One perk of being a book reviewer is that publishers regularly send me a steady stream of advanced review copies.
I try to review as many as I can, but I can’t get to them all. So every couple months, I highlight a handful of new and upcoming books I’m particularly excited about.
(The descriptions below are either from the publisher or from Amazon.)
Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive A Preparatory Catechesis for the World Meeting of Families
by Pontifical Council for the Family
Our Sunday Visitor, 128 pages, paperback
Released on September 4, 2014
For Pope Francis, as for his predecessors Saint John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, this is more than just talk. It is a rallying cry. This is the focus of the 2015 World Meeting of Families: Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.
For Catholics everywhere, it is a time to renew our focus on the family, the “domestic church” – what it means, why it’s important, how it fits in with God’s plan for us, and how we can become who God created us to be.
Here is a new, fresh, and insightful way to do just that. In Love is Our Mission, you can easily explore Catholic teaching on marriage, family, sexuality, children, human dignity, and the sanctity of life. It’s a guided tour through scripture and 2000 years of Church teaching in which you are awakened to the relationship God wants to have with you, the family, and ultimately the world. Self-reflection or group discussion questions bring the teachings home in a very real and practical way.
As Pope Francis has said, we must, “keep before us the beauty of the family and marriage, the greatness of this human reality which is so simple and yet so rich…”
Chastity Is for Lovers: Single, Happy, and (Still) a Virgin
by Arleen Spenceley
Ave Maria Press, 160 pages, paperback
Released on November 28, 2014
In 2012, journalist Arleen Spenceley outed herself as a twenty-six-year-old virgin in a Tampa Bay Times op-ed that went viral.
In Chastity Is for Lovers, Spenceley expands on that piece, advocating Catholic teaching on sex and marriage with candor and humor, and without judgment.
In her debut book, seasoned journalist and self-professed “happy virgin” Arleen Spenceley offers a mature, funny, and relatable vision of Catholic teaching on chastity for young adults. Chastity Is for Lovers provides perspective on a variety of topics—the difference between chastity and abstinence, how virginity is an affirming and valuable life choice, how the word “purity” can be harmful in ministry settings, how to date well, and why sexual self-control is the best form of marriage preparation–and gives single adults the best possible chance to find true love.
She carefully avoids using language that shames readers and instead presents a view of chastity that is joyful and positive.
The Past as Pilgrimage: Narrative, Tradition and the Renewal of Catholic History
by Christopher Shannon and Christopher O. Blum
Christendom Press, 192 pages, paperback
Released on November 28, 2014
In this book, Catholic historians Christopher Shannon and Christopher O. Blum challenge the secular bias currently prevalent among professional historians, and argue for the compatibility of faith and reason in the study of the past.
Inspired by the understanding of tradition developed in the work of philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, the authors first critically examine both the internal contradictions and the enduring faith commitments of secular objectivity, then proceed to explore various traditions of Catholic historical thinking capable of synthesizing the technical advances of modern history with distinctly Catholic historical narratives.
Their argument seeks to foster a conversation about the ways in which Catholic historians can integrate their faith traditions into their professional work while still remaining open to and engaged with the best of contemporary, non-Catholic thinking and writing about history.
Catholic Family Handbook: Time-tested Techniques to Help You Strengthen Your Marriage and Raise Good Kids
by Fr. Lawrence G. Lovasik
Sophia Institute Press, 240 pages, paperback
Released on December 15, 2014
Here is a crucial book for you if you want to shield your family from the effects of our selfish secular culture, which destroys families and poisons relationships.
Fr. Lawrence Lovasik, the renowned author of The Hidden Power of Kindness, gives faithful Catholics all the essential ingredients of a stable and loving Catholic marriage and family — ingredients that are in danger of being lost in our turbulent age.
Using Scripture and Church teachings in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step format, Fr. Lovasik helps you understand the proper role of the Catholic father and mother and the blessings of family. He shows you how you can secure happiness in marriage, develop the virtues necessary for a successful marriage, raise children in a truly Catholic way, and much more.
Let Fr. Lovasik strengthen your marriage and family as you discover:
- Three things you can learn from the Holy Family about living as a family today
- The secret of gaining God’s blessing and peace upon your family: do you know it?
- Four crucial lessons no school can teach to your children (only you can!)
- Why marital happiness is not automatic, but must be earned (and how to earn it)
- Common mistakes fathers make that can damage their families irrevocably
- The primary requirement for family happiness: does your family measure up?
- The secret of overcoming the anger that can disrupt any relationship
- Eleven simple steps you can take to bring harmony to your marriage right now
- Are you selfish? Sixteen searching questions to ask yourself in order to find out
- Four qualities that every good parent has: can you name them? Do you have them?
- Sex education: how to navigate this minefield in a way that is good for your kids
- Plus much more that will help you imbue your family with Catholic values!
The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom That Tolkien Got, and the West Forgot
by Jay Richards and Jonathan Witt
Ignatius Press, 232 pages, hardcover
Released on October 20, 2014
Anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings can gather that their author hated tyranny, but few know that the novelist who once described himself as a hobbit “in all but size” was—even by hobbit standards—a zealous proponent of economic freedom and small government. There is a growing concern among many that the West is sliding into political, economic, and moral bankruptcy. In his beloved novels of Middle-Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien has drawn us a map to freedom.
Scholar Joseph Pearce, who himself has written articles and chapters on the political significance of Tolkien’s work, testified in his book Literary Giants, Literary Catholics, “If much has been written on the religious significance of The Lord of the Rings, less has been written on its political significance—and the little that has been written is often erroneous in its conclusions and ignorant of Tolkien’s intentions…. Much more work is needed in this area, not least because Tolkien stated, implicitly at least, that the political significance of the work was second only to the religious in its importance.”
Several books ably explore how Tolkien’s Catholic faith informed his fiction. None until now have centered on how his passion for liberty and limited government also shaped his work, or how this passion grew directly from his theological vision of man and creation. The Hobbit Party fills this void.
The few existing pieces that do focus on the subject are mostly written by scholars with little or no formal training in literary analysis, and even less training in political economy. Witt and Richards bring to The Hobbit Party a combined expertise in literary studies, political theory, economics, philosophy, and theology.
There Is No Rose: The Mariology of the Catholic Church
by Aidan Nichols
Fortress Press, 144 pages, paperback
Released on February 1, 2015
Mary continues to be a source of theological interest and concern for Catholics and Protestants alike. For Catholics, Mariology was codified in a set of dogmas over the centuries; yet many Catholics remain unaware of the biblical, historical, and theological matrix that gave rise to the magisterial teaching. Protestants, with some exceptions, remain skeptical of Marianism in Catholic theology, viewing such as intrusions upon biblical doctrine and faith or unnecessary accretions threatening of sound Christian theology. Aidan Nichols, OP, attempts to address this “puzzlement” of Mary.
Working through the biblical, patristic, and medieval sources, Nichols introduces readers to the robust scriptural and theological bases for the Church’s celebration of Mary in its doctrine and liturgy, alongside the work of the Councils and the magisterium, to argue for the crucial relevance of Mary in the theological articulation of the gospel, the celebration and practice of the liturgy, and the sacramental life of the Church. The present study aims to contribute to the revival of a more full-blooded Marian teaching and attempts to take the path set by ressourcement theology in recovering the robust voice of witness to Mary.
What new and notable books are you looking forward to?