In A Book of Silence, writer Sara Maitland begins her journey into the different kinds of silence by following the example of the desert fathers and the anchorites—she leased a remote cottage on the isle of Skye, she traveled to the Sinai desert to sit in solitude for days (and a few nights), she forced…

In A Book of Silence, writer Sara Maitland begins her journey into the different kinds of silence by following the example of the desert fathers and the anchorites—she leased a remote cottage on the isle of Skye, she traveled to the Sinai desert to sit in solitude for days (and a few nights), she forced…

Last weekend I found myself having breakfast at the Sorrento Hotel in Seattle with Kathleen Norris and Scott Cairns. That Kathleen Norris was there was no surprise to me—she was in town to give a reading at Seattle University, and Greg Wolfe and I had met her to talk about Image’s Oahu Seminar. Scott Cairns…

Last weekend I found myself having breakfast at the Sorrento Hotel in Seattle with Kathleen Norris and Scott Cairns. That Kathleen Norris was there was no surprise to me—she was in town to give a reading at Seattle University, and Greg Wolfe and I had met her to talk about Image’s Oahu Seminar. Scott Cairns…

[Caution: This article on The Wolfman contains significant plot spoilers.] I’ve just seen The Wolfman, Hollywood’s 2010 treatment of the classic nineteenth-century horror story. If I recommend it, those who believe that all God-fearing people should steer clear of horror movies will come after me with torches. They’ll be joined by my film-reviewing colleagues, who…

[Caution: This article on The Wolfman contains significant plot spoilers.] I’ve just seen The Wolfman, Hollywood’s 2010 treatment of the classic nineteenth-century horror story. If I recommend it, those who believe that all God-fearing people should steer clear of horror movies will come after me with torches. They’ll be joined by my film-reviewing colleagues, who…

Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood …And let my cry come unto Thee. —From Ash Wednesday, T. S. Eliot Is it possible to recognize my neighbor’s faults unless I’m similarly wounded? The damnable fruit, after all, comes from a tree of knowledge of good and evil. I can spot a hypocrite because I…

In his 1999 Letter to Artists, Pope John Paul II cites the words of the Polish poet, Cyprian Norwid: “beauty is to enthuse us for work, and work is to raise us up.” He goes on to refresh our memory of the Platonic notion that beauty resides in the good and the good in beauty.…

I’ve just seen a hell of a film. Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective—hailed as the latest masterpiece of the Romanian New Wave—is likely to convince American moviegoers that they should avoid the Romanian New Wave. The movie moves at a snail’s pace. (The most energetic scene in the film is a ponderous conversation in an office.)…

I didn’t play King Herod this year. That role—which my father occupied in my youth and is now all mine!—is a coveted cameo in our family’s annual Epiphany play, full of transparently feigned concern for the welfare of an unexpected (and for Herod, most unwanted) newborn king. Regrettably, we had no time this year for…