The Fessio Phenomenon

The Fessio Phenomenon

Father Joseph Fessio, S.J.: California Blackrobe  By Cornelius Michael Buckley. S.J. Ignatius Press, 2024. Hardcover, 379 pages, $27.95. Reviewed by Lee Oser. “Fessio.” The name has become a test. The first card the reviewer lays on the table will evoke a smile or a...
The Divine Inspiration of Handel’s Messiah

The Divine Inspiration of Handel’s Messiah

Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel’s Messiah By Charles King. Doubleday, 2024. Hardcover, 352 pages, $32.00. Reviewed by Rev. Dr. Karl C. Schaffenburg. Joyeuses Fêtes! as a seasonal greeting is no more silly than “Happy Holidays!”,...
Halting the Assembly Line Life

Halting the Assembly Line Life

Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic: Ancient Christianity and the Recovery of Human Dignity By Nadya Williams. IVP Academic, 2024. Paperback, 240 pages, $26. Reviewed by Sarah Reardon. On the walls of the birth center sit posters about birth control. In the office...
Seeing the True Presence

Seeing the True Presence

The Eucharist Is Really Jesus: How Christ’s Body and Blood Are The Key To Everything We Believe By Joe Heschmeyer. Catholic Answers Press, 2023. Paperback, 174 pages, $18.95. Reviewed by David Weinberger.  C.S. Lewis once observed that he believed in Christianity like...
Home, Sour Home

Home, Sour Home

Western Self-Contempt: Oikophobia in the Decline of Civilizations By Benedict Beckeld. Northern Illinois University Press, 2022 Hardcover, 264 pages, $32.95. Reviewed by Daniel Fischer.  Americans’ relationship with their country resembles a fraying marriage....