February 1, 2010 Investigating miracles

In the mid-1990s, Randall Sullivan stumbled upon claims that the Virgin Mary had been appearing to children in a village in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The subject of heavenly apparitions was as intriguing to the secular journalist as it...

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February 1, 2010 Lord, have mercy

Painful, painful to read this book. Pain for the victims of sexual abuse, pain for the abusers, pain for the church, and pain for Nova Scotian Duncan MacAskill, the “bishop’s man” commissioned to facilitate the discreet transfer of offending priests. Called by them “the Exorcist,” or “the Purificator,” MacAskill is a character for whom it is easy to feel empathy. In an astonishing synchronicity, the book was nominated for the Giller Prize, which it later received, a month before the former Roman Catholic bishop of Antigonish was arrested on charges of possession of child pornography.

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February 1, 2010 I’m sorry: Forgiveness can be difficult to achieve but oh, so worth it

After 45 years of marriage, forgiveness was slow to come. Countless hurts and a growing contempt were buried under layers of bitter resentment. For much of their time together, the couple’s relationship had been marked by frustration, anger and sorrow.

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November 1, 2009 A universe drenched in meaning

A new book and a film about that book explore the conviction of one of the most extraordinary writers of the 20th century. The conviction is that, if we have religion, it must be cosmic and encompass everything. Indeed, for C.S. Lewis, all of creation was meaningful and “God has written a kind of poetry into the very orbit of the planets.”

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October 1, 2009 Questioning faith, conscience and conviction

THE 16 essays collected in Leaving Fundamentalism: Personal Stories come from deeply thoughtful folk who have rejected the culture or teachings of fundamentalism. Editor G. Elijah Dann, an author and academic who has taught at...

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October 1, 2009 The Golden Rules of rudeness

WHEN JEAN-PAUL Sartre wrote (in 1944) that there was no need for fire, brimstone, stake, and gridiron, insofar as “Hell is other people” [“L’enfer, c’est les autres”], he anticipated the dawning of the age of bad behaviour by several decades. Rudeness, often of the most shamelessly flagrant variety, is endemic nowadays, as ubiquitous as the air, and just as apt to leave us gagging. The words “I’m sorry” have become even more endangered than their close kin, “Thank you,” replaced, alas, by a distressing proclivity, even among the very young, to proffer an indignant “Eff-off!” over every real or imagined slight.

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September 1, 2009 Joy Incarnate

I WAS INTRODUCED to Joy Davidman through  C.S. Lewis, whose Christian conversion and reflections on the human condition propelled him into fame. Many experiences of grief have been solaced by A Grief Observed, which Lewis...

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September 1, 2009 Two Christian leaders different in theology, united in love for their Lord

TWO CHRISTIAN leaders – one from the 19th century, the other from the 20th – vastly different in theology but united in love for their Lord – are featured in these books. William Booth made his mark in the 19th century as founder...

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June 1, 2009 Anglican Episcopate reflects on 105 bishops

“IT’S NOT A dream book for a publisher,” said Archbishop Michael Peers, former primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, of his latest book, the fourth volume of The Anglican Episcopate in Canada.

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May 1, 2009 Novels capture life in Newfoundland and Labrador

ANGLICANS DESCRIBE their Christian faith as a journey from brokenness to wholeness so they can reach out to other wounded travellers. Coralie Hughes Jensen has written two novels featuring this journey in the lives of people in Newfoundland and Labrador.

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