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Scholarly work details origins of modern biblical understanding

Reviewed by Brian Welter
Catholic News Service

“Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite” by L. Michael White. HarperOne (San Francisco, 2010). 516 pp., $28.99.

Book on Shakespeare and Catholicism does readers a disservice

Reviewed by Elizabeth Rackover
Catholic News Service

“Through Shakespeare’s Eyes: Seeing the Catholic Presence in the Plays” by Joseph Pearce. Ignatius Press (San Francisco, 2010). 222 pp., $19.95.

Books focus on Catherine de Hueck Doherty’s quest for holiness

By Nancy Hartnagel
Catholic News Service

“Catherine de Hueck Doherty: Essential Writings,” selected with an introduction by David Meconi, SJ. Orbis Books (Maryknoll, N.Y., 2009). 189 pp., $16. “Compassionate Fire: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Catherine de Hueck Doherty,” edited by Robert A. Wild. Ave Maria Press (Notre Dame, Ind., 2009). 110 pp., $12.95.

Seeking - and finding - God in (almost) everything

Reviewed by Allan F. Wright
Catholic News Service

“The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life” by James Martin, SJ. HarperOne (San Francisco, 2010). 406 pp., $26.99.

Popular explanations of Catholic faith encourage readers to learn more

Reviewed by Daniel S. Mulhall
Catholic News Service

“The Faith Explained Today: Popular Edition” by Joe Babendreier. Scepter Publishers Kenya Ltd (Nairobi, Kenya, 2009). 928 pp., $24.95. “Believing in Jesus: A Popular Overview of the Catholic Faith,” sixth revised edition, by Leonard Foley, OFM. St. Anthony Messenger Press (Cincinnati, 2009). 324 pp., $12.95.

Books offer very different views on human search for God, miracles

Reviewed by Brian Welter
Catholic News Service

“Full of Grace: Miraculous Stories of Healing and Conversion Through Mary’s Intercession” by Christine Watkins. Ave Maria Press (Notre Dame, Ind., 2010). 224 pp., $14.95. “Miracle Cures: Saints, Pilgrimages and the Healing Powers of Belief” by Robert A. Scott. University of California Press (Berkeley, Calif., 2010). 266 pp., $24.95. “Bleeding Hands, Weeping Stone: True Stories of Divine Wonders, Miracles and Messages” by Elizabeth Ficocelli. St. Benedict Press (Charlotte, N.C., 2010). 136 pp., $12.95.

Roots of modern spirituality long predate Vatican II, author contends

Reviewed by David Gibson
Catholic News Service

“Prayers of the Faithful: The Shifting Spiritual Life of American Catholics” by James P. McCartin. Harvard University Press (Cambridge, Mass., 2010). 225 pp., $25.95. “Catholic Culture in the USA: In and Out of Church” by John Portmann. Continuum (New York, 2010). 202 pp., $32.95.

Overview of world religions confirms their importance now and in future

Reviewed by Brother Jeffrey Gros, FSC
Catholic News Service

“God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World - and Why Their Differences Matter” by Stephen Prothero. HarperCollins (New York, 2010). 388 pp., $26.99.

Gentle farewells or angry vitriol: Book collects last words of executed

Reviewed by Nancy Roberts
Catholic News Service

“Last Words of the Executed” by Robert K. Elder, with a foreword by Studs Terkel. University of Chicago Press (Chicago, 2010). 280 pp., $20.

True story of priest’s murder leaves reader strangely unaffected

Reviewed by Graham Yearley
Catholic News Service

“Rising Road” by Sharon Davies. Oxford University Press (New York, 2010). 326 pp., $27.95.

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