Events

Dead Poet's Society Book List for January to June 2008

January 31 Thursday 7 PM What Jesus Meant

by Garry Wills

Garry Wills explores the meaning of Jesus' teachings. In public debates, people on the politcial right and the political left cite Jesus as endorsing their views. Wills argues that Jesus subscribed to no political program. He was far more radical than that. This is a book that will challenge the assumptions of almost everyone who brings religion into politics - "Christian socialists" as well as biblical theocrats.

February 27 Wednesday 7 PM Dark Night of the Soul

by Gerald May

Distinguished psychiatrist. Dark side is a vital ingredient for deep, authentic, healthy spirituality. May emphasizes that the dark night is not necessarily a time of suffering and despair, but rather one of deep transition, during which our lives are clouded and full of mystery as we move through a time of trial and uncertainty to freedom and joy. Our liberation takes place mysteriously, in secret and beyond our conscious control

March 27 Wednesday 7 PM Cry the Beloved Country

by Alan Paton

Compassionate story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, set in the troubled and changing South Africa of the 1940's. Inspires a renewed faith in the dignity of mankind. The greatest novel to emerge out of the tragedy of South Africa and its apartheid policy.

April 24 Thursday 7 PM Take Heart

by Ben Birnbaum, editor

Catholic writers on hope in our time. The most beloved catholic literary figures, scholars and theologians of our day show how we can find hope in our family life, our spiritual practice, our fondest memories and even ouor darkest moments. The writers draw on the stories of figures such as Dorothy Day, Flannery O'Connor and Pope John Paul II whose religious faith can inspires us in the battle against despair.

May 29 Thursday 7 PM The Power and the Glory

by Graham Greene

This story of bravery, cowardice, and moral decay is set in Mexico during the Calles regime of the 1930's when the practice of Christianity was a violently suppressed. It portrays the heroic and doomed efforts of a priest to minister secretly to the Catholics of the region. The "whiskey priest" is one of Greene's most memorable characters: a drunkard and fornicator, he nevertheless attempts to keep the Church alive in his province and puts his life at risk in the process. He is pursued throughout the story by the Chief of Police, a Javert-like figure who is a model of decorum, human decency - and cold-heartedness. Widely acclaimed as one of Greene's finest books, the Power and the Glory was the work that first established Greene's reputation as a master of the novel form.

June 26 Thursday 7 PM Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor by Flannery O'Connor and Sally Fitzgerald

Winner of the National Book Critia Cicle Special Award for 1979. 'I have come to think that the true likeness of Flannery O'Connor will be painted by herself, a self portrait in words to be found in her letters..' There she stands, a Phoenicia risen from her own words: calm, slow, funny, courteous, both modest and very sure of herself, intense, sharply penetrating, devout but never pietistic, downright, occasionally fierce and honest in a way that restores honor to the word.

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