From One of Jesus’ Students in the United States of Amnesia
We are not to forget, to lose our hold upon the word of God as to our vocation (which is in effect much akin to the vocation of the prophet). To forget in this sense…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
A Second Bible by Melech Ravitch
Why shouldn’t a second Jewish Book be put together and edited and canonized, on the lines of our Bible? 377 A Bible is not an anthology, nor a history, nor a collection of documents. It…
No Time for Literary Criticism
You are the voice of people with adhesive tape across their mouths This is no time for literary criticism. Nor for attacking the gorillas with surrealistic poems. And what use are metaphors if slavery is…
We Know
In that spring semester course There were 40 students The official limit was 35 But I let more in Before starting The Book of Mev I asked “How many of you Have known someone— A…
Interrupting My Life
Alex Gaynor worked this past year with the Jesuit Volunteers and is currently a campus minister at Saint Joseph University in Philadelphia. She participated in the Be in Love with Yr Life and Writing Rejuvenation…
Hyde Park Gatha
Breathing in, 57th Avenue Breathing out, ah, the Begonias Sitting in the outdoor café– This is it, this is it, this is it
Saluting the Ātman
Dear Sunil, Thought I’d share one of my recent reading binges with you. I read a book late spring called American Veda, about how Indian thought has influenced the USA (from Thoreau and Emerson through the…
Correspondence/1197
Dear Yehudit So, this month, in addition to reading Dorothee Sölle (superb!) I am also reading a lot of Nawal El-Saadawi Egyptian novelist, physician Thorn in the side of patriarchy She reminds me of you You…
Worth Reading
Dear Irina, Here are some books that may speak to a few of your questions, interests, and enthusiasms. I’ll send more later on if you want…. Mark Daniel Berrigan, Isaiah: Spirit of Courage, Gift…
He Would Have Preferred That She Just Spit on Him
He’d been home a couple of months Against his better judgment He said yes he’d come To his fraternity’s party Before he left for Iraq He never drank alcohol Even with his fraternity brothers And…