Friday Links
Jean-Marie Vianney (1786 – 1859)
August 4, 2023
Feast of St. John Vianney
Joan Bauer’s Recent Reads
Ploughcast Episode 66: Plough editors Madoc Cairns, Alan Koppschall, and Susannah Black discuss “The Technology of Demons” with Paul Kingsnorth
Ex Libris: The hidden value in harsh reviews
Phil Davignon on The Culture of Death and the Practice of Everyday Life
Roseanne Sullivan on Substack: Happy Birthday to Gerald Manley Hopkins
Maryann Corbett’s new poem of poems, The O is in the Air, from Franciscan
Joan Bauer’s Recent Reads
In August’s Recent Reads, Joan writes about Infinite Regress by Joshua Hren, The Spring that Feeds the Torrent: Poems by St. John of the Cross, and Naked and Famous by Elizabeth Broadbent
Ploughcast Episode 66: Plough editors Madoc Cairns, Alan Koppschall, and Susannah Black discuss “The Technology of Demons” with Paul Kingsnorth
The is, not surprisingly, a really good episode. Please give it a listen. The hosts ask excellent questions and Kingsnorth offers insight, wisdom, and warnings distilled through humility and gratitude. Buckle up, though, kids, because reality and truth are demanding things and Kingsnorth does not allow us to delude ourselves about what’s going on.
Ex Libris: The hidden value in harsh reviews
Steve Donoghue writes about the “Fredder,” the critic who wants to stay “friends with everybody.” The Fredder, Donoghue states, “is betraying the true role of the critic, which is not only to alert the reader to the best that’s out there but also to warn them about the things that look polished and worthwhile (and have real marketing money behind them) but are actually putrid, maggot-infested piles of rotting garbage.” H/T: John Wilson
Phil Davignon on The Culture of Death and the Practice of Everyday Life
“Practical atheism is dangerous because it provides a false sense of security, allowing Christians to become a people who “honor God with their lips but whose hearts are far from Him” (see: Matt 15:8). People who have lost the ability to worship God do not become less religious, but instead direct their worship toward earthly things. St. John Paul II notes how “the eclipse of the sense of God and of man inevitably leads to a practical materialism, which breeds individualism, utilitarianism and hedonism” (§23).
Roseanne Sullivan on Substack: Happy Birthday to Gerald Manley Hopkins
Roseanne offers a lovely tribute to GMH with lots of excellent links to all things Hopkins.
Maryann Corbett’s new poem of poems, The O is in the Air, from Franciscan
And, finally, this is exciting. Maryann Corbett’s latest book of poetry is our today from Franciscan University Press. If you are familiar with her work, you should be. Corbett’s work is evidence that poetry is alive and well, despite the rumors of its death. Here’s one of my favorites: “Finding the Lego.”
