Write a book review once or twice a year for intellectual growth. Invite your graduate students to write a review under your direction.
You select the book, I mail it to you, you send me the electronic review, and I post it (about 1,500 to 2,000 reviews posted since 1997). Write to Hegy@adelphi.edu/ Here is the list of books available in January 2025:
REDISCOVERING THE WISDOM OF THE CORINTHIANS. Paul, Stoicism, and Spiritual Hierarchy by Timothy Brookins (340 pp – Eerdmans.) [The “wisdom” of 1 Cor 1-4 refers to the Stoic philosophy that prevailed in Corinth; some members considered themselves as “wiser” philosophically and “superior” intellectually; this led to conflictive divisions. Paul refutes this philosophical interpretation of his teachings]
CATHOLIC DOGMATIC THEOLOGY: A SYNTHESIS. Book 3. On the Church and the Sacraments by Jean-Hervé Nicolas, OP (750 pp – CUA Press). [Translated from German. First published in 1985]
NATURE, GRACE AND SECULAR CULTURE. A Comparative Study of John Milbank and Joseph Ratzinger by Christian Irdi. (320 pp – Pickwick). [Milbank is the founder of Radical orthodoxy which takes a critical view on secularity and raises questions about reason and grace in the interpretation of modernity – as did Ratzinger]
ESSENTIAL VATICAN II. The Council for the Future Church edited by Christopher Bellitto (110 pp – Paulist Press). [An introduction to Vatican II for the younger generation. Each chapter on seven major documents is written by an expert and gives a summary of Vatican II and its aftermath]
MORAL DEBATES IN CONTEMPORARY CATHOLIC THOUGHT: PARADIGMS, PRINCIPLES, AND PRUDENCE BY James Bretzke, S.J. (228 pages -- Sheed and Ward)
Guiding principles to the basic issues of the death penalty, abortion, gender, immigration and border security, welfare, economics, and faithful citizenship.] DIGITAL COPY
WISDOM FROM THE GLOBAL SISTERHOOD edited by Srs. Joyce Meyer et al. (290 pp – Liturgical Press). [Ten years of articles from the Global Sisters Report about the work of women religious all over the world].
THE WAY OF THE HEART. The Spiritual Experience of André Louf by Charles Wright (290 pp – Cistercian Publications). [A. Louf was the abbot of a Dutch Trappist monastery who chose to be a hermit the last 10 years of his life, after a having played a prominent role in his order and the post-Vatican II church].
THE JESUIT DISRUPTOR. A Personal Portrait of Pope Francis by Michael Higgins (310 pp – Anansi Press). [Higgins was a Vatican reporter for many years. His portrait is descriptive. Two strong chapters on the sexual scandals and on Synodality].
OUR LADY OF LA ANG. History and Theology of a Vietnamese Devotion by Mary Kim Ahn Thi Tran (220 pp – Pickwick). [History and development of the pilgrimage. On inculturation and the title of Mary, Mother of the Church].
HANS KUNG. A REVALUATION edited by Paul Lakeland (200 pp – Paulist Press). [Eleven revaluations from a variety of perspectives: Susan Ross, Francis Clooney, Roger Haight, Mary Ann Hinsdale and others].
