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Book Marks: New releases on NCAA basketball, ancient religions, and sacred texts

Arts & Culture

Here are some interesting new book releases for April:

April 2013
Ramblers: Loyola-Chicago 1963—The Team That Changed the Color of College Basketball

By Michael Lenehan

When the 1963 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers basketball team stepped onto the court for the NCAA tournament as underdogs, no one expected it to be a history changing event. With a lineup that featured four African-American starters and a country torn in two by racial conflicts and the civil rights movement, the Ramblers defied the norm of an all-white team and accomplished one of the greatest victories in NCAA history against two of its rivals: Mississippi State and Cincinnati. On the fiftieth anniversary of this victory, author Michael Lenehan recounts the dramatic and empowering story in Ramblers (Agate Midway, 2013).
 

Anthony deMello: The Happy Wanderer

By Bill deMello

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In Anthony deMello: The Happy Wanderer (Orbis, 2013), author Bill deMello intimately shares the life of his brother Anthony, an Indian Jesuit who continues to be an influential spiritual teacher to many even after his death in 1987. Bill spreads his brother's message to experience God every day, conveyed through his brother’s books, actions, and retreats that integrated Christian spirituality with both eastern and western sources. This biography, through fraternal love, is a treasure to all who are striving for spiritual nourishment.
 

God Speaks in Many Tongues: Meditate with Joan Chittister on 40 Sacred Texts

By Joan Chittister

Joan Chittister, in her book God Speaks in Many Tongues (Benetvision, 2013), accompanies readers through forty short meditations from sacred texts from people of all faiths, including some unexpected sources such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the Navajo Indians, and Rumi. Enlightening and thought-provoking, these meditations provide room to write personal reflections after each of them.  Chittister hopes that she can break down barriers that block spiritual bonds between people of all belief systems by choosing a few lines in each sacred text.
 

And Man Created God: A History of the World at the Time of Jesus

By Selina O’Grady

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Over the ages, religions have grown to incredible size and power which change the world. Each has influenced more than just its followers.  Selina O’Grady attempts to makes sense of how what she dubs “the Jesus cult," initially having only about one hundred followers, grew to be a worldwide religion when it should have disappeared behind the other great world religions that were already developed at the time.  And God Created Man (St. Martin's Press, 2012) defines how religion is an integral part of the human history and politics across the empires of the ancient and present world.
 

Explorations in the Theology of Benedict XVI

Edited by John C. Cavadini

In this collection the theology behind the writings of Benedict XVI is examined by a group of scholars from a variety of different backgrounds. They reflect on his Augustine thought context, his ecclesiology, his Christology, his liturgical and sacramental theology, and more. This volume includes writings from when Benedict was a priest, professor, bishop, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and pope. Anyone interested in his works will be intrigued by Explorations in the Theology of Benedict XVI (University of Notre Dame Press, 2012).

 

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Illustration by Angela Cox