Spirituality and Literature

A Commentary on the Sonnets of G.M. HopkinsA complete and concise annotation of the sonnets that Hopkins wrote from 1877 until his death in 1889. Biographical Introduction by Joseph Feeney, SJ.

A Landscape with DragonsIn this study of the pagan invasion of children's culture, O'Brien, the father of six, describes his own coming to terms with the effect it has had on his family and on most families in Western society. His analysis of the degeneration of books, films, and videos for the young is incisive and detailed. Yet his approach is not simply critical, for he suggests a number of remedies, including several tools of discernment for parents and teachers in assessing the moral content and spiritual impact of this insidious revolution.

Alternate Worlds: Second Spring Journal 4Alternate Worlds explores bioethics, popular science, social teaching and the Way of Beauty.

Another Sort of LearningNoting the widespread concern about the quality of education in our schools, Schall examines what is taught and read (and not read) in these schools. He questions the fundamental premises in our culture which do not allow truth to be considered. Schall lists various important books to read, and why.

At the Still PointExperience God through your imagination during the (mostly) summer months of "Ordinary Time". In these pages there are worlds to be explored, characters to meet, images to gaze upon, phrases to savor. You will encounter passages from novelists from Austen and Tolstoy to Dostoevsky and Garrison Keillor and poets from George Herbert and St. John of the Cross to Scott Cairns and Kathleen Norris.

Beauty Will Save the WorldWolfe has been called “one of the most incisive and persuasive voices of our generation,” and this penetrating and wide-ranging book makes a powerful case for the importance of beauty and imagination to cultural renewal. Beauty Will Save the World offers a revealing introduction to the artists and thinkers who are the Christian humanists of the modern era, from well-known figures like Evelyn Waugh and Wendell Berry to lesser-known authors like Shusaku Endo, Andrew Lytle, and Geoffrey Hill. A section on visual artists Mary McCleary, Fred Folsom, and Makoto Fujimura (accompanied by reproductions of their works) demonstrates that there are art

BernanosThis book is a double-treat: it combines the genius of the towering theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar and his ability to make his subject come alive before the reader, along with the focus of that genius on someone with the spiritual depth and creative stature of Georges Bernanos, considered by many to be the greatest Catholic creative writer of the twentieth century.

Bilbo's JourneyMine every bit from gold from "The Hobbit" with the help of noted author and literary critic Joseph Peace. Go beyond the dragons, dwarves, and elves to uncover the surprisingly deep Christian meaning of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic novel.

C.S. Lewis' Case for the Christian FaithDrawing on the whole body of C.S. Lewis' published fiction and non-fiction, as well as previously unpublished letters, Richard Purtill offers a clear, comprehensive assessment of Lewis’ defense of Christianity.

Contemplative Intelligence: Second Spring Journal 5Contemplative Intelligence is an issue on education, featuring Literature (including Tolkien and Austen), Symbolism, Music and Science.

Eliot and His AgeIn this literary biography Kirk, while revealing the balance and subtlety of Eliot's political and cultural ideas and tracing these to their true roots, elaborates a significant theory of literary meaning in general, showing how great literary works awaken our intuitive reason, giving us profound visions of truth that transcend logical processes.

Elizabethan ShakespeareTo know Shakespeare is to know his plays, not just one by one but all together—or what T. S. Eliot calls “the pattern in his carpet”. But if in view of their quantity a division has to be made, it must be that between Elizabethan and Jacobean. More than we realize, the dramatist was affected by the mind of the monarch, negatively no less than positively, not least in his time of profound religious change—a fact that is sadly ignored by the majority of scholars.

Harry Potter and the Paganization of Culture

O'Brien here contrasts Potter-world with C.S. Lewis's Narnia and with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and specifically Harry with Frodo. The book goes beyond Potter, however, to address other bestselling series such as Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass.

I Told My Soul to SingPart spiritual autobiography, part homage to Dickinson’s inexhaustible poetic genius, and part exuberant close readings of astonishing poems, though this "shimmering jewel" of a book targets someone attracted to religious faith even an atheist will enjoy its provocative illuminations of spiritual longing, fear, and an anger in which questions cut deeper than answers.

in Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G. K. Chesterton

The only problem with Chesterton's essays is that there are too many of them. Over five thousand! For most GKC readers it is not even possible to know where to start or how to begin to approach them... So three of the world's leading authorities on Chesterton - Dale Ahlquist, Joseph Pearce, Aidan Mackey - have joined together to select the "best" Chesterton essays, a collection that will be appreciated by both the newcomer and the seasoned student of this great 20th century man of letters.

Ironies of Faith: The Laughter at the Heart of Christian LiteratureIn Ironies of Faith, celebrated Dante scholar and translator Anthony Esolen provides a profound meditation upon the use and place of irony in Christian art and in the Christian life

Jacobean ShakespeareThe eminent Shakespeare scholar Peter Milward, S.J. here presents an analysis of Shakespeare's late plays that is both accessible to beginners and beneficial to seasoned scholars. Focusing on the role of the heroine in these classic works, Milward enriches our understanding of King Lear, Othello, Measure for Measure, All's Well that End's Well, The Tempest, Macbeth, and others.

Literary Converts

Literary Converts is a biographical exploration into the spiritual lives of some of the greatest writers in the English language: Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh, C.S. Lewis, Malcolm Muggeridge, Graham Greene, Edith Sitwell, Siegfried Sassoon, Hilaire Belloc, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, T.S. Eliot and J.R.R. Tolkien... Many will be intrigued to know more about what inspired their literary heroes; others will find the association of such names with Christian belief surprising or even controversial. Whatever viewpoint we may have, Literary Converts touches on some of the most important questions of the twentieth century, making it a fascinating read.

Lord of the Elves and EldilsA fascinating look at the fantasy and philosophy of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien, two men who were friends and fellow professors at Oxford, both renowned Christian thinkers who “found it necessary to create for the purposes of their fiction other worlds,"

Loss and Gain - Study Guide

Offering introductions and summaries, in-depth considerations of key critical moments and themes, and lists of "points to ponder" while reading, ICE study guides include questions to test the students' knowledge of the text and ability to go from that knowledge to wider or higher conclusions about the works and their relation to reality. Constructed to aid the reader of ICE classics to achieve a level of critical and literary appreciation befitting the works themselves.

Search by Keyword

Shopping Basket

... for the Year of Faith ...

Suggested for Spring