Here and There

• The Blessings of Religious Burnout, by Benjamin Mann. Catholic Exchange 04/28/14:

  I will never forget the half-joking remark conveyed to me by a friend, made to him by a priest, about zealous Catholic converts having a "five-year shelf life." After that point, presumably, one’s faith must mature – beyond that initial, largely natural zeal, toward a supernatural wisdom and charity – or perish.

• Edward Fester on "What We Owe the New Atheists" Prepared text for a lecture he presented as part of Thomas Aquinas College’s St. Vincent de Paul Lecture and Concert Series, endowed by Barbara and Paul Henkels. 04/05/14.
• Natural Law and the Challenge of Liberal Secularism - Glen Austin Sproviero reviews Robert P. George's Conscience and Its Enemies: Confronting the Dogmas of Liberal Secularism. The University Bookman Spring 2014.
• The Ricochet of Thought The Sensible Bond 05/04/14:

  We cast our attention across a plethora of news stories or information sources, like some pebble skimming over the surface of water. We get Twitter updates, Facebook news feeds, email, text messages, voicemails and Instagram. If we boast a certain culture, we have a pile of half-thumbed but unread books awaiting our short attention on the coffee table. We cannot grasp it all, and yet we have the half-formed, unexamined assumption that we should make a stab at doing so. Is it hubris? Is it naivety? Or a toxic mixture of the two?

• The Search for Soul in a Fallen World, by Jerry Salyer. Catholic World Report 05/22/14. Philosopher Roger Scruton's new book, The Soul of the World, examines the tension between the sacred and modern science.
• Fr. Schall’s Latest Literary Treasures, by Gerald J. Russello. Crisis 05/16/14.
• Spiritual Insights Into A Holy War Catholic World Report 05/19/14. Fr. George Rutler's book, Principalities and Powers: Spiritual Combat 1942-1943 is an unconventional and gripping excursion through the pivotal two years of World War II.
• Responding to Tim Park's Reading: The Struggle New York Review of Books), Dominic Preziosi (Commonweal) asks: Would it kill you to read a book? 06/19/14.