.
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Read: Latino Catholicism

Thursday, April 5, 2012
By Online Editor
Read: Latino Catholicism
By Timothy Matovina (Princeton University Press, 2012)Thirty-one years ago a Fides/Claretian book from the publishers who bring you this magazine chronicled The Browning of America: The Hispanic Revolution in the American Church.
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USC Book Club: Simple Faith

Monday, April 2, 2012
By Online Editor
April 2012: Simple Faith: Moving Beyond Religion As You Know It to Grow in Your Relationship with GodBy Margaret Silf Review: As we mature through life, all of us are challenged by complex questions that can become roadblocks to developing a meaningful relationship with God: What is the meaning of life? How can I know God exists? Why do bad things happen to good people?
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Read: Ten Popes Who Shook the World

Thursday, March 15, 2012
By Online Editor
Read: Ten Popes Who Shook the World
By Eamon Duffy (Yale University Press, 2011)Quick, can you name 10 popes off the top of your head? OK, maybe you can, but how about explaining the difference that each one made in the church and in the world?
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Read: Grace Notes

Tuesday, March 13, 2012
By Online Editor
Read: Grace Notes
By Brian Doyle (ACTA Publications, 2011)Brian Doyle must have been listening intently when poet Mary Oliver proclaimed, “Attentiveness is the beginning of all prayer.” In this collection of 37 essays, Doyle, whom readers will recognize as a frequent contributor to this magazine, dives into the odd and ordinary moments of daily life, plumbing their spiritual depths.
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USC Book Club: Between Heaven and Mirth

Thursday, March 1, 2012
By Online Editor
March 2012: Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual LifeBy James Martin, S.J. Review: If you ever got in trouble as a child for laughing in church, prepare to be vindicated. In Between Heaven and Mirth, Jesuit Father James Martin reveals that God never intended for us to take ourselves, or our spirituality, quite so seriously.
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Read: Between Heaven and Mirth

Friday, February 10, 2012
By Online Editor
Read: Between Heaven and Mirth
Between Heaven and MirthBy James Martin, SJ (HarperOne, 2011)Perhaps I am not the best person to review this book. Although not completely humorless, I have been told that I am not particularly funny. And I do have a disposition that has earned me the occasional nickname “Negative Norma.”James Martin, on the other hand, is a riot.
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