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| Dennis Patrick Slattery, Ph.D. General Recommendations Dennis Patrick Slattery teaches full time in the Mythological Studies Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California. Author of over 150 articles, he has also written The Idiot: Dostoevsky's Fantastic Prince (Peter Lang 1984), The Wounded Body: Remembering the Markings of Flesh (SUNY 2000), co-edited, with Lionel Corbett, Depth Psychology: Meditations in the Field (Daimon-Verlag 2000), and a volume of poetry, Casting the Shadows: Selected Poetry (Morris Publishing 2001). He just finished a novel, a fictional account of the Via Dolorosa from the point of view of Simon of Cyrene, titled Simon's Crossing. |
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Living Buddha, Living Christ Thich Nhat Hanh 208 pages Putnam Books, 1995 $15.00 See Amazon's discounted price A most prolific Vietnamese monk who has written dozens of books performs a valuable service in this series of essays, showing that perhaps too much has been made of the differences between Christianity and Buddhism but not nearly enough of their sameness. He believes that "when you are a truly happy Christian, you are also a Buddhist." His simple style and gracious manner in leading the reader through the mysteries of both religious traditions is itself an enlightening experience. |
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A Month of Sundays John Updike 228 pages Fawcett Colombine, 1975 $12.95 See Amazon's discounted price This rollicking and profound novel from one of the most inspired Catholic writers of our age is told in the first person by a Don Juan of the pulpit, Reverend Tom Marshfield, a rather frisky and sexually out-of-control minister who repeatedly takes advantage of many of his female parishioners. Discovered in his numerous trysts, he is sent into the desert to a retreat center, from whose hot bed he stews in self-reflection, justification and diatribes on the hoax of divinity. Urbane, narcissistic and blinded by erotic desires, Marshfield is a case study in sexual addiction and the ways of hiding from facing its destructive reaches. |
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The Solace of Fierce Landscapes Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality Belden C. Lane 282 pages Oxford University Press, 1998 $27.50 See Amazon's discounted price A Presbyterian minister teaching at St. Louis University, Belden Lane is a poet, a mystic of sorts, and a world dweller of monasteries. Combining his love of the apophatic and kataphatic traditions of the church with his interest in mythic landscapes and monastic settings, Lane struggles with his mother's approaching death in a nursing home, where she suffers from Alzheimer's disease, cancer and old age. His book exposes the anguish of dealing with her impending death alongside the solace of desert and mountain terrains, which seem to redeem those who enter them with their complete indifference towards any who dare to dwell in such harsh terrain. |
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A Book of Luminous Things An International Anthology of Poetry Edited by Czeslaw Milosz 320 pages Harcourt Brace and Company, 1996 $15.00 See Amazon's discounted price Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Milosz has written over 15 books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. And what a collection he has gathered from all across and around the globe. Divided by themes such as "Epiphany," "Nature," "The Secret of a Thing," and "Places," to name a few, he harvests clusters of poems from China, Asia, America, Europe. It is one of the most profound and culturally inclusive anthologies around. Savor them as form of prayer. |
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Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 694 pages Norton and Company, 1989 $20.00 See Amazon's discounted price One of the greatest stories ever written by the 19th century Russian writer, Crime and Punishment is the story of a young student of law, Rodion Raskolnikov, who believes that he can help all of mankind by murdering a greedy pawnbroker, stealing all her treasures and distributing them to the poor. He commits a violent murder, is forced to kill the pawnbroker's innocent, pregnant and abused half-sister but then fails to take the treasures from her apartment. Instead, he falls into a black hole of guilt and remorse. It takes a young 15-year old prostitute, Sonya Marmeladov, to bring him to a place of confession and contrition through the story of Christ's raising of Lazarus. |
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