The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, confirmed on Thursday that Pope Benedict XVI is about to finish his Encyclical on social issues, which will focus on the developing world.
There is perhaps no more important religious literature in the English language than Paradise Lost, but its author remains a deep mystery. Anna Beer has just written a new biography, Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer, and Patriot .
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church has made a statement about the departure of several parishes from Anglican Church of Canada –and made it available through a videocast on the web. In it, he states that the Canadian Church is still “vibrant and united in its witness to the Gospel message.”
First in a new series from the L.A. Times on sacred spaces is a profile on The Rev. Brad Karelius, rector of Santa Ana’s Episcopal Church of the Messiah. After experiencing an incredible sense of peace and holiness while exploring the mountain wilderness that lies north of L.A., Karelius went on to study how retreating to such raw places often acts as a portal to spirital awakening, according to the article. For him, that first visit evoked such “serenity” that he has made it a regular practice to return to the area whenever he needs to “detox” from the hustle and bustle of daily living.
This week, Manga Bible author Siku was featured in a 13-minute long segment of the NPR program Faith Matters in which he discusses why he chose the stories he did, the challenges of interpreting narrative style within graphic novels, how his family reacted to his “calling,” the Archbishop of Canterbury’s feedback, the difference between manga and comics (manga is “cinematic,” among other things) and much more.
Bishop Valentino L. Mokiwa of the Diocese of Dar es Salaam will be the next primate of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, according to Episcopal News Service. Mokiwa will succeed Archbishop Donald Leo Mtetemela, who has served as primate since 1998 and will retire on May 25.
Ms. Duflo, Mr. Banerjee and their colleagues have a simple, if radical, goal. They want to overhaul development aid so that more of it is spent on programs that actually make a difference. And they are trying to do so in a way that skirts the long-running ideological debate between aid groups and their critics.
The editors of the Lead include several movie fans and we are eagerly awaiting tonights’ Academy Awards. In the meantime, we thought that you would enjoy the winners of the Beliefnet Film Awards.
It is quite possible that the votes of centrist evangelicals—perhaps representing as many as one-third of our nation’s massive evangelical community—will decide the election this fall.
Booktrust, the British reading charity, conducted a survey of 4000 in Great Britain, to determine the best children’s books of all time. Leading the list is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Princeby J.K. Rowling, placed sixth.