Books on Culture

There are many good and popular English books on the Mass. Some of them treat the subject after the manner of a Rationale, explaining the significance of the prayers and ceremonies of the Eucharistic rite; others are historical and antiquarian, and elucidate the origin and evolution of the ceremonial—while of devotional books there is no end. This book, however, is a treatise on the folklore and minor antiquities of the Mass; by which are meant the various aspects and the numerous details of ...

That sacred art scarcely exists today is all too clear. We can perhaps speak of a “religious,” but certainly not a sacred art. True sacred art is not sentimental or psychological, but ontological and cosmological in nature. Sacred art cannot be the result of the feelings, fantasies, or even “thought” of the artist—as with most modern art—but rather the translation of a reality largely surpassing the limits of human individuality. Sacred art is precisely a supra-human art. The temple of former...

The Beer Option proposes a renewal of Catholic culture by attending to the small things of life and ordering them toward the glory of God and the good of the community. Beer has played a surprising role in the history of Catholic culture, spurred on by the prayer and work of brewing monks. As we confront the many challenges of our time, beer can play a role in refermenting a local and home economy, drawing people together in festivity and friendship in the warm beauty of lost traditions. Cons...

Drinking with Saint Nick is a unique and delightful gift book that celebrates the traditional holiday season. Written by Michael Foley, author of Drinking with the Saints, this special book has something for everyone! From hot gin toddies and smoking rosemary old fashioneds to beer and cider selections, it is the perfect way to bring the spirit of Christmas into your home! Enjoy learning about Saint Nicholas and other saints while you sip on festive cocktails that will make your Christmas Eve...

This beautiful, hardcover cookbook features over 60 recipes to help your family celebrate the liturgical year and the life of the saints. Both a teaching and a cookbook, this resource offers triple nourishment of body, soul and mind that makes it so much more than a traditional cookbook. From approachable saints bios with an accompanying dish to full meals associated with Holy Days of Obligation, your family will enjoy these delicious, authentic, tested, and easy-to-cook recipes. Here you'll ...

In Homo Ludens, Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. He identifies five characteristics of play: it is free; it is not “ordinary” or “real” life; it is distinct from “ordinary” life both as to locality and duration; it creates order; it is connected with no material interest, and from it no profit can be gained. With cross-cultural examples from the humanities, business, and politics, Huizinga examines play in all its diverse guises—as it relates to la...

Discover the faith through literature with Catholic Literary Giants, written by Joseph Pearce. This acclaimed book takes readers on an immersive journey into the wondrous depths of the Catholic literary tradition. Featuring beloved authors such as G.K. Chesterton, Graham Greene and J.R.R. Tolkien and insightful commentary from Pearce, Catholic Literary Giants delves into the rich history and cultural significance of great wordsmiths from Dante to Shakespeare to Waugh. Introducing some lesser-...

J. R. R. Tolkien was a profoundly metaphysical thinker, and one of the most formative influences on his imagination, according to this new study of his works, was the great thirteenth-century theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas. Structured around Tolkien’s Middle-earth creation myth, the Ainulindale, The Flame Imperishable follows the thought of Aquinas as a guide in laying bare the deeper foundations of many of the more familiar themes from Tolkien’s legendarium, including such notions as sub-cre...

Too little intimate history has been written of common people in the Middle Ages. Most "comprehensive" works pass them by in favor of tales of monarchs and warriors. Yet if we truly wish to form an accurate understanding of how life was during a certain period, it is to the lives of ordinary people that we should first direct out attention. It is precisely this strategy that Eileen Power employs in Medieval People. In this refreshingly insightful collection of lives untouched by fame, Power g...

Explore the vibrant and complex first thousand years of Christian culture with Popes, Emperors, and Elephants: The First Thousand Years of Christian Cult. This carefully researched book is written in an accessible style that adults and children alike can enjoy. Roy Peachey takes you on a journey from Athens to China, from Rome to Ethiopa and through ancient lands like Jerusalem and Iraq. You’ll learn about saints, popes, emperors, sailors —and yes, even the occasional elephant! It’s an eye-op...

Is man an isolated, voluntaristic, autonomous individual, as modernity would have him? Or is he subject to natural, social, and transcendent orders? Much has been written since Rerum Novarum in 1891 on the general outlines of Catholic social, economic, and political thought, but what Catholics need today is a sure guide to how to live out these principles in their daily lives. To this end, Brian McCall’s To Build the City of God responds with chapters on marriage and the family, dress, educat...

In a world that is ever-changing and increasingly full of challenges, it is more important than ever to have a strong foundation on which to build our lives. For centuries, the Rule of Saint Benedict has been a source of wisdom and guidance for those seeking to live a joy-filled and meaningful life.André Gushurst-Moore's book, Glory in All Things: St Benedict & Catholic Education Today, shows us how even in the 21st century, the ancient wisdom of Saint Benedict can be applied to our lives...

Dorothy L Sayers' great lay contemporaries in the Church of England were T. S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams, but none of them wrote a book quite like The Mind of the Maker. In this crisp, elegant exercise in theology, Sayers illuminates the doctrine of the Trinity by relating it to the process of writing fiction, a process about which she could speak with complete authority. She illustrates her thesis with many examples drawn from her own books, and even illuminates the Christian he...

The Common Mind traces the theme of the sensus communis, inherited from the medievals, through the lives and writings of twelve literary figures in the modern age, ranging from Thomas More and Jonathan Swift to C. S. Lewis and Russell Kirk. It is this quality, argues the author, which, like natural law, serves as the bedrock of orthodoxy, of social and political order, and which, by its presence or absence, determines the nature of every society. The Common Mind is an altogether uncommon achi...

Music plays such an important part in everyone's life but how much do we know about the history of music? How did music shape our civilization and how was music itself shaped by the Catholic Church? Susan Treacy, an experienced professor of music, is an excellent guide to the history of music. Every Catholic should own at least one book on music. This is it.

When it comes to movies, people of faith often focus on negative assessments of the film industry and certain style elements that they find objectionable, such as violence, nudity, or harsh language. While these criticisms are important, they are not the whole story. A film's message and its method are not always the same thing.By discussing the cinematic techniques and the genre considerations filmmakers use to communicate their ideas, this book helps Catholics and other Christians to become...

After twenty-five years of leading pilgrim groups to Catholic shrines across Europe, tour guide K. Troy has seen it all--long lines, strikes, broken-down buses, rebellious tourists, and countless experiences of God's immense providence. Crafted with wit and charm, this book gives a first-hand account of Christ's hand at work in all the beautiful messiness of pilgrimage. The stories unfold in some of the most evocative Catholic settings: Vatican City, the Holy House of Nazareth in Loreto, and ...

"Twelve Great Books: Going Deeper Into Classic Literature" by Joseph Pearce invites readers on an enlightening journey through twelve pivotal works that have shaped Christian civilization and the landscape of world literature. Pearce, an acclaimed literary critic, explores the profound truths rooted within these classics, offering insights into their historical, biographical, and spiritual contexts. From the tragic depths of "Othello" to the redemptive beauty of "A Christmas Carol," Pearce ac...

Removable and Suitable for Framing. "The Catholic Home Art Gallery" curated by John Herreid and featuring a foreword by Emily Stimpson Chapman, presents 18 removable works of art by contemporary Catholic artists, bridging the rich tradition of sacred art with modern expressions of faith. This collection serves as a testament to the ongoing act of worship and evangelization through art, offering a unique opportunity to integrate Catholic culture and beauty into the home. Each piece, suitable f...

"Mysteries Made Visible: Praying the Rosary with Sacred Art" by Lawrence Lew, O.P., offers a unique devotional experience that combines sacred art with the contemplation of the Rosary's Mysteries. With a foreword by the Master of the Order, Fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner III, O.P., this book invites readers to deepen their prayer life through the visual and spiritual meditation on sacred images. Fr. Lew, a Dominican friar known for his photography, captures the essence of each Mystery with stun...

"Let Beauty Speak: The Art of Being Human in a Culture of Noise" by Jimmy Mitchell is a timely book that empowers Christians to evangelize the world by bringing beauty to the forefront of their lives. Drawing from personal stories and rich theology, Mitchell offers ten principles for living out humanity well, inspired by the beauty of holiness found in the lives of the saints. Each chapter concludes with practical tips, making this book a guide for anyone looking to transform their day-to-day...

"Building a Civilization of Love: A Catholic Response to Racism" by Harold Burke-Sivers is a profound exploration of addressing racism from a Catholic Christian perspective. Grounded in Scriptures, natural law, Church Tradition, and our identity as God's children, the book offers a spiritual and deeply insightful approach to combatting the epidemic of racism. Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, an internationally renowned speaker and author, provides a compelling argument for a response to racism tha...

This is a memoir, yes, fictionalized (as all of them are in some way) because the facts don't matter nearly as much here as the Holy Spirit who moves the furniture, the physical world, and everything in it. This unvarnished book tries to do more than offer a happy or easy conversion. It foregrounds the Beat movement too, a movement that has long been way station and home to many excellent Catholic poets. The list is a long one: Kerouac, Merton, Everson, Fabilli, Berrigan, Baxter, Kavanagh, Le...

"A sequel of sorts to Bradley Birzer's Beyond Tenebrae (Angelico Press, 2019), Mythic Realms seeks to pursue excellences in the last hundred years of literature and film. Still rooted in Christian Humanism and Burke's moral imagination, Birzer offers here a series of autobiographical vignettes, following which he analyzes fiction from Willa Cather to J.R.R. Tolkien to Stephen King to Frank Miller, and considers everything from the novel to the graphic novel. From the world of film he explores...

Published by renowned Tolkien scholar Joseph Pearce, Bilbo's Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning of The Hobbit is an eye-opening guide to one of the world's most beloved stories. This book offers readers an opportunity to both relive the captivating adventure of Bilbo Baggins and discover the hidden Christian meaning of The Hobbit. Going beyond Smaug and elves, Bilbo's Journey delves further into a story that speaks to us through ages.The journey follows Bilbo as he ventures out with a ho...

For centuries, the Catholic Church served the cultural role of the principal patron of the arts. It is a historical fact that many of the world's most admired and treasured artistic masterworks are Christian in theme, origin, and location. There has never been a time in history when artists have not found inspiration and flourishing in the Catholic tradition. From the rustic art of the ancient Christian catacombs to majestic Byzantine basilicas, from the soaring Gothic cathedrals of the Middl...

New Nations and a Transatlantic Discourse of Empire Why is the capital of the United States named in part after Christopher Columbus, a Genoese explorer commissioned by Spain who never set foot on what would become the nation's mainland? Why did Spanish American nationalists in 1819 name a new independent republic "Colombia," after Columbus, the first representative of the empire from which they had recently broken free? These are only two of the introductory questions explored in The Lega...