2 comments about Teresa of Avila (Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series).

1. Teresa of Avila is one of the masters of spiritual discipline and spiritual writing in the broad tradition of Christendom, and together with her friend John (St. John of the Cross) is one of the pillars of the spiritual world of the Reformation/Counter-Reformation period.
   
   Rowan Williams, current Archbishop of Canterbury, has put together a beautiful little text that looks at Teresa's spiritual classics and ideas. Williams gives a brief biographical sketch, in which he traces the life of this daughter of a house of minor nobility, constantly plagued with illness, and who entered a Carmelite convent without her father's knowledge or consent (a quite bold move at that time). She lived through the beginnings of the Reformation with all the theological, social and political upheaval that entailed, and often raised suspicion with her own activities, in a world already suspicious of residule Judaism (post-inquisition) on the one hand, and protestant reformist ideas on the other.
   
   Williams' first chapter deals with the ideas of purity and honour in the social world of the time. Purity included an idea of purity of the blood (distinguishing more 'pure' Christians from those who were or were descended from conversos, those who converted from Judaism under the Inquisition - one can sense a foreshadow of later European events here). Honour was of supreme importance in the Latinate countries of the Middle Ages, but Teresa's ideas were more toward the honour of God and how this honour extended to all of humanity and creation. Williams does deal at some length with the impact of Teresa's knowing her own Jewish lineage on her identity.
   
   In Teresa's autobiography, Williams finds trouble 'both in its composition and its consequences'. The inquisitorial censors took a very long time in editing and approving; Teresa's own issues of suspicion regarding her confessors and others who discounted her visions at best, or thought they were demonic possessions at worst, made her loyalty to the church seem somewhat problematic. Still, according to Williams, the autobiography served its purpose to show a crucial stage in Teresa's spiritual development, one that sets the stage for her later, greater works, 'Interior Castle' and 'The Way of Perfection'.
   
   Williams calls 'The Way of Perfection' Teresa's most 'mischievous book'. She looks with irony and satire in many ways at the world around her, particularly at the ecclesiastical establishment. However, this is couched in terms of love and concern for her fellow humanity in ways that were completely consistent with the orthodox faith (if not always with standard practice). Her absolute devotion to the Eucharist is apparent, and it is somewhat ironic, as Williams points out, that while she writes in disparaging tones about Lutheran theology and views of the sacraments, in fact her theology is very close to Luther's personal sense. 'Anything Teresa writes about the Eucharist is that it is for her the one concrete and contemporary sign of the reality on which everything depends - the desire of God to be with creation, at all costs - and is thus the centre and touchstone of all that is said about Christian life and prayer.'
   
   Teresa's most well known work, 'Interior Castle', develops both ideas of what we do and what God does. Williams entitles one of the sections of his text 'Homecoming', sensing that what Teresa was really longing for in this text, particularly the innermost mansions, is to be united, be at home, and be at rest in God.
   
   Williams explores Teresa's legacy, declaring that, despite modern attempts to recast her image, she was not a feminist, was not a social reformer, and not particularly interested in individual rights of freedom of religion or belief. She was a product of her time, without undue regard for many of the more 'worldly' aspects of concern today. However, in some of her concerns, she does reach into modern situations. While she did not challenge the church's right to have authority, she nonetheless called those in authority in the church 'be clearly answerable to the reality, the incarnational movement of God, that directs her own prayer and action.'
   
   Williams himself is a man of authority of a kind, overseeing a troubled communion whose concept of authority is in the process of change. He clearly resonates with some of the ideas of Teresa, particularly whenever the intersection of God's love and the world's need occurs. Williams writes with grace and clarity, and the combination of Teresa's message and Williams' analysis and presentation produces a wonderful spirit indeed.



2. Un texto básico para acercarse a la vida y obra de teresa de Avila.

1 comments about Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller: Portrait of a Seventeenth-Century Rabbi.

1. This is a scholarly book that can and should be appreciated by a much wider audience. Davis places his subject's gripping personal life and ideas within a clearly presented larger European, historical context as well as within the Jewish communities of Bohemia, Prague, Vienna, and Cracow. Seldom considered aspects of the early scientific revolution and the corresponding shifts in worldview, deeply personal poetry that illuminates family relationships as well as risky political allegiences, the eastward European migration of the Jewish communities that had once been centered in the Rhineland, attitudes toward philosophy and mysticism... Rabbi Lipmann Heller's life and and times are endlessly interesting.

5 comments about On Burning Ground: A Son's Memoir.

1. What can I add to the above? Not much. I rarely read Holocaust memoirs, but this one was amazing. Michael's father, Joseph, a Talmudic scholar with blue eyes and blond hair, who tried to save his mother in Navaredok/Novogrudek Poland, failed, and fled to the forests and to Vilna. As a circumcised male in Vilna, Joseph took on the identity of a Muslim Tatar, studied Islam, and became a foreign laborer in Berlin. A hidden Jew pretending to be a Muslim living in the Nazi capital during the War. And then he enlisted in the SS!



2. Skakun's experiences are comparable to those of Yehuda Nir in "The Lost Childhood" and Moshe Perlman in "Europa, Europa". The crowning irony is Skakun's (almost) joining the Waffen SS in order to hide his Jewish identity, and to survive. However, there are just a few errors of background historical fact which mar "On Burning Ground". E.g., on page 203 Julius Streicher is named as the founder of the Nazi paper "Volkische Beobachter". This is wrong. Streicher founded "Der Sturmer". Volkische Beobachter was an outgrowth of "Munchener Beobachter", a paper purchased and re-founded by Dietrich Eckart. This is the sort of mistake that better editing might have caught. But "On Burning Ground" still stands as a riveting account of survival through quick thinking and a lot of luck.



3. I have always had a deep interest in the Holocaust, I think it is because of the fact that it occured so recent in our history, it is so incredible that in our modern society, a country such as Germany was so willing to carry out such a morbid and shockingly sinister plan of brutality and murder. That ordinary citizens could be so callous and treacherous,...I am amazed!

   Joseph Skakun, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, takes us on a journey into his mind numbing past. Divine intervention, solid logic and humblness, play a major role in his reason for survival.

   Personally I think this story is very unique and wouldn't be surprised to see it become a movie.




4. No one can doubt how much Michael Skakun loves his father and how proud he is of his fathers amazing story of survival. However. I would have toned down the flowery writing, after all, in a biography there really no way of knowing all the expressions of the faces in the room, the smells, the sounds, etc. I also would have included a postscript on whether the subject of the book is still alive, where he lives, or where he spent his last days. Too many loose ends for me, but a book that is very good and worth reading.



5. This was a nice story, but it was clouded by some very philosphical rantings by the son both early in the book and at the end. Also troubling was the son's writing of his father's story. He talkes about his father, then his grandfather and grandmother, and it is difficult to follow, especially early in the story. I wish he would have written it as his father's narrative as told to him.
   
   This is a very harrowing account on how one person survived the Holocaust. Skakun was blessed with blue eyes and blond hair, and it was fairly easy to pass himself off as an Aryan, with the exception of his circumcision. Both passing into Germany and his physical for the Waffen SS necesitated him taking a physical in the nude. I think his heightened awareness of how vulnerable he was resulted in a certain nervousness, which could have resulted in his uncovered secret identity.
   
   This is a nice easy read about a very lucky Polish Jew. His unconventional route and his luck led to him surviving the war. Skakun credits the good deeds of his mother in his survival of the war.

No comments about The Spiritual Autobiography of Charles De Foucauld.

4 comments about Sing Me to Heaven: The Story of a Marriage.

1. OK, so I'm not a first time reader of "Sing Me to Heaven." I am a colleague of Margaret Peterson's (English Department) who got to read this wonderful book chapter by chapter as it came out of her computer. I loved it then; I love it now.

   In this book -- about AIDS, about marriage, about faith in hard places (war zones, if you will) -- Margaret has been self-disclosing, without ever becoming narcissistic; she has been technical, without ever being tedious (I loved the information she gave me about AIDS and its treatments.); she has been deeply moving, without ever becoming sentimental; she has been critical, without ever becoming spiteful. She has been funny, lyrical, tragic, cynical, hopeful -- all without excess.

   How has she done that?!

   You will love the book if you are a poet -- pay particular attention to the "Land and Sea" reflections. You will love the book if you are a scientist -- pay particular attention to MP's descriptions of drugs and effects. You will love the book if you are a musician -- type "Sing Me to Heaven" into a good search engine and listen to an online rendering of the title song. You will love the book if you are an honest Christian -- pay particular attention to the chapter on the rhetoric of AIDS and the one on the "healing" service. You will love the book if you are in love -- pay attention to the entire work.

   Margaret Peterson has walked multiple tightropes in this book, including that between the past and the future. Loving Hyung Goo has not kept her from loving Dwight Peterson; loving Dwight has not made her forget Hyung Goo.

   Buy it! Savor it! Learn from it! Give it to dear friends for Christmas!




2. Thank you, Margaret Kim Peterson, for sharing your own very special true story. Your writing style is brilliant and deserving of praise. I was captivated from the beginning.

   Sing Me To Heaven, the Story of a Marriage, is the perfect title. It is a unique story written by an obviously gifted author who, in an intelligent and sincere way, details her memories of shared times and solitary times during her marriage to a fine young man who had the misfortune to be HIV positive.

   I find the book to be thought provoking. Read it as I did, with an open mind, and you'll see.




3. In a time when marriage and commitment are seen as temporary, optional, and convenience driven, Margaret Kim Peterson's insights into her own marriage seem particularly valuable. The issue of AIDS, and our response to the disease and the individuals afflicted with it also raises many important points. This is a must read, you will be affected by this book!



4. Falling in love with Hyung Goo Kim was the best and worst thing that ever happened to Margaret Kim Peterson. In her recently published memoir SING ME TO HEAVEN: The Story of a Marriage, Peterson does an exquisite job of explaining how both were true.

   The short explanation is to say that Hyung Goo was HIV-positive. This revelation while the couple was dating threatened to dissolve their burgeoning romance for reasons that are all-too-obvious. But it was a combination of not-so-obvious reasons that ultimately brought the two together in marriage.

   "I wanted so desperately to know and be known, to love and be loved, and I had never met anyone with whom that seemed like the remotest possibility. I could sense that possibility already welling around the two of us. To have said to him at that point, 'I'm sorry; would you please go away' would have felt like cutting off my arm. I just couldn't do it."

   Hyung Goo's HIV-positive status accounts for the worst part of falling in love with him. With heartbreaking detail, Peterson recounts their collective descent into the hell of hospitals and medicines and painful physical deterioration when Hyung Goo officially contracted AIDS and he began his halting march towards death. This aspect of the story alone is an incredibly valuable inside look at the real work of dying with a terminal illness.

   But HIV also plays an unexpectedly large role in the best part of falling in love with Hyung Goo:

   "We began to see only gradually and toward the end of Hyung Goo's life the ways in which the present and anticipated grief of our marriage had contributed to the richness of our life together. The sorrows of our life had not simply detracted from our happiness, but had shaped and even contributed to that happiness. In the Spring of 1995, it was becoming clear that Hyung Goo was not going to live much longer --- maybe a year, probably less. In the midst of his worsening illness, he and I were coping together in much more cooperative and mutually supportive ways than in former days. 'It really is remarkable how far you two have come in just four years,' Martha commented to me.

   She was right; but I wanted more. Where might we have been in ten years, if we had them?

   'It's fruitless to ask that question,' Martha said. 'If you had ever thought you had that kind of time, you wouldn't be where you are now.'

   It was impossible to see AIDS itself as good. But it was equally impossible to see that the particular good Hyung Goo and I had experienced together in the midst of AIDS could have been obtained in any other way. The requiem that we stand for one another and with one another was not something external to our marriage, like a piece of black crape draped over the frame of an otherwise sunny and cheerful picture. Our individual and shared sorrows were part of the picture itself, shadows without which the picture and its characteristic beauty would have been, if not gone, than at least altered beyond recognition."

   Peterson's narrative provides an intimate and moving look at a marriage in which the looming specter of death brings present joy, love and sustaining faith into sharp relief. The couple ate dinner off their fine china every day at a table cluttered with hundreds, if not thousands, of pills and medicine bottles, reminding them why the special plates shouldn't be reserved for future occasions.

   Listening to the Margaret of today reflect upon the Margaret of yesterday, it is clear Hyung Goo left her with the invaluable gift of an inculcated sense of self and stability. Indeed, the deeply therapeutic nature of this marriage is one of its most notable aspects:

   "We were both looking for a love affair when we began our courtship. We wanted affection and companionship and romance and we got them; but we got something far deeper and more transformative as well ... Like Max in WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, Hyung Goo wanted most just to be where someone loved him best of all. In our marriage he found that place. I couldn't have loved him more if there had been ten of me. And the more I loved him, and the more I relaxed into his love for me, the more worthwhile and competent he felt; until in the last year of his life he had settled into a confident, gentle, joyful, sense of himself as a man and as a husband."

   There are love stories and then there are love stories. The former are as pleasant as they are predictable and they tend to be thoroughly forgettable. The latter earn their italics with uniquely honest depictions of the predicament of being in love. These tales have the ability to transcend their specifics to address larger issues of what it means to be human, and they have the uncanny ability to take up residence in the mind (and heart) of their readers. SING ME TO HEAVEN is a love story with italics.

   --- Reviewed by Lisa Ann Cockrel

No comments about Running the Course: Becoming a Champion in God's Eyes.

4 comments about The Demonologist: The True Story of Ed and Lorraine Warren.

1. This book was well done, although the writer did take some liberties an adulterize the dialogue--in other words, he corrected grammar and used non-daily vocabulary that leads me to believe that he wrote his own dialogue for those parts. However, the book does bring up some interesting points about demons that need to be said in our modern times:

   1) The Ouija board is not a harmless game. By inviting spirits to communicate, a door is thrown open to infestation, oppression, and eventual possession by demonic spirits.

   2) Black magic is not a tool easily wielded by humans. Black magic asks demons to carry out your bidding; the price of labor usually amounts to the tune of your soul.

   3) Demons have, do, and will continue to exist in the world. Because of the public interest, books of real rituals are being printed up and "sold like candy," and so demonic phenomena has begun to be on the rise.

   4) Exorcism is a secret ritual that is still performed today. In one year, an average of about six hundered exorcisms is approved and carried out by Church Officials (exorcism is normally carried out by Catholic clergy).

   5) Just some trivia: Demons are the slave force of hell. Devils are their managers. To name a demon or devil specifically is to acknowledge it and give it power over you and the physical realm (ghosts and demons inhabit the metaphysical realm).

   6) Ghosts are human spirits that are the remnant of the dead--someone you don't know. Apparitions are ghosts of someone you know. Demons--and angels, for what are demons but fallen angels--have never been alive and never will be. They have been walking the Earth since before the end of time.

   7) Never confront a demon in any form for any reason.

   Stuff I can corroborate with other books on the subject. Be careful with yourselves.




2. The information in this book should not be taken lightly. It may change the way you feel about the metaphysical realm. And you will sleep with the lights on for a long time!



3. After reading this book I was compelled to try and punch a hole in the "facts" it presented. When my research was compleated I realized that this book is one of the most accurate and terrifying acounts of Demonic activity available. Ed and Lorraine Warren are to be commended and respected for their dangerous work as excorsist and medium. They have endured more than any human should be expected to, and still they continue. Anyone that thinks their house is haunted should read this book. It provides important information about human and inhuman spirits that will startle and amaze. If you have thought of toying with black magic or sorcery, it would behoove you to look into the contents of these pages and reconsider your decisions. This book was my first glimpse at the supernatural. If what it holds between its covers is true, I hope it will be my last!



4. I've been studying this phenomena for years, and the descriptions of Ed and Lorraine's good work are, if anything, a user-friendly version of what demonology can really be like. They self-censored, I think, to the benefit of the lay folk. This is hands-down the scariest book I've ever read, and the more you read and investigate the topic, the more you realize how true it is. I am not a chruch going man, but I walked away with a healthy respect and gratitude for their work and a now-strong desire to not dabble in anything resembling seances, Ouji boards, or summoning spells. The other reviews of this book completely concur with my thoughts. I regret having misplaced the book within the last year, though, to be honest, it was so scary, I'm not entirely sad to be rid of it. One final thing-- its been my experience that different people are scared by different parts of the book, for different reasons. Those of you still lucky enough to have a copy should share it with friends and take a poll. I suspect the subject matter taps into some hidden parts of our subconcious fears...

No comments about Rosanna of The Amish: The Restored Text.

2 comments about Fire Under My Feet: A Memoir of God's Power in Panama.

1. Father Mahon is now Pastor Emeritus in my parish, Saint Mary of the Woods. After reading "Fire Under My Feet", I am moved by the adventure that Father Mahon experienced in Panama. I am reminded of how provincial and non-adventurous most of our lives are. This 12-year "experiment" in Panama packs a lifetime of experiences.
   
   It is more perfect, more rewarding, more Christ-like being a priest among the poor than among the affluent. What a great gift to humanity to go into a poverty stricken town in Panama, live among the people and help them build a community. What a wonderful, energetic and idealistic adventure. I both admire and envy Father Leo Mahon for having lived this life of love, sacrifice and adventure.
   
   Father Mahon clashes with the Catholic establishment of the 1960s in Panama that retained unsavory medieval practices such as the selling of prayers and sacraments for a fee. He clashes with incompetent Bishops and Cardinals that are poor leaders. He clashes with unjust governments. He fights to defend himself from official accusations of heresy that steal energy from his mission. His approach to Catholicism and ministry was 50 years ahead of its time, but there was a price to be paid for this. In the end, Father Mahon builds a Christian community in San Miguelito far improved from 12 years earlier but in the struggles his energy in Panama is nearly exhausted. The struggle between good and evil continues... but Father Mahon scores one for the good guys.
   
   Javier Gorostiaga 5/25/2007



2. Rev. Leo Mahon, spent 12 years in Panama building a new model of a Catholic parish. Sent by the Archdiocese of Chicago, his 'experimental church' grew to be wildly successful and a powerful tool in not only changing the faith of many of the poorer people in Panama, but also became a challenge to the authorities in that country.
   
   With the Church becoming fearful of what Father Leo and other had created, plus a Government that feared the power if a rising class of poor people eventually lead to Father Mahon leaving Panama and the Church model eventually closed down.
   
   This book is a poweful witness to Faith moving a people and the man who helped make that happen. This book is simply written, but that is what makes this book good. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who would want to explore their Faith and how it can change lives.

1 comments about Basho's Journey: The Literary Prose Of Matsuo Basho.

1. This is one of the latest books out on the travel journals of Matsuo Basho and this lovely book contains all five journals.The translator David Landis Barnhill has arranged the journals in chronological order to show how Basho's writing developed over the years.The journals included are 'Journey of Bleached Bones in a Field' [Nozarashi Kiko], 'Kashima Journal' [Kashima Kiko], 'Knapsack Notebook' [Oi No Kobumi], 'Sarashina Journal' [Sarashima Kiko], and 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North' [Oku No Hosomichi]. Basho's 'Saga Diary' [Saga Nikki] is also included along with a massive 80 of Basho's haibun (short poetic prose pieces that include haiku) and over 320 of Basho's haiku are scattered throughout the book, which also includes maps of each of the five journeys and extensive notes and a glossary.