By his own estimation David Bentley Hart has written “either an extremely ambitious or extremely unambitious book,” though he tends toward latter. In The Experience of God, Hart sets out to write something akin to a definition of God, so indeed the concept is vast. Still, Hart tackles it with
Follow @yaleRELIbooks Jennifer Banks— I had been acquiring religion books for Yale University Press for five years or so when my grandmother’s passing brought me back to the Catholic Church I’d attended as a child. I sat in the back row at her funeral, with my two-year-old daughter and four-month-old
Bernard Berenson’s life is an inspiring story of a poor immigrant to America achieving great fame and fortune. A sensitive and articulate consumer of art, his incredible eye and his talent for engaging listeners in interpretations of artworks took him from his humble beginnings to a lavish lifestyle assisting Gilded
We all know the story of the Garden of Eden. God created Adam, then Eve, and he told the two not to eat fruit from a certain tree. But the snake tempted Eve to taste the forbidden fruit; she, in turn, seduced Adam to do the same, and this led
What role does religion play in developing countries today? Does it hinder or contribute to global health care, education, and social justice? In Earthly Mission, Robert Calderisi thoughtfully addresses these difficult questions as he examines the Catholic Church’s successes and failures in the developing world over the past 60 years. A
Francesco Vanni: Art in Late Renaissance Siena is now on view at the Yale University Art Gallery and will run through January 5, 2014. The accompanying catalog was written by John Marciari and Suzanne Boorsch and copublished by the Yale University Art Gallery and Yale University Press. Q & A with John Marciari
However we conceive its definition, the act of charity is alive and well in American culture. Last year alone, Americans donated an estimated $316.23 billion to charitable causes. While many disagree on the best way to give or the places one’s time and money should go, it is an ancient practice
In Francois Dubois’ painting of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572, we see one of the worst acts of violence in the French Wars of Religion. Catholics attack the Huguenots, French Calvinist Protestants, in a number of horrific ways, bludgeoning some to death and decapitating others. According to modern
Guilt without guilt is more destructive to us than justified guilt, because in the first case catharsis is impossible. He was the man who coined the term “genocide” and dedicated his entire life to making it illegal — but most people still don’t know his name. Raphael Lemkin, a Holocaust
“Thus a ruler can imprison a person’s body, but the spirit is incapable of being imprisoned. It was this spiritual leverage that Gandhi fastened on to, and we fasten on to in Gandhi. It was with this power that Gandhi faced the might of an empire.” There are hundreds of