Collected here are articles and reviews that have appeared in print, as well as a presentation of my books. There are a few interviews and some sound material, notably my reading of the Gospels in Greek, a project that remains work in progress.
Zena Hitz writes: ‘I reckon that to hold something in loving attention while reconciled to its permanent annihilation is not humanly possible’.
Continue reading This book lists symptoms of unhealth in the manner of the Desert Fathers, who chartered the vagaries of corrupted passions and showed where, unchecked, they lead. The result is a phenomenology of abuse: a sobering, terrifying, helpful account.
Continue reading We like to assume that what stands between us and freedom is an accident of sorts; that we were at some point, be it at the moment of our birth, gloriously free, but that something then happened which curtailed our liberty. We spend years of our lives, perhaps, on analysts’ couches trying to identify that moment of destiny, wishing to reclaim what we consider ours by nature and by right.
Continue reading Even the mere dabbler in Mertoniana will have formed a picture of Dom James Fox, abbot of Gethsemani from 1948 to 1967. It is unlikely to be flattering.
Continue reading Popular liturgical debate does not always impress by high metaphysical intent. To speak with Teresa, one sometimes feels closer to the poultry yard than to the silent flight of eagles.
Continue reading How can a monastic community, conservative by temperament and conviction, integrate the exceptional charism and call of individuals within it? How far can the fabric of community identity stretch without tearing?
Continue reading Women of exceptional intelligence and spiritual gifts lived side by side here during Gertrud’s lifetime. We are shown how the environment moulded and refined the young nun as a scholar and writer, but also as ‘a most sensitive human being, open to all that is beautiful and good’.
Continue reading Having spent several months with this book, reading a letter or two a day, I put it down with a sense of bereavement. Dom Porion is a wonderful correspondent: gracious, concise, engaged.
Continue reading Thomas Merton was born on 31 January 1915. This volume is one of many brought out to celebrate him during his centenary year.
Continue reading The peccadillos of the higher clergy, including Cistercian abbots, are straightforwardly recounted if they serve the upbuilding of the readers.
Continue reading La tendance à relativiser la spécificité du christianisme sous prétexte de l’universalité du Christ fait de ces essais une articulation réductrice du patrimoine chrétien moyen-oriental. Il y manque une saine réflexion sur l’altérité.
Continue reading Når det gjelder gjengs norsk holdning til klassiske studier, kan man ha inntrykk av at Alexander Kiellands fordømmende blikk stirrer like inn i vår folkesjel. Vi plages av tanken på Fru Gottwalds Lille Marius, som resiterte sin deklinasjonstabell like inn i døden etter et så altfor kort liv ødelagt av brutalt pådrevet og helt unyttig lærdom.
Continue reading The nature of Benedictine ‘stabilitas’ as fidelity to a faith-reality embodied in a human group, not to an edifice, is examined from various angles throughout the book.
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