The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God

The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God
Author: Ruth Pakaluk
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2011-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1586174517

This book is the powerful story of an amazing woman who converts to Catholicism at Harvard University, marries her college sweetheart and joyfully welcomes several children. After some successful forays into pro-life activism in New England, Ruth Pakaluk is struck with breast cancer and dies at the young age of forty-one. Ruth's story is told primarily through her humorous, sparkling and insightful letters, through which her realistic cheerfulness shines. A biographical sketch by her husband, Michael Pakaluk, fills in the needed background information, while a collection of her talks on abortion and on being a Catholic wife and mother round out the volume. Ruth Pakaluk exemplified the powerful integrity of someone who lives what she believes. She was steadfastly committed to Christ and to the culture of life, and this commitment was manifested in her consistent affirmation of life in her family, in her society and even in the face of her own death. Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy and widely published author, referred to Ruth Pakaluk as the best and most effective and inspiring pro-life speaker he had ever heard. She was so renowned as a pro-life debater in New England, that eventually Planned Parenthood spokeswomen refused to spar with her in public. The forceful logic of her arguments was made even more compelling by the strength of her personality. All of Ruth's virtues - her love as a devoted wife and mother, her zeal for the truth and her hope while battling a terminal illness - offer inspiration and encouragement to anyone striving to put Christian faith into action.

Brighton Rock

Brighton Rock
Author: Graham Greene
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2018-04-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1504052498

A teenage sociopath rises to power in Britain’s criminal underworld in this “brilliant and uncompromising” thriller (The New York Times). Seventeen-year-old Pinkie Brown, raised amid the casual violence and corruption in the dire prewar Brighton slums, has left his final judgment in the hands of God. On the streets, impelled by his own twisted moral doctrine, he leads a motley pack of gangsters whose sleazy little rackets have most recently erupted in the murder of an informant. Pinkie’s attempts to cover their tracks have led him into the bed of a timid and lovestruck young waitress named Rose—his new wife, the key witness to his crimes, and, should she live long enough, his alibi. But loitering in the shadows is another woman, Ida Arnold—an avenging angel determined to do right by Pinkie’s latest victim. Adapted for film in both 1948 and 2010 and for the stage as both a drama and musical, and serving as an inspiration to such disparate artists as Morrissey, John Barry, and Queen, “this bleak, seething and anarchic novel still resonate[s]” (The Guardian).

The Catholic Revival in English Literature, 1845-1961

The Catholic Revival in English Literature, 1845-1961
Author: Ian Turnbull Ker
Publisher: Gracewing Publishing
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2003
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780852446256

A thorough study of the six principal writers of the Catholic revival in English Literature - Newman, Hopkins, Belloc, Chesterton, Greene and Waugh. Beginning with Newman's conversion in 1845 and ending with Waugh's completion of the trilogy 'The Sword of Honour' in 1961, this book explores how Catholicism shaped the work of these six prominent writers. Ian Ker is a member of the theology faculty at Oxford University. He is well known as one of the leading authorities on the life and work of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature

A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature
Author: David Lyle Jeffrey
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 1000
Release: 1992
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780802836342

Over 15 years in the making, an unprecedented one-volume reference work. Many of today's students and teachers of literature, lacking a familiarity with the Bible, are largely ignorant of how Biblical tradition has influenced and infused English literature through the centuries. An invaluable research tool. Contains nearly 800 encyclopedic articles written by a distinguished international roster of 190 contributors. Three detailed annotated bibliographies. Cross-references throughout.

Conversations with Graham Greene

Conversations with Graham Greene
Author: Graham Greene
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 212
Release: 1992
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780878055500

This collection of seventeen interviews covers fifty years. Here the eminent author of The Power and the Glory, The Third Man, and The Heart of the Matter speaks of himself, his life, and his works. Though reluctant to be interviewed, especially by an academic or journalist he did not know, Greene was more at ease in an interview with a personal friend, who he felt would be less likely to misunderstand or misquote him. Yet even his good friend V. S. Pritchett spent considerable time trying to pin him down for his 1978 interview. When he finally did arrange an interview, Pritchett tells that Greene's "flat conspiratorial, laughing voice . . ., of itself, makes him the best company I've known in the last forty years". Other interviewers--included here are V. S. Naipaul and Penelope Gilliatt--shared Pritchett's opinion, but many found that he avoided idle conversation for fear that his words would be misconstrued. Greene's anxiety was not without foundation. In an interview with Michael Menshaw, Greene explained: "It's got so I hate to say who I am or what I believe...A few years ago I told an interviewer I'm a gnostic. The next day's newspaper announced that I had become an agnostic". After such incidents, Greene turned to the anecdote--relating an experience with Fidel Castro or with Papa Doc Duvalier--to communicate in interviews with strangers. Nevertheless, in all the interviews Greene granted over the years, the reader hears very clearly the voice of a man whose conversation is as painfully honest and unpretentious as is his written prose. The interviews here are divided chronologically into four periods, loosely related to his subject matter or to his reputation at the time of theinterview. Thus the reader sees the development of the writer from a callow but gifted young man into one of the foremost men of letters in the English-speaking world.

The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene

The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene
Author: Richard Greene
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 624
Release: 2021-01-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 039365107X

A Finalist for the 2022 Edgar Award A Washington Post Best Nonfiction Book of the Year A vivid, deeply researched account of the tumultuous life of one of the twentieth century’s greatest novelists, the author of The End of the Affair. One of the most celebrated British writers of his generation, Graham Greene’s own story was as strange and compelling as those he told of Pinkie the Mobster, Harry Lime, or the Whisky Priest. A journalist and MI6 officer, Greene sought out the inner narratives of war and politics across the world; he witnessed the Second World War, the Vietnam War, the Mau Mau Rebellion, the rise of Fidel Castro, and the guerrilla wars of Central America. His classic novels, including The Heart of the Matter and The Quiet American, are only pieces of a career that reads like a primer on the twentieth century itself. The Unquiet Englishman braids the narratives of Greene’s extraordinary life. It portrays a man who was traumatized as an adolescent and later suffered a mental illness that brought him to the point of suicide on several occasions; it tells the story of a restless traveler and unfailing advocate for human rights exploring troubled places around the world, a man who struggled to believe in God and yet found himself described as a great Catholic writer; it reveals a private life in which love almost always ended in ruin, alongside a larger story of politicians, battlefields, and spies. Above all, The Unquiet Englishman shows us a brilliant novelist mastering his craft. A work of wit, insight, and compassion, this new biography of Graham Greene, the first undertaken in a generation, responds to the many thousands of pages of letters that have recently come to light and to new memoirs by those who knew him best. It deals sensitively with questions of private life, sex, and mental illness, and sheds new light on one of the foremost modern writers.

The Bless Me, Father Series Books 1–5

The Bless Me, Father Series Books 1–5
Author: Neil Boyd
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 946
Release: 2017-06-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1504046161

This acclaimed series that inspired a hit London Weekend Television sitcom is “a long, gentle breeze of humour” (James Herriot). Based on the author’s real-life experiences after completing seminary and later adapted into a beloved British sitcom, these five novels are a humorous and sweet-natured look at Catholicism in the 1950s. Readers of all creeds will enjoy Father Neil’s adventures at St. Jude’s parish, a corner of London with a raucous congregation full of Irish immigrants. Bless Me, Father: Young Neil Boyd has just finished divinity school. A newly ordained priest, his first post is at St. Jude’s parish where he meets the cantankerous, scheming, and brilliant Father Duddleswell and Mrs. Pring, the sharp-tongued housekeeper. Father Duddleswell is willing to do anything to make sure the Lord’s will be done, from placing a bet to obstructing an interdenominational love affair. A Father Before Christmas: The holiday season is among the most hectic times at St. Jude’s, and this year is no exception for Father Neil. As always, he has his hands full with Father Duddleswell, who has decided to invite all the other sects of Christianity to celebrate Christmas with them. The plan quickly unravels when two religious leaders from another denomination try to convert Father Neil and a clock goes missing—as does the church collection. Father in a Fix: After six months at St. Jude’s, Father Neil makes a New Year’s resolution to wise up. With the crazy collection of characters at his parish, this will be no easy feat, especially when Father Duddleswell is named the prime suspect in the killing of a gambling parishioner’s smelly pig and a generous attempt to give the suspected butcher a day off goes zanily haywire. Bless Me Again, Father: After finishing his first year at St. Jude’s, Father Neil finally feels as if he has his feet firmly planted on the ground. But the parish is still full of surprises, and the clergy are confronted with all manner of crisis. First, there is the dilemma of Dr. Daley, whose drinking is causing his health to deteriorate but who worries that sobriety will ruin his personality. Then, much to Father Duddleswell’s chagrin, a new donkey overruns the church, followed by a fresh litter of kittens. Father Under Fire: As St. Jude’s adds another member to its clergy—Father Abe, an octogenarian with an agenda of his own—the church staff finds themselves embroiled in a rivalry among undertakers, a visit during Holy Week from the bishop with the longest rosary on record, a harebrained scheme to promote holy water as a fertility enhancer, and a night spent under a pool table during a pilgrimage.

Between Form and Faith

Between Form and Faith
Author: Martyn Sampson
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2021-08-03
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0823294692

What is a “Catholic” novel? This book analyzes the fiction of Graham Greene in a radically new manner, considering in depth its form and content, which rest on the oppositions between secularism and religion. Sampson challenges these distinctions, arguing that Greene has a dramatic contribution to add to their methodological premises. Chapters on Greene’s four “Catholic” novels and two of his “post-Catholic” novels are complemented by fresh insight into the critical importance of his nonfiction. The study paints an image of an inviting yet beguilingly complex literary figure.

The Judge Is the Savior

The Judge Is the Savior
Author: Jean Wyatt
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2015-02-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498270670

This is a book Jean Wyatt felt compelled to write, as she has for many years wrestled with questions surrounding the love and the justice of God, his salvation and judgment through Jesus Christ, and the effect of our response (or lack of response) to that salvation. The Bible gives glimpses of hope that in the end God will restore all things, and that finally all people will worship him. If it is God's will that all should be saved, is it possible to resist that will for all eternity? Or dare we hope that God will continue to seek and ultimately save those who now reject his offered salvation? Dare we hope that hell will be a place of restorative justice and cleansing, with redemption as its aim? Wyatt has come to the conclusion that we can answer "Yes" to both these questions. The fire of God consumes evil and cleanses people. Meanwhile, in the here and now in which we live as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to be witnesses to the kingdom of God and to work for his kingdom to come "on earth as it is in heaven."