Thankfully much of the silly season when it comes to Catholic scripture scholars is over and the new breed of Catholic scripture scholars are not likely to get their views displayed on the History or Discovery Channel.

This comes to mind after reading Brant Pitre’s new book released today Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper. When it comes to the Eucharist, the better understanding that we have of the Eucharist in the Jewish context the better understanding we have of the Eucharist itself. It was a fulfillment of the Old Testament and gave in that what came before became fully realized. The God-given manna which nourished the Israelites physically when brought to the fullness nourishes us spiritually as the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.

Brant Pitre has focused on the Old Testament along with several non-scriptural sources of Jewish writing to fully give us an understanding of the Eucharist from its Jewish roots. He starts by looking at the Last Supper and how Jesus’ words must have gone beyond surprising from a Jewish point of view. We so often hear the words of institution at Mass and have accepted them that it is so easy to forget what they meant to the Jews of that time when it came to eating his body and blood. Even if you saw the blood as pure symbolism it would still be upsetting to Jewish ears and the commandment not to eat the blood of the sacrifice.

He goes on to discuss what was the idea the people had of the coming Messiah. We have often heard that they expected a political Messiah and like so many common facts it isn’t exactly true. Some expected a more political Messiah, but the majority expected a new Moses with all that entails. A new Exodus, Passover, and a Manna that was something more and given perpetually. He spends chapters discussing the Exodus and a new Passover along with the Manna. There is much information passed on here and all of it worthwhile. While I have read many of the ideas presented before in other books, I found the chapter the on Bread of the Presence most interesting in that I haven’t seen much on this topic before other than just passing information. There is a much deeper connection with the Bread of the Presence and the Eucharist that I had suspected and the Eucharist is much more than just a fulfillment of the Manna.

Much of this information comes together on the Last Supper as the new Passover and a discussion of the Four Cups. The connecting of the drinking of the Four Cups of wine in a Passover meal and Jesus’ institution of the new Passover and his sacrifice is not new information and as the author admits is is speculative. This idea as popularized by Scott Hahn and supported by earlier Protestant scripture scholars has the ring to it of truth along with the beauty of it pointing to the truth. Brant Pitre makes a thorough explanation for it here as the presentation he agrees with and certainly one that I also believe to be correct. As I said this chapter really brings the book together in the understanding of the Eucharist via Jewish eyes.

He goes on to explain how the information in the book is nothing new and then gives information from the Catechism and the Church Fathers in how they also saw this. He also relates a story about how he thought he had found something new in the Our Father in a Eucharistic tone that later he found exactly the same idea expressed in the Catechism. Well he is in good company since Dr. Scott Hahn has also expressed finding the same thing himself in that what he thought was original was already known by the Church. Often though a theological understanding once known gets lost or at least not focused on and so good books bringing these truths to our eyes are well worthwhile. Brant Pitre has certainly done a good and thorough job here of a scholarly presentation written for every Catholic.

I just finished “A Cry of Stone” by Michael D. O’Brien which is part of his loose series “Children of the Last Days”. I have now read all of his fiction except “Island of the World” which I am sure I will get to. As with all of his books I certainly enjoyed it even though an O’Brien novel is usually anything but fast-paced.

A Cry of Stone is the fictional account of the life of a native artist, Rose Wâbos. Abandoned as an infant, Rose is raised by her grandmother, Oldmary Wâbos, in the remotest regions of the northern Ontario wilderness. The story covers a period from 1940 to 1973, chronicling Rose’s growth to womanhood, her discovery of art, her moving out into the world of cities and sophisticated cultural circles.

The reason this book was the last in the series I read is because the basic plot doesn’t sound very enticing. People often name the “Father Elijah” novel as their favorite O’Brien novel and I think partly it is because the apocalyptic plot is so intriguing and such an antithesis to the badly written and never ending Left Behind novels. A Cry of Stone though is now my favorite novel of his even if it does not contain the excitement of “Father Elijah.” O’Brien as a novelist is much like O’Brien the painter and iconographer. Icons portray a spiritual reality seemingly distorted in our eyes full of symbolic meanings. An Icon is not painted overnight and takes time to properly display these symbolic meanings. O’Brien’s novels are much the same in that they are character driven following the main character over their life and you come to feel you really know the person and their spiritual life and this is done with a rich palette.

A Cry of Stone is also for me is O’Brien’s deepest novel and the character Rose Wâbos is so developed that I often felt I was reading more of an autobiography from a saint than I was reading a fictionalized novel. More like I was reading Saint Augustine’s “Confessions”. The story of native Rose Wâbos as she struggle through childhood with a developing deformity and being raised by her grandmother as she develops fully into an artist in her adulthood covers so many stages of her life and really shows life as a pilgrimage. In fact to really sum up the plot in one sentence.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. Colossians 1:24

Rose learns to take the many afflictions she has in her life and to unite them with Christ. Though this is a constant struggle even with her deep devotion to Christ as the “beating heart” and really portrays the temptations so common in life and especially in trying to fully live the spiritual life. Often this book led me to a sort of contemplative novel reading where I was so often drawn back during my day into thinking about the spiritual life and prayer at a deeper level.

Though it is not only the main character Rose who you come to know and love. There is a landscape of rich characters throughout the novel. No not characters, bigger than life — but ones full of life. Her grandmother, the teacher, the artist couple, the doll making sisters, and so forth are more than just plot devices, but people you come to care about and once again drawing you away from just reading a novel. There are common O’Brien elements within such as the anti-religous bureaucrats and the attitudes from others that Christianity is something for the past and that secularism is king. Criticism of the art world and so-called modern art is another thread shared by other novels in this series. This is certainly an area where I am fully in agreements with O’Brien’s criticisms.

The title of this novel also has a meaning at several levels and is a theme throughout. Even as you come to find the title in it’s explicit meaning — you also see how it is a common thread.

I am also reviewing the Audiobook version of this novel. At about 33 hours this Audiobook put out by Ignatius Press is an unabridged version of the 800 plus page novel. Kevin O’Brien of Theatre of the Word once again has done the reading for Ignatius Press. I have been quite impressed with Kevin’s work and the other Audiobooks I have recently reviewed he did. He has surpassed himself with this reading though. If I had the power to give Kevin the Oscar for his performance I would. I’ve listened to a fair amount of Audiobooks and Kevin’s various voices go beyond what I have heard in the past. When Rose is being drawn to prayer or crying out, Kevin does his best work and like the novel itself I feel a real person doing this. His voice for the artist who becomes a father to Rose is also especially deserving of praise and adds a perfect dimension to the man portrayed as if obviously this would be the voice of that character. I am not saying this just because Kevin was nice enough to send me some of his narration work he did for Ignatius Press.

The audiobook version is available at Ignatius Press for download.

Note: The Audiobook length on Ignatius Press’ site is 8:24:17. I don’t know if that is an error of if this was an abridged version. Of course they also have the paper copy and ebook versions of this book.

As a fan of G.K. Chesterton I was happy to review Defiant Joy: The Remarkable Life & Impact of G.K. Chesterton a new biography by Kevin Belmonte.  The author notes that this book is not a comprehensive or definitive study, but to introduce a life and legacy.  I am all for introducing Chesterton to a wider range of people.

The book mostly allows Chesterton to speak for himself as there are numerous paragraphs from his books and other writings within.  The basic framework of the book is to go sequentially through his books with chapters devoted to milestones of his publishing life.  I would start of with Dale Ahlquists’ books instead and it does remind me that I need to read Joseph Pearce’s biography of GKC.

This book was not meant to be a comprehensive biography, unfortunately often it is hardly even a sketch biographically of Chesterton.  If this had been the only book I had read on Chesterton I would hardly have any idea about the man other than some of the barest details.  This is a book mainly on Chesterton the author, and not Chesterton the man.  Major milestones in his life and the effect on his writing are covered in brief – often in just a sentence. His spiritual life is barely covered.  The darkness he descended to in art school is covered, but nothing on the effect his wife had on him and his return to Anglicanism.  His conversion to the Catholic Church got a sentence and his friendship with Hilaire Belloc was mentioned in passing.  Rather odd considering that the author appears to be a Protestant who takes spiritual themes seriously in GKC’s writings.  There are so many great stories about Chesterton and especially his legendary absentmindedness, yet this isn’t even mentioned or one of those famous stories told.  Of course GKC called absentmindedness, presentmindeness on something else.  GKC as a personality was seemingly bigger than life – you would learn none of that here.  Though you do get some idea of the interplay between George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and G.K. Chesterton and how they retained their lifelong friendship despite their opposing views.

Where the book succeeds is with Chesterton the author and you do get a good summary of his writings and the reactions to them then and now.  From his early literary criticism to milestones such as The Napoleon of Notting Hill, Heretics, Orthodoxy, The Man who was Thursday, Father Brown, his poems, his essays on America, plays, etc.  These chapters revolve around extensive quotations of the works.  Literary criticism that appeared in response to these works and what effect Chesterton’s writings had on others is a part of these chapters. The author has done his homework from other biographies and of course Maise Ward’s biography of GKC is quoted throughout.  Though the author makes a major gaffe in referring to her husband as publisher Frank Ward.  That should be Frank Sheed one of the great Catholic apologists and later publisher with his wife — Sheed & Ward.

I was a bit disappointed on the chapter on Orthodoxy and thought it deserved much more than just  the view of it from Gary Wills and Philip Yancey.  While testimonials to the impact of Orthodoxy are fitting, I would have liked to see more of an outline of this book and some of the major themes within.  Though I also suspect that I would hardly be satisfied with any chapter on Orthodoxy in that I try to reread this book every year.

This book has spurred me on to wanting to read Chesterton’s literary criticism.  I was aware of his works concerning Dickens and Chaucer and while reading literary criticism is not my thing, I think GKC’s take will be.  I do love Dickens and I really need to learn more of Chaucer.

This book reminds me of Chesterton’s quip on George Bernard Shaw comparing him to Venus de Milo in that what is there is good.  I read through the book fairly quickly since I enjoyed it, it is just that I was constantly aware of what was missing.  Missing was any mention of Manalive, Lepanto, or so many other of his books. Certainly in a book of this type you can’t devote a chapter to such a prolific author, but I so love Manalive and I consider it a key to understanding Chesterton the man and his philosophy.

As a supplementary biography Defiant Joy is somewhat worthwhile, just don’t make the mistake of getting this book as a primary biography of Chesterton.