Parabola has always been the most sovereign of the religious/spiritual periodicals. Its distinguished authors and epic themes make it “The New Yorker” of its league. It’s always gorgeous.

But its fate sometimes becomes that of the other distinguished mags: It sits around and accumulates dust. In fact, since Parabola has always been as good in two years as it is now, why read it all at once? Why not respectfully place it on the bookshelf (as you would beautiful poetry) and wait until your kids are in high school, you twist your ankle, or you get strep throat? I’m revealing a lot about myself here, I know.

No longer. The editors seem to be trying to more quickly connect to a broader audience. Parabola has recently seemed timely, clever, even fun–without compromising its mandate to cover “tradition, myth, and the search for meaning.”

The Winter 2006 issue (still on newsstands but also available at your local library) boasts a photo essay of the homes of great spiritual leaders. See the stone house in Ephesus, Turkey, where the Virgin Mary is said to have been taken by St. John after Jesus’s death! See the Ukrainian home of the Baal Shem Tov! See Thomas Merton’s bedroom, and the cave dwelling of Hindu mystic Ramana Maharshi and more!

I think you’ll find all this delightful, and meaningful too, since each dwelling has a quiet simplicity that will touch your heart.