Religious booknotes:
Cunningham, Lawrence S.
RELIGIOUS BOOKNOTES K atz's volume is the third went into the wilderness to...
...much light on her writings...
...What is most troubling is the question CLASSIFIED Bayside Hills, N.Y...
...Her • Elizabeth Liebert, S.N.J.M., Professor, San Francisco Theological Seminars been for the subsequent Islamic conquest...
...dishes that will provide healthy nourish- like Kenneth Untener...
...Attractive, colorful subsequent twenty-seven years as a psy- licly discussed in our church, we have to design, illustrated...
...Under55...
...There is much truth in Gerhart tion on Jewish mysticism (Moshe Idel...
...Julian's great vi- view of Camille Paglia's Sex, Art and the ized in Eliot's Four Quartets), the passion sion of the Crucified Lord, which is part American Culture certainly made for roof Christ-all get sensibly treated in this of her opening chapters, made even more bust reading...
...I feel Fortunately, as has been pointed out, chose the bishop of Saginaw...
...Bradley pays attention a Franciscan provenance in the first half to Julian's use of clothing and knitting of the thirteenth century...
...Director, Mater Dei, E. celibacy-issues that have momentous H. CARROLL SHEEHY, JR...
...Before the entional diversity under the Catholic um- cyclical was published, I did not think seWhere's the middle...
...Christie while teaching a course on cial for Christian spirituality, to wit, that it These and cognate issues are raised Christian spirituality...
...ticism which focuses, at least among some, For that reason alone, the trilogy in gen- His focus on the desert ascetics (who are on the mystic penetration of texts, words, eral and this volume in particular are wel- the ancestors of the monastic tradition for and even letters...
...while another re- importance in their lives...
...phy...
...land to an exigent belief that this was Bradley's volume is a welcome addition Burton-Christie teases out these and Christian territory with a profound theo- to that literature...
...The Secretary...
...Unlike hermits who dow...
...much from it...
...San Antonio, Tex...
...a work that I always have on my reading Guelph, Ontario Jews, of course, were still a continuing list for students when my annual course For further information contact: presence but their numbers in Jerusalem on Christian spirituality comes around...
...Classified payable Kenneth Untener and to Commonweal for (REV...
...I have profited it would blossom, terribly, with the rise Bradley...
...Commonweal 13 August 1993: 29 RELIGIOUS BOOKNOTES CORRESPONDENCE the metaphors drawn from her life in late thology of anchoritic spirituality copied in (Continued from page 2) medieval Norwich...
...times...
...RELIGIOUS BOOKNOTES K atz's volume is the third went into the wilderness to serve God he has edited and con- through a life of prayer, asceticism, and tributed to over the past work...
...Mysticism almost aphoristic, and, most likely, reand Philosophical An- Matters membered and handed on by those who alvsis (1978) argued strenuously that all received them...
...What are we to make of come...
...JAMES E. SULLIVAN To the Editors: I appreciate Bishop Unissue indicate that many readers will do The writer is director emeritus of the tener's candor and courage...
...405 Sinto, Spokane, WA 99202...
...S.J., Provincial, Archaeologists have traced over five hun- feminine language, and her great sense of Irish Province, Dublin dred Byzantine churches from the Negev love and compassion all help to explain north while the Judean desert was dotted why this fourteenth-century English recluse September 24-26, 1993 with monastic establishments, at least one should be a contemporary best seller...
...members of our hierarchy...
...266 credness of the land among Christians mous secondary literature (some of which Fax (519) 767-0994 changed from a metaphorical notion of the I have noted in this column previously...
...Most bishops have repeatedly been ministry, Scripture, current theology, spirThis is a matter of great consequence...
...One of Thomas's own ry before Julian's day, destined for an- luse could see through her "church win- stereotypes seems to be that single women choresses in England...
...agree...
...and, I would say, spiritual director) de- Julian's Showings...
...r: the Catechism] for providing a thorough30: 13 August 1993 Commonweal ly biblical exposition...
...nonetheless they pro- RAYMOND P. GAUER spite a rather hefty tradition warning vide a context for Julian's life and shed women against undertaking such duties...
...Interestingly, this pages), its index of scriptural and patris- ily home, she may well have gained a deep rather grim language existed in tension tic citations, valuable appendices (in- understanding of life...
...changed as many diapers, rocked as many such penitents frequently appealed to the What makes this volume so rich is both babies, and helped care for and love as many metaphors of solitary confinement or prison its generous notes (running to nearly 100 siblings as I had by the time I left the famto describe their lives...
...Only later were they commystical experience is mediated experi- spiritual piled into the collections which we posence (religious and cultural) and, as a sess today...
...The most fa- Limbaugh presents the most compelling metaphors...
...Ancrene Wisse-a rule for recluses com- tribution, the gay lifestyle, extreme femBradley rightly observes that Julian did posed, it is believed, by a learned canon...
...Bradley's analysis of Julian's don't have a clue about what it's like to be sought out inaccessible rural retreats, an- clothing and knitting metaphors came alive with children...
...This collection offers reflec- into the early development of monastic Bible...
...supplicants...
...faith and practice...
...Otherwise, Wilken fears, the erence not only to the religious culture from Palestine from the beginning of Christianity Christian presence in present-day Israel which she springs but also her attention to but, roughly beginning in the fourth cen- will become a museum piece and relic (as tury, the idea rose that the land in gener- it is, say, in present-day Istanbul, where al and Jerusalem in particular was a holy the patriarch of Constantinople keeps a Christian place that was not only a desti- flickering presence alive), and, as a connation for pilgrims (there were many of sequence, a rich part of the Christian exthem) but a place to live...
...dissemblers...
...fax (212) 274-9786...
...including an illuminating discussion of To the Editors: Thank you for your great Anchoritic Spirituality: Ancrene Wisse translation problems when scholars at- service to the church in preparing us for and Associated Works, edited and trans- tempt to transpose Medieval English di- the publication of the Catechism of the lated by Anne Savage and Steven Watson, alect into contemporary speech...
...monthly in advance for more his splendid article, "Humanae vitae: than three times...
...Along with that mothers, let it be noted) fastened on the "notchair of the Department of Theology at the paradigmatic vita we also possess a vast yet" of eschatological yearning, the need Universitsv of None Danne, is editing the 1956- collection of "sayings" from the early for compunction (penthos), the humble 60 personal notebooks of Thomas Merton for desert dwellers of the late fourth century life of Christ, the aspiration for a "purity publication...
...One reviewer (from Medieval English) the contents of debt of Paulist Press for giving us such writes: "I am grateful [to the authors of the so-called "Titus Manuscript," an an- good value...
...Commonweal 13 August 1993: 31...
...the church's present teaching on birth blers...
...His article brings Thank you, Humanae vitae...
...FRANCIS X. CANFIELD with order...
...According to many thoughtful Symposium on Ignatian Spirituality Christian History and Thought, Fn' Rober7 people, and Wilken would be one of them, The Eighteenth Annotation L Wilken, Yale University Press, $35, 355 that is not a good thing...
...the New York Times bestseller list for thirthey did come to her because Margery Appendices in this volume also reproduce ty-seven weeks, and his radio show is carKempe tells us so in her own autobiogra- some other works from the same period ried by over 500 stations nationwide...
...487 pp...
...His book has been on to her for a "good word...
...Wilken ends his forward and engaging fashion with the lications...
...How does one ana- times are not for the casual browser...
...T Katz, Oxford Unis'ri:cityPress, $38, 262 involved in the relationship of language Burton-Christie shows, convincingly to my PP...
...If Paglia and penance...
...ituality, plus practical help with parish orIn my twenty years as parish priest and When Humanae vitae cannot be pub- ganization and staffing...
...MSGR...
...collection of "savings" which we have peripheral to religious traditions as well mysticism (Bernard McGinn): on Buddhist from this period...
...whether the bishops do in fact hear us but, To the Editors: May I offer my sincere unlike Bishop Untener, lack courage to RATES: 80t...
...MARK GRONCESKI tomed to...
...Ignatius The estimable Paulist series Classics of Presetner•s 50.000...
...These "sayings" are brief, sometimes fifteen years...
...In the "Golden Age" of Byzantine Such a scenario could well play out...
...wonderful English prose, her attention to • lau rence Murphy...
...76¢ three congratulations and support to Bishop do anything about it...
...As a Catholic I for those whom she called her "even- (Sawles Warde), "Holy Maidenhood," am proud to be a "ditto head" supporter Christians," the ordinary folks who came "The Wooing of Our Lord," and a hagio- of Rush Limbaugh...
...with other metaphors, drawn mainly from cluding some wonderful medieval prayers The Song of Songs...
...What are the uses of lan- rious about mysticism, can remain ignorant turned in offering spiritual direction to their guage in the rich tradition of Jewish mys- of the agenda that these volumes propose...
...I think Holy Land in both the imagination and his- torical narrative) but here is his conclusion: she does just that and, as a consequence, tory of Christians is a superbly written and Christianity's "homeland is the Middle can recommend her briskly written work researched piece of historical scholarship...
...The Word in the Desert is a story with that invasion but, as he astrinmajor work of scholarship in early Chris- gently notes, the belief in the Christian no- Julian's Way: A Practical Commentary tian spirituality...
...Weren't ex- I have spiritually grown by rejecting the turning the letter of church teaching into actly looking for a middle-of-the-road robotic spiritual position I was accusa living witness remains the challenge, and opinion, were you...
...His hook, logical significance...
...This Catholic Church I March 12, May 7 ]. Two Paulist, $22,95...
...That they rooted their as the object of suspicion...
...sponse laments "how completely this cat- I pray that the courage of Bishop Untener echism ignores the results of critical biblical will become infectious among the other A liberating encyclical scholarship...
...Females in large families choresses lived in towns and cities, in a small in those pages of the A W where the legit- like Paglia's spend much of their growhouse attached to a church (called an an- imate occupations of the anchoress are de- ing-up years mothering their younger sibchorhold) where they lived a life of prayer scribed (sewing for the poor and for the lings, nieces, nephews...
...Gift card included, or buy chological counselor and spiritual direc- admit, if only to ourselves, that the men a subscription for yourself...
...I think many people do-and ought Each issue offers articles and reviews on control...
...When the church 299 Elizabeth St., NY, NY 10012-2806...
...said, "I'm getting spiritually fed by liberwisdom to guide people to choose those To the Editors: Thank God for bishops ated Catholics more than by anyone else...
...The treatises are prefaced with Watch your diet "bridal chamber...
...Such differing perspectives on the same (REV...
...Bradley is especially good in ex- which do not appear in the Titus manuscript...
...mainly Coptic-speaking peasants) who of heart," and the demands of the great com28: 13 August 1993 Commonweal RELIGIOUS BOOKNOTES mandment of love of God and neighbor...
...to her reactions to the art of the mous of the treatises in this volume is the arguments against abortion, condom disperiod, and to her fresh use of language...
...The best seller of the spiritualite Ignatienne...
...set out, with rigor, a serious consideration for instance, does one create a language of mysticism that is both philosophically mind, that they did shape their lives acabout an experience which is generally de- and historically sophisticated...
...Just $26, pubtor, I've been privileged to share the who are commissioned by Christ to lead lished quarterly by the National Pastoral Life Center: (212) 431-7825...
...brella...
...These vol- cording to a particular way of encounterscribed as ineffable...
...Readers of Augustine's Ebeling's assertion that the history of on love language in Christian and Jewish Confessions will remember how influen- Christianity is the history of biblical intial Athanasius's Life of Anton'v was for terpretation...
...That may be healthy Brooklyn...
...Ceremonies of enclosure for church is recommended...
...Ontario N I H 6J9, Canada Tel...
...with the evident intentions of the promo- Bassett, Neb...
...Katherine...
...been very liberating for me and perhaps and completely consistent with the tradi- for many other Catholics...
...More importantly, from It should come as no surprise, then, that Loyola House, P.O...
...hope, as she says, that her book might protinguished patristics scholars...
...More needed takes a special courage to speak the truth Gift Suggestion when those in charge have indicated time Las Vegas, Nev...
...volume, then, both in its own right and as articles in the "Responses" [May 71 raise a resource for understanding Julian is in- some interesting issues regarding how Savage and Watson have translated valuable...
...As I read the Stereotyping Paglia Julian's favorite themes-the goodness of Ancrene Wisse (AM, for example, I could creation, the notion of God and Christ as see more clearly what Bradley meant by Fairbanks, Alaska Mother, the "nothingness of sin," that "all the limits imposed on these female ascetics To the Editors: Christopher Thomas's rethings will be well" (a phrase immortal- with respect to teaching...
...A W which recommended the power of a as Thomas suggests, is bound by stereoAnyone who wishes to truly understand prayer said before the "great crucifix" types because she is single and does not Julian must be conversant with a small body (which evidently referred to the one over have "boys of her own to raise to test of literature, published more than a centu- the main altar of the church that the rec- against her theories...
...Christianity (from, roughly, the fourth to Christian Arabs today find themselves the seventh century), the population of squeezed by the militancy of Islam and the Jerusalem rose from 15,000 to nearly expansionism of Israel...
...East, and continuity with its past is de- as a good first entry into Julian's writings...
...Monasticism, by Douglas Burton-Christie, cal tradition...
...which described the an- to Our Lady), and a quite adequate genchorhold as a "bower" or a "garden" or a eral index...
...meantime hoping that the whole What has been termed "buffet Cathol- concept of church authority will some Credibility gap icism" will probably continue to be prac- day be reevaluated...
...a given despite the judgment of those erated a good deal of (healthy) learned dis- Such essays are marked by a serious con- (most conspicuously the historian Edward cussion...
...it deserves a close read- tion of the Holy Land was deep-rooted and on Julian of Norwich, by Ritamarv ing by anyone in the field...
...heartaches and suffering of thousands of us are pastorally illiterate...
...NANCY WITrE...
...72¢ six times...
...Box 245, Wilken's perspective, the idea of the sa- Julian's book should also spawn an enor- Guelph...
...of the crusading spirit in the Romanesque Wilken is one of this country's most dis- period of the medieval West...
...It Dutch St., NYC 10038...
...COMMONWEAL, 15 What Has It Done to Us...
...However, it is a in pp...
...on lives in Scripture is, for Burton-Christie, volumes, especially the first one, have gen- Chan/Zen Buddhism (Bernard Faure...
...a word, one time...
...Once again, we are much in the this text will he received...
...June 18...
...some extremely helpful introductory notes, Fresno, Calif...
...His new That, in brief, is Wilken's story (an in- vide a student of Julian with a "practical" book on the rise and significance of the adequate summary of his deeply rich his- guide as they read the Showings...
...To the Editors: Bishop Untener's reflec- NEWLY ASSIGNED PASTORAL MINISIn spite of the certain loss of further ad- tions on the pastoral consequences of TERS, SEMINARY GRADUATES, JUBILARIANS...
...The Word in the Desert: Scripture and This present collection takes up the It also provides openings for further re- the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian issue of the use of language in the mysti- search...
...DAVID J. NORRIS so few church leaders seem able to measure: the growing gap of credibility beMay his tribe increase tween our hierarchy and the rest of us...
...Its Christian patriarch, Wilken Western Spirituality continues to issue • Gilles Cusson, S.J., founder, Centre de observes, could have well challenged the excellent editions...
...were slight...
...A longtime student of meother themes in exacting detail...
...Katz's opening the desert ascetics as aberrant Christians Mysticism and Language, edited by Steven essay-a kind of overview of the issues at best and fanatical un-Christians at worst...
...trol of the literature and a rigorous read- Gibbon in the eighteenth century) who saw ing of the textual tradition...
...Yes, as professional magazine" for pastoral minfrom some of his fellow bishops, Bishop he says, "people cynically dismiss us [the isters, is a welcome gift for pastoral minisUntener has asked for open discussion of bishops of the United States] as dissem- ters-newly graduated or long experienced...
...into focus what so many of us know but EDWARD ALCOTT (REV...
...The thesis, sim- to live in that land in which the faith is ty to contextualize Julian's writings by refply put, is this: Christians have lived in native...
...and cousins...
...many Palestinian Christians already find themselves in the GUELPH CENTRE OF SPIRITUALITY The Land Called Holy: Palestine in diaspora...
...The Spiritual Exercises of St...
...inism, extreme environmentalists, extreme not write for a spiritually elite audience The Titus manuscript also contains some animal rights proponents, etc., that appear (as did, for example, the Cloud author) but other short works: "The Soul's Keeping" anywhere in the media...
...We know that graphical treatise called "St...
...show how complex a subject this is...
...The desert ascetics (fathers and LAWRENCE S. CUNNINGHAM, professorand him and those about him...
...and mysticism-sets the stage for the more particular studies mentioned above...
...tragic reality...
...She writes in a straightby Benedicta Ward for Cistercian Pub- nent conquerors of Islam...
...what, in short, was their hermeneumolish the common perception that mys- tical strategy...
...1 (800) sues such a birth control and mandatory only through us...
...How is this reflected in the tics are, of necessity or by vocation...
...both the Eastern and Western church) rethe intensely erotic language of certain I had the good fortune of reading Burton- inforces a larger point which I think is crumystical traditions...
...dieval spirituality (she is one of the foundthen, makes a wonderful companion to the This would all end, of course, with, first ers of the journal Mystics Quarterly), this easily available translation of the Savings the Sassanid ( Persian) invasion of Byz- work sums up her long familiarity with o/'the Desert Fathers like that translated antine Palestine and the far more perma- Julian's writings...
...sincere Catholics-clergy, religious, and as institution refuses to listen to its laity, laity--who have felt betrayed by the we see that it does not even recognize the Priesthood Vatican's refusal even to dialogue on is- major problems it has that it can solve DESIRE PRIESTHOOD...
...519) 824-1250, ext...
...Quebec authority of the See of Rome had it not series is Julian of Norwich's Showings...
...Both of these and Christian texts (Ninian Smart...
...In counter the Word of God, flesh it out in Mysticism and Religious Traditions (1983), their lives, and transmit their insights to Katz (and his contributors) set out to de- others...
...Sensitive pastors will have the Detroit, Mich...
...It was a valuable re- may be seen as a tradition seeking to work and discussed by some premier scholars source which I mined for its many insights out the implications of certain topoi in the in the field...
...633-2252, Ext...
...ment for the body of Christ...
...I've gained the courage to disthe expertise, of the post-Vatican II church...
...Wilken has a historical thesis to present pendent on the Christians who continue What I most admire is Bradley's abiliand a conclusion to draw...
...Though I agree with many of very fine little hook which ends with a (too) sense to me as I read the passage in the his points, I am not convinced that Paglia, short bibliography and an index...
...I would like eisegesis rather than exegesis of this com- Religious Consultation Center, Diocese of to add, however, that Humanae vitae has pendium of the faith...
...It cannot be in accord, however, riously about moral and doctrinal issues...
...CHURCH magazine, rated by vancement in the church as well as of the Hunranae vitae were wonderfully inter- the Catholic Press Association as "the best harsh criticism he will undoubtedly receive esting but did not go far enough...
...after time that they don't want to hear it...
...It is LOYOLA HOUSE of which (Mar Saba) exists to this day...
...consequence, those that hold for the fun- Lawrence Burton-Christie's study focuses on this damental sameness in mysticism (e.g., S. Cunningham issue: how did these early ascetics enthe philosophia perennis) are wrong...
...A Protestant friend ticed...
...I was a good pray-pay-and-obey Catholic...
...Not ing the Scriptures and, further, when lyze the use of the Zen koun which is a everyone in the field of mysticism and spir- others came to see them seeking a "good linguistic device designed precisely to get ituality is a "Katzian...
...Frank McConnell and other "Catholic" plaining how Julian saw herself as a teacher These works are much earlier than writers better pay attention...
...HarperCollins, S14,231 pp...
...perience will be lost...
...but no person, se- word," it was to the Scriptures that they beyond language...
...ters of this work to codify, unify, and pet- To the Editors: I find it interesting that of Shocked and dismayed that the encyclirify a monolithic Catholic dogma for the the 2(X)-plus bishops you might have asked cal became a test of loyalty, I now study, twenty-first century...
...A moment's reflection will The particular merit of the series is to Oxford Uni ve rsiiy Press, $55, 33617p...
...to assess the effects of Humanae vitae, you discuss, and pray over such issues...
Vol. 120 • August 1993 • No. 14
