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Bookshelf
By WILLIAM C. GRAHAM
All You Need is Love . . . and 99 Other Life Lessons from
Classic Rock Songs, by Pete Fornatale and Bill Ayres (A Fireside Book,
Simon & Schuster, 221 pages, $11 paperback), is an intriguing book.
Background information about and wisdom culled from 100 well-remembered rock
songs might be just the ticket both for aging baby-boomers and members of
Generation X. I sent my copy off to a young friend to tuck in his backpack as
he kayaks off the coast of Washington state before making his way through
Europe. I hope itll keep him singing, praying and meditating as he
moves.
Another volume for the musically inclined to consider is The
Music of Angels: A Listeners Guide to Sacred Music from Chant to
Christian Rock, by Patrick Kavanaugh, with a foreword by Dave Brubeck
(Chicago: Loyola Press, 312 pages, paperback). The author shows the connections
between one age and another and the relationships between one genre and another
for musicians and music lovers. Those who wish to appreciate more fully the
breadth of Christian music while bringing people together in a spirit of
Christian harmony will be well served here.
Popular Catholicism in a World Church: Seven Case Studies in
Inculturation, edited by Thomas Bamat and Jean-Paul West (Orbis, 315 pages,
$24 paperback), looks to Chile, Peru, the West Indies, Ghana, Tanzania,
Southern India and Hong Kong. Precious Blood Fr. Robert J. Schreiter notes in
his foreword that popular religion is how acting and believing happen among
ordinary people whose practices were earlier seen as deviations from the
official norm. He suggests that popular religion no longer need be dismissed as
the result of improper evangelization, and a closer look at popular forms of
Christianity teaches much about what conversion means.
In The Social Meanings of Money and Property: In Search of a
Talisman (SAGE Publications [2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, Calif. 91320],
289 pages, $29.95 paperback, $65 hardbound), author Kenneth O. Doyle expresses
a need to cut through some of the murkiness of real life, sacrifice some
of the subtlety, as he considers the psychology of money, and the
complexity, earthly realism and potential rewards of the financial world. Those
who ask, as does Doyle, What is the value to society in the examination
of the social meanings of money and property? may find this study
interesting.
How intriguing is this title: Electromagnetism and the Sacred:
At the Frontier of Spirit and Matter, by Lawrence W. Fagg (Continuum, 144
pages, $24.95 hardbound). Fagg is a retired research professor in nuclear
physics at Catholic University. He sees the electromagnetic interaction as a
meaningful physical analogue of Gods indwelling and as a significant
unifying and relating influence in the ongoing dialogue between science and
religion. Well, as a colleague of mine is fond of saying, I never thought
of that! Faggs intriguing proposal is intended as a stimulus to
further study and discussion. And all of Teilhards progeny will be glad
for this gift.
Liturgy and Hermeneutics, by Precious Blood Sr. Joyce Ann
Zimmerman (American Essays in Liturgy, Liturgical Press, 109 pages, $9.95
paperback), is about the art of interpretation and introduces the reader to a
complex body of literature in such a way as to help one to feel literate in a
technical field without the need to master everything.
Readers may want to move next to Bearing Fruit in Due Season:
Feminist Hermeneutics and the Bible in Worship, by Elizabeth J. Smith
(Liturgical Press, 248 pages, $29.95 paperback). Smith is an Anglican priest
working in a suburban Melbourne, Australia, parish. Her work calls biblical
scholars to pay attention to what happens when academic biblical studies meet
the worshiping church. She is helpful in considering feminist resources.
Whispers of Liberation: Feminist Perspectives on the New
Testament, by Jesuit Fr. Nicholas King (Paulist, 189 pages, $15.95
paperback), targets both those who are interested or alarmed by the topic. A
good introduction for either group.
Knowing Her Place: Gender and the Gospels, by Anne Thurston
(Paulist, 127 pages, $12.95 paperback), is another helpful resource for those
who want to be led by a Christian feminist beyond traditional interpretations
to discover what biblical texts may be saying today.
Things New and Old: Essays on the Theology of Elizabeth A.
Johnson, edited by Phyllis Zagano and Terrence W. Tilley (Crossroad, 144
pages, $14.95 paperback), is an examination of the central themes in
Johnsons work: feminist perspectives, theology of God, Christology,
pneumatology and the communion of saints. The essayists gave their papers at a
recent meeting of the American Academy of Religion. They include Margaret
Farley and Jesuit Frs. Joseph Bracken and Roger Haight. Also included is
Johnsons response as well as a bibliography of her writings and
treatments of her work by other scholars. One of her former doctoral students
told me the book is a great survey of Johnsons thought.
Grief Quest: Men Coping with Loss, by Fr. Robert J. Miller
of the Chicago archdiocese with Stephen J. Hrycyniak (St. Marys Press,
165 pages, $9.95 paperback), describes how men grieve and why they cannot
grieve. The authors want their text to be down-to-earth and basic, replete with
examples and stories of men who faced loss and survived. This book may be just
the ticket for those targeted by the title.
Finding the Mystic Within You (Institute of Carmelite
Studies, 188 pages, $9.95 paperback) is by Peggy Wilkinson, a wife and mother
of eight who is a member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites. Her book
is for busy and active people, those without time or inclination for intensive
spiritual reading and study. It distills the wisdom of Teresa of Avila and John
of the Cross to help in understanding the stages and experiences of the inner
journey. A thoroughly practical little volume.
The Normal Alcoholic, by William F. Kraft (Alba House, 149
pages, $9.95 paperback), is about those who function relatively well in life
without manifesting blatant symptoms of alcoholism. The author asks: What is
alcoholism? What is normal alcoholism? Can it lead to more debilitating forms?
What are the consequences of denial and avoidance? Here is help and self-help
for those in need.
A Book of Condolences: Classic Letters of Bereavement,
edited by Rachel Harding and Mary Dyson, with a foreword by Madeleine
LEngle (Continuum, 186 pages, $16.95 paperback), is oddly interesting.
Letter writers from 45 B.C. to the present share their experiences of love and
compassion as they face anothers sorrow. A fine gift for those who
grieve.
The Peace to the City campaign was launched by the World Council
of Churches Program to Overcome Violence to draw attention to creative and
inspiring ways in which churches and other groups throughout the world are
becoming involved in joint efforts for peace. Peace in Troubled Cities:
Creative Models of Building Community Amidst Violence, by Dafne Plou (Risk
Book Series, World Council of Churches, 133 pages, $9.95 paperback), focuses on
efforts in seven cities, including Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Belfast, Ireland;
Boston; and Durban, South Africa.
Stephen Maret teaches psychology and pastoral ministry at Caldwell
College where he is a remarkably popular and insightful professor. I asked him
to take a look at The Logic of the Spirit: Human Development in Theological
Perspective by James E. Loder (Jossey-Bass, 362 pages, $29.95 paperback)
and invited his response.
According to Maret, Loders is an excellent book in which he
utilizes the paradigmatic structures of Kierkegaards stages (Aesthetic,
Ethical, Religiousness A and Religiousness B) as a means for interpreting and
understanding human developmental psychology. Loders work, Maret
concludes, is valuable and thought provoking and would be of interest to anyone
intrigued by the confluence of theology and developmental psychology.
Fr. William C. Grahams newest book, Sacred Adventure:
Beginning Theological Study. has been published by University Press of
America. He receives e-mail at NCRBkshelf@aol.com
National Catholic Reporter, September 24,
1999
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