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Flunking Sainthood

As part of our family’s homeschooling in American history, I’ve been revisiting the old PBS series Colonial House, in which about two dozen contemporary people recreate New England of 1628 by living for several months in a replica colony that is supposed to abide by the customs and laws of the English colonies of the…

I’m not much of a horror film aficionado, but of course I enjoy some of the darker sci fi, like the feminist fairy tale that was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So I was intrigued to pick up the new book Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting by W. Scott…

Most Americans know enough about our national history to realize that no politician running for federal office should ever have to take a religious oath or pass an orthodoxy litmus test. It’s in that pesky Constitution: Article VI, paragraph 3. So far, so good. But having freedom of religion mandated by law doesn’t mean that…

Hey Cincinnati! If you love to read, stop by the Books by the Banks celebration today from 10 to 4 in the Duke Energy Center downtown. (Which is not technically by the banks, but we’ll work with it.) Here’s a list of the authors participating, including Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), folk singer Judy Collins (whose…

Whew! Lots of Mormon items in the news this week, but here are my three favorite stories from around the Bloggernacle. 1)  The intrepid Cynthia L., who had that great BCC post a couple of weeks back raising the issue of why Mormon women don’t pray in General Conference, posted this snippet from the Provo…

Everyone loves a reformed sinner, and Brennan Manning provides that in spades in his new memoir All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir. On second thought, I think the Irish-American Catholic writer might borrow from Protestant reformer John Calvin in adopting the motto “reformed and always reforming.” Manning would be the first to tell you he…

I got an F in Centering Prayer. I truly thought I would love that particular spiritual practice. I enjoy—even crave—silence as a part of every day. Also, I liked the notion of a deep prayer that would transcend the checklists of my tediously quotidian daily prayers (“Lord, please help Stanley with his broken arm and…

I never thought I would write a memoir, and still maintain that no one ever should. There are far too many memoirs published already. But … well, there it is. I wrote one, and it’s out this week. I hope it is funny, and insightful, and honest, and all the things I look for from…

Last month, the Cincinnati library system (which is outstanding, in case you’re not lucky enough to live here) chose One Thousand White Women as the book for the city to read. By happenstance, one of my book clubs chose it too. I was excited to read it because the premise was so promising. This from…

A couple of scholars are doing a national study on reading habits, and specifically on why people read. Is it for escape? For education? For social reasons/book club participation? And how does religious belief and practice affect what people read and how often they read? If you’d like to participate in the survey, click here.…
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