No comments about The Privilege of Poverty: Clare of Assisi, Agnes of Prague, and the Struggle for a Franciscan Rule for Women.

3 comments about The Gatekeeper: A Memoir.

1. Eagleton has long been a major and uncompromising thinker. But, just as much, he is also an excellent writer. This is a good book to read as a 'refresher' if you have read other books by Eagleton, and a good book to begin with if you have not. You might or might not always agree with Eagleton, but he will make you think, laugh and, if you are honest with yourself, perhaps rethink some of your convictions. Above all, he is one of those very few important thinkers whose intricate thinking does not plough their prose into turgidity.



2. Eagleton's recent work finds him claiming the "professional Irishman" mantle, first in literary investigations, then satirical observations directed towards his once-removed, newly reclaimed homeland in "The Truth About the Irish," and now in this rather unrevealing memoir. True to the Hibernian stereotype, he talks your ear off for hours yet you come away dazzled by his wit...only realizing after your "intimate" conversation how little you've actually learned from your nimbly eloquent and now fleeting acquaintance.

   I found his opening two chapters on Irish Catholicism the best, in which he balances fault-finding with sensitivity and compassion. His chapters on far-left politics and "losers" reveal not so much his own intellectual and political thoughts as his take on the wider community of thinkers, posers, and activists in all their idealism and philistinism both.

   His mentor at Oxford proves in his student's eyes repelling and appealing, but the whole dislocation I presume Eagleton felt at Oxford here becomes refracted into some Wildean scene that, not having had the privileges Eagleton earned, I could not fully share. His recollections on the page seemed angled at those within the charmed circle, as those in the leftist campaigning, and if you're removed at a distance as I am, the detachment only grew as I read his entertaining but--in these latter sections--ultimately disengaged recollections.

   Still, as with his literary and satirical work (seek out his novella "Saints and Sinners"), Eagleton's worth reading, for the energy of his mind and the enthusiasm of his intellect. You won't find much about his personal side here, but he does deliver what he wishes to share on the page, frankly and tersely.




3. Eagleton's lengthy chapter on the Labour movement in Britain, although it does have touches of brilliant satire, is unlikely to be of as much interest to American readers as some of his other chapters in which he discusses Catholics in England or the anthropology of Oxbridge, for example. At his best, Eagleton is both funny and sharply insightful. And it is worth wading through the longueurs to find these places.

2 comments about Finding the Landlord: A Guidebook to C.S. Lewis's Pilgrim's Regress.

1. I won't comment on specifics, so as to avoid spoiling any elements of the book THIS book is written to illuminate. However, Lindskoog does a fine job filling in some of the historical, philosophical, and/or literary gaps that likely exist in our knowledge; gaps that would likely limit our understanding of Lewis' work. While not every section is equally strong, and some suffer from a bit of over-speculation (thus the loss of a star), her intimacy with Lewis' work and background is undeniable and quite helpful. I read Pilgrim's Regress first, then read Lindskoog's guide, then re-read Regress. While the second reading of Regress is not as engaging as the first, since one already knows the plot path, I found myself more in tune with the themes Lewis was exploring...and that's what a guide should do. Recommended.



2. I can not say enough about Kathryn Lindskoog's guides. This one is no exception. We used the Worldviews of the Western World and Veritas Press's Omnibus program and when we had finished studying the philosophers, we decided to read Pilgrim's Regress. Pilgrim's Progress had already been part of the curriculum, but Pilgrim's Regress had so much of the world's philosophies at its core, that we knew it would be a perfect book to finish up our studies.
   
   However, we knew that many of thee references in Pilgrim's Regress might be difficult to spot and that is where Finding the Landlord was invaluable.
   
   I highly recommend reading this classic work of Lewis. You will find it timely even for today with the same vain philosophies that deceive man and man's reaction to such. With this guide the book takes on so much more meaning and is more readily understood with the author giving you the meanings to the Latin superscripts ,allusion, and images portrayed in the book, and cross references to actual sources. Again perfect, because much of what is referenced is literature from the above curriculums.

1 comments about A Sephardi Life in Southeastern Europe: The Autobiography and Journal of Gabriel Arie, 1863-1939.

1. This book, while perhaps not of general interest, was fascinating to me, since my husband was born in Sofia, Bulgaria and was a distant relative of the author. The blindness of the participants to the events swirling around them in Europe was startling. Their concerns with business and success overrode any concern with the outside world. Marriage between cousins, uncles and nieces, was common emphasizing the clannishness of the Jewish population. This world ended with the commencement of WW II. The book definitely has a limited audience.

5 comments about Derek Prince: A Biography.

1. The writer relates how, towards the end of Derek Prince's life, he asked Derek what was the most important truth that he had learned about life.
   
   Derek Prince replied immediately, "God is faithful. He keeps His word. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. I cannot emphasize this enough......"
   
   This experience, although expressed towards the end of this most excellent study, permeates the text from the very beginning.
   
   Reading this book, which was a distinct privilege, often moved me to tears and it is difficult in adequately express in mere words alone how highly I would like to commend this study of the life of Derek Prince to others.
   
   As illustrated in the book's epilogue, although Derek Prince is dead, the Biblical truths that he pioneered through his life and ministry are not.
   
   Although the writer deals in commendable detail with all aspects of Derek Prince's life from his early days in India to his final years living in Jerusalem, for me personally the most significant aspects of Derek's life as described in this book, relate to Derek's own feelings and devotion to Israel and the place that it's people and land play in the Hebrew Christian Scriptures.
   
   Named at his birth in Bangalore, India during 1915, as Peter Derek Vaughan Prince, the book follows how Derek entered into a family steeped in the British military and covers his earliest memories and experiences.
   
   The writer describes how Derek cited one of his earliest hobbies as being "human nature".
   
   His academic brilliance was rarely if ever matched by any of his peers as he steadily progressed through Eton and onwards to become a Cambridge Don where he is described as being both an atheist and a philospher.
   
   His ability to debate and teach, together with his proven excellence in dissecting the written word became well known as he studied the classics, philosophy and other such literature at every conceivable level.
   
   During World War 2, Derek Prince went on to serve in the Royal Army Medical Corps in what was then Palestine. During his military service the reader discovers how Derek's analysis of literature became rather confined due to the uneasy demands of military service.
   
   Not having room in his kit for volumes of books, Derek - "soley as an intellectual exercise" - began a methodical study of the Holy Bible (King James Version).
   
   Starting, as with all books - at the beginning - Derek, who was far from being a Christian at this time, was seen by his colleagues diligently spending hours studying the Bible while drinking whisky and swearing with a command that impressed them all.
   
   The reader is left to imagine how others perceived him at this time. The book describes how - "...he drinks, he reads his Bible and he walks alone..."
   
   It was some time after this, again during his Army Service, that Derek Prince is cited as having his first personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. A life changing experience, described in some detail, and which resounds throughout the remainder of the book.
   
   Applying the same intense devotional study to the written Word of God, Derek has provided a detailed Scriptural account of the place of Israel, the Jewish people, Jerusalem and the Church that few have been able to match.
   
   Derek's own years in Israel after leaving the Army and his marriage etc. are amonst a plethora of issues defined in minute detail and which really need to be digested in their entirety outside of a review. Too much detail here may risk spoiling the incredible story for any prospective reader.
   
   This is a remarkable book. I need to read it again. I want to read it again.
   
   Derek Prince declared that God is faithful. Read this remarkable book and you will not doubt it again.
   
   Thank you.



2. Derek Prince was a fascinating character - an Eton and Cambridge high-fligher and student of Wittgenstein who decided to join a movement often regarded as anti-intellectual and as the province of "the disinherited": Pentecostalism, where he gained a huge reputation as a Bible teacher, exorcist and healer. Stephen Mansfield's popular biography provides a lively account of Prince's life, and the various milieux in which he passed through.
   
   However, while Mansfield has crafted a useful introduction, this is not a comprehensive account of Prince's life. There is no attempt to explore Prince's writings and teachings in any depth, nor is there any real critical assessment. Mansfield avoids hagiography, telling us about Prince's involvement in the disastrous "shepherding movement", but he does not dwell too long on what the consequences of the movement were. We read a lot about Prince's support for Israel - but nothing about what his views concerning Palestinians may have been. Accounts of miracles abound - a goitre drops off, two people are raised from the dead etc. - but these claims are not examined systematically (the book also tells us that one of Prince's particular specialities was to diagnose one leg being shorter than the other, and then to "cure" the problem - an old Pentecostal standby). One crucial bit of information Mansfield gives us is that Prince dabbled in "voodoo" before his conversion; but there is no thought as to whether such an interest in the paranormal may have informed his later Pentecostal worldview - Prince moved in a demon-haunted universe in which curses are real, and in which people are under spiritual attack from "spirits of nicotine" and "spirits of flirting".
   
   A few other bits of information in the book are underdeveloped. For some reason, Mansfield tells us the full name of Prince's roommate in Scarborough, even though he features only very briefly, while the woman who brought Prince to Pentecostal faith is a semi-anonymous "Mrs Shaw". A pastor who gets Prince an important position is identified merely as "a man named Henderson". But perhaps such complaints are misplaced - after all, the book is published by Charisma House, not a university press.



3. I have followed Derek Prince's ministry for years and Mansfield's candid approach made me smile with fond memories, as well as give me new appreciation of the genius of this man. I feel honored to have been given the privelege of sitting under this man's teachings.



4. I found this book an interesting read but it raises more questions than it answers. Derek Prince had a brilliant intellect and could have had a glittering academic career. But he had a weakness common to many intellectuals in that he lacked common sense and discernment, and he had an unbalanced personality. This can probably be traced to his early upbringing where he was starved of parental love and affection, and developed "a spirit of loneliness".
   
   He had a cold and aloof demeanour, and this caused problems in his marriage relationships and with other Christians. There is a revealing passage where his second wife Ruth burst into tears in a public confrontation saying to Derek "You never tell me you love me and you always criticise everything I do".
   
   Doctrinally he had a penchant for extreme positions on e.g. demonisation and submission teachings, that were not only unscriptural but nonsensical. The author skates very lightly over Prince's involvement in the disastrous shepherding controversy of the seventies and eighties. He mistakenly gives the impression that Prince was on the fringe of these activities, whereas more scholarly works such as David Moore's The Shepherding Movement make it clear that Prince was a driving doctrinal force in the propagation of such nonsense, and had been so from the beginning. That he later renounced such teachings and repented of his error only serves to confirm how easily he had been deceived-yet here was a man who set himself up as a teacher of others, and who in turn deceived thousands.
   
   The author has only a sketchy knowledge of modern church history- he gives the wrong date for the revivals in Wales and Azusa Street, and wrongly names the Church of the Nazarene as "Pentecostal" whereas in fact it has always been a vehement opposer of Pentecostalism in all its forms.
   
   This popular account of Derek Prince veers to a misplaced hagiography, and we still await a definitive and more objective study of Prince's fruitful life and ministry.



5. Clear, uplifting and inspiring. The story of Derek's life in the context of history was particularly interesting to read. Manfield mined and captured a story locked away for years.

3 comments about St. Maria Goretti: In Garments All Red.

1. 104 pp. PB. Impr. The beautiful, true story of the 12-year-old girl who in 1902 died a marytr to preserve her purity. Describes her virtous life, poverty, holiness, valiant resistance, heroic and lingering death, conversion of her murderer and over 500,000 present. This is the famous, popular, classic biography!



2. This book can show young preteens of today that, even in the "past" there was pornography, unwanted sexual advances, etc. Maria Goretti was murdered by a guy because she refused his advances. She even forgave him as she lay dying! I wish this was required reading for all youth. It is a very inspiring story.



3. This is the best book about a saint I ever read. I imagine it's because the writer was able to talk to people who actually knew Maria and because she is a more recent saint.

5 comments about Old Thunder: A Life of Hilaire Belloc.

1. An interesting, engaging, and important read for all orthodox Roman Catholics. Hilaire Belloc was, in his day, an incomparable Defender of the Faith; he continues, almost 50 years after his death, to instruct and inspire, and is worthy of emulation.

   The book is well-written and well-researched. It's occasionally a bit too much by-the-numbers, and declines somewhat toward the end, mirroring the decline of Belloc (one gets the impression that Joseph Pearce began to lose interest in Belloc as his subject's life entered its final and least interesting phase).

   I think that, overall, Old Thunder would be pleased with "Old Thunder".




2. Hilaire Belloc and his Catholic associates, men like G.K.Chesterton, Maurice Baring, Ronald Knox, lived at a time when liberalism seemed doomed and Catholicism, with Thomism, Ultramontanism, and a "third way" between Capitalism and Socialism seemed on its way to reconquer Europe. Never since the medieval period had so much intelligence and activity been expended on behalf of re-Catholicization, and the number of converts to the Church among Protestants, Jews, and agnostics was impressive. As it turned out, however, this was less a Catholic revival than the last twitching before Catholicism entered its long decline, the effects of which we still see today.

   A book about Belloc, who used his considerable talents in what ultimately was a lost cause, should have done something with the peculiar atmosphere of English Catholicism at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th Century. Instead Pearce prefers to engage essentially in amiable gossip. There is not much here one cannot already find in books about Belloc & Co. The peculiar atmosphere of English Catholicism in the modern period is better approached through Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" than here.

   I think perhaps Pearce deserves a comment once made about Belloc himself: he writes too much to have time for thought.




3. For Catholic Converts, "Old Thunder" is a must read. I am certain it is not the most well researched nor scholarly work on Belloc or the period of Catholic literary rennasaince. But as an introduction to the period and the players it is an excellent book.

   Historians and biographers such as Joseph Pearce seem to be held in low regard by their peers. Nonetheless, in bringing charaters such as Belloc to the less well read they are invaluable.

   The value of this book is also multiplied by Mr. Pearce's prose. Few writers of non-fiction are so preasurable to read. Old Thunder is an extraordinary biography.




4. Joseph Pearce has carved out a niche for himself as the primary biographer of Catholic Literary Greats. His volumes on Chesterton, Tolkien, and other literary figures are well worth reading. Although he has written of Hillaire Belloc in many of his other works, "Old Thunder" finally gives Belloc his due. The man who is remembered by many as a writer of children's verse is revealed to us as a powerhouse of journalism, fiction, and poetry. At the same time, we see a man of intense Catholic piety and devotion making his way through struggles with finances and the early loss of his greatly beloved wife.

   If you enjoy literary biography, you'll find Pearce is a master. Jump in with "Old Thunder" and make the rounds through all of Pearce's work.




5. I am 17 years old, and I had just discovered Belloc (in The Path to Rome - lucky me!) when my grandma gave me this biography for Christmas. So it was all news to me; I've never read another biography of him. I loved all the quotes and anecdotes, and the prose is outstanding. It was often very sad, especially towards the end...

   Here I have to say something about the reviewer who gave it two stars. I understand his feelings, I think, but his view of history is somewhat distorted: I'm sure he'd agree that the Catholic Reformation and Counter-Reformation were even more energetic with "intelligence and activity" than the Catholic Revival - with all of the saints, missionaries, scholars, artists and composers who worked to bring Europe and all the world to Christ. That said, the Catholic revival (literary and otherwise) was a unique and exhilarating period in the Church. It was not a "last twitching" before a "long decline" - the revival began in the early 19th century and continued about 60 years into the 20th. The decline was not long and slow but sudden and catastrophic - it has been going about 35 years. Every empirically measurable statistic in the 20th cen. Church - Mass attendance, vocations, converts, belief in key doctrines, etc. - shows either a high, constant rate or a steady upward trend - until the 1960's, when there is a sudden, almost exponential drop. The Church just hits a wall. It can't be wholy blamed on "sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll"; there is no equivalent collapse in Protestant denominations. Everything was just different after the council and the new Mass and all that. It's a good thing that Belloc didn't have to see this - it would have broken his heart. On the other hand, we need his fighting spirit now more than ever...

   The "atmosphere of English Catholicism". I think Pearse does convey some of this. What struck me when I began to read English Catholic literature was this overpowering sense of elegy, and an awareness of injustice past and present that was almost too painful to read - but all of it balanced by levity and satire and soldierly faith. It was quite intoxicating to someone young and idealistic, and unaccustomed to it. It is found in many writers - you could almost tell that JRR Tolkien was an English Catholic just by reading "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarilion". It even turns up in Chesterton's detective stories...

   I think that Pearse does give us some of this atmosphere, but he is not really relating Belloc to the post-conciliar Church. A lot of Catholic authors today just don't want to think about this disparity - Pearse included? I hope not. Anyway, this is a very enjoyable biography with many stories of Belloc's life - his travels to Rome and America, his exploits in Parliament (with excerpts from his very provocative speeches!) his friendships with Chesterton and Maurice Baring... I still wish that Pearse would put photographs in his books through. Oh well.

No comments about The Life of Anthony: The Coptic Life and the Greek Life.

No comments about Surprised By Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis.

2 comments about Vivekananda: A Biography.

1. This is the first biography I owned and at the end of reading, left a feeling that is a combination of optimism, enthusiasm and a fire in the belly to accomplish something in life.

   Swami Vivekananda, a Saint/Patriot of India is an amazing personality. He is kind of a super-man, with exceptional oratorial skills, unfailing memory, with a mind stretching to the limits and with a heart of gold. There are hatha-yogis, bhakti yogis and raja yogis etc. But Vivekananda is all in one. Above all he seems to be a perfect Karma yogi - which is very difficult to be.

   The book starts with his early days of attachment to Western thinking, then suddenly shifts to narrating the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Then when the meeting of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda happens - it is the one of the most exciting part of his life and a turning point in Indian history too. Every important part of his life is neatly depicted - his wanderings throughout India, his journey to America, the famous speech in Chicago and his subsequent journeys to the rest of the world. I tried to find the building where the PoR was held in 1893, but I could not. I was told it was turned into "Field Museum", but its Museum Director didnot know when I enquired about it.

   I expected the book to contain the original text of his first speech, but it doesnot. This book does not have many photographs too. Anyway reading Vivekananda's life, one is sure to catch his optimism, enthusiasm and purpose of life and indeed think about reforming oneself.




2. This biography on Vivekananda captivates the reader immensely. It starts of in the early life of this remarkable soul and ends with a few priceless sayings of this colossal figure. This book also contains a glossary on Sanskrit words for the uninitiated reader.
   
   Surprisingly, this book contains no chapters. But this should not put the reader off. The sub-headings in this book makes this work an easy read but the lack of photographs is a minor shortcoming. However, Vivekananda's life is a remarkable one and this should captivate the reader deeply.