Hovering high above the city of Antioch, and founded long after the time of St. Paul, is the remains of a Byzantine monastery, famous for Simon Stylites or Simon the pole sitter, who according to legend sat on a column for 45 years without coming down, out of total devotion to God. When I say high, I mean even higher than the wind turbines dotting the mountain it’s on… It is of course a defunct monastery now for many centuries... Read more
So Im riding down the road in Egypt towards Luxor and there in front of me was a Toyota truck. In the back originally were two guys, two motorcycles and a camel. This actually is a picture from Saudi Arabia, so apparently its a multi-cultural tradition to give your camel a ride here and there. Camels are noisy beasts, and ornery too. But they are indeed the Cadillacs of the desert. They can go a very long time in blistering... Read more
It is a delicate balance to produce a movie for kids, that also keeps the parents interested, and laughing. The Despicable Me franchise has managed to do this rather well, especially in the first film, and the one that began with the backstory of the Minions. This one is better than the last one, and clocks in at under two hours, which is just as well considering the attention span of the kids. Stephen Colbert plays Perry Prescott, the yuppie... Read more
Gender is not ‘assigned’ at birth. Read more
Paul Doherty continues his fascinating series of novels about Hugh Corbett, the right hand man of the King Edwards in 13th and 14th centuries, a series that has now involved 22+ volumes with more promised. Doherty is a middle school headmaster at a Catholic school outside of London, and a real expert in medieval English history. Unlike the Dan Brown’s of this world whose novels are peppered with historical errors, Doherty knows his subject matter thoroughly and knows how to... Read more
Of the great Southern fiction writers of her era, including Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Walker Percy, and numerous others, Flannery O’Connor was not only the greatest woman writer of that genre, but the greatest clearly Christian one as well. Try as she might to write the novel Wise Blood, what she was really amazing at was writing short stories like ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’, or ‘Parker’s Back’, or ‘Everything that Rises must Converge’, or most hilariously ‘A Temple... Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In