Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Gems from Tilly - Interview, review and excerpt by Brad and Dominic Jersak with Meg Tilly

After my review of Meg Tilly’s work, entitled “A Spirituality of Courage and Hope,” she graciously responded to some questions that I hadn’t seen others pursue. Herein is the interview, along with a review of Porcupine written by my son, Dominic, who is 11 years old, and a powerful sample of prose/memory from Meg that she’s lent us from her blog site (www.officialmegtilly.com).

Porcupine – Review by Dominic Jersak (11)

Porcupine is a book about a 12 year old girl and her siblings. Their father was killed by ‘friendly fire’ in a war. Their mother eventually drove her family to the other side of Canada to live with her grandmother. There are many small events in this book that tie it together to make it a great book. 

The morals and some strong themes of Porcupine were courage, being helpful, and forgiveness.

Michael Azkoul's Ye Are Gods -- Review by Ron Dart

Both the Scriptures and the Fathers attest to the truth of deification as the teaching of the church from the beginning, universally confessed even if not universally expounded. Michael Azkoul, Ye Are Gods (p.2)

I have had an abiding interest in Orthodoxy since the 1970s. I did an MA thesis at Regent College (Vancouver, BC) on ‘The Spirituality of John Cassian’, and did another MA thesis at the University of British Columbia (UBC) on ‘Origen and Anthony’. I also had the opportunity to read, in a guided study, Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Moses in the Patristic Greek of the Late Antique Era. I was quite drawn, at the time, to the academic, intellectual and publishing work that was emerging from St. Vladimir’s Seminary and Press. I used Jaroslav Pelikan’s The Christian Tradition for my comprehensives, and I enjoyed a correspondence with both Jaroslav Pelikan and John Meyendorff when both men were alive.

Reviewing Lazar by Ron Dart

Book Reviews (books available through http://www.new-ostrog.org/synaxis/):

Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, Freedom To Believe: Personhood and Freedom in Orthodox Christian Ontology (Dewdney, B.C.: Synaxis Press, Second Edition, 2007).  

Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, The Impact of Orthodox Christian Thought on Medicine (Dewdney: Synaxis Press, 2006)

Preface:

Archbishop Lazar Puhalo has ventured faithfully and steadfastly, into intellectual and political terrain that few Orthodox theologians in North America have dared enter. The journey into such deep and demanding places has done much to reveal the splendour and motherlode of the Orthodox Tradition.   

Meg Tilly: A Spirituality of Courage and Hope

My Intro to Meg Tilly: Agnes of God

I first experienced Meg Tilly via her Golden Globe winning onscreen portrayal of an enigmatic young nun named Sister Agnes (Agnes of God, 1985). Her mysterious encounters with God trigger investigator Dr. Martha Livingstone (Jane Fonda) into a spiritual crisis which may just lead her back to faith. The providential interface between Agnes’ spirituality and Livingstone’s cynicism impacted me. It mirrored my own internal struggles as a young theology student whose heart and head were plagued by a serious disconnect. 

Novels: 

Twenty years later, it’s happening again. Meg Tilly left the acting trade to pick up the novelist’s pen. I’ve only just discovered her body of work and I’m pleased to say that I have not emerged unscathed. In each of her first three books—Singing Songs, Gemma and Porcupine—we hear the authentic voice and feel the true heart of courageous young girls who reflect some aspect of Tilly’s reality. The stories reveal an acquaintance with grief and fight and hope that are deeper than fiction. They have the capacity to heal.

Winter Readings by Brad Jersak

I'm frequently asked what I've been reading lately and what books might be worth curling up with by the fireplace. As I manage my mental health through the trials of winter drizzle, seven books came to the fore. Some made my heart warm, others made my blood boil, all of them made me think and feel in important ways. The following are my very brief reflections (and aha! moments) on:

Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
The Shack by William Young
The Evangelical Universalist by Gregory MacDonald
God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens
God at War by Gregory Boyd
The God of Intimacy and Action by Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling
Covenant of Peace by Willard Swartley

"What Terrorists Want" by Louise Richardson - Review by C. Kerr

1. Part 1 - The Terrorists

What Terrorists Want introduces the reader to understanding why lives are destroyed due to the weaknesses in government policy regarding terrorism. Richardson includes her personal experience as a child in bringing home the point that governments are weak in fighting terrorism. She covers the historical aspects of terrorism and brings it in context with contemporary issues that Western governments are facing. She then moves on to analyze the threat – ranging from state to individual. As well, she grasps the issue of terrorism, terrorists and the counter-terrorism strategies that Western governments have at present to ensure peace and safety. Richardson has a lot to offer considering her scholarship and expertise in the subject matter.

The Beatitudes: When Mountain Meets Valley by R. Dart

Review of Ron Dart's The Beatitudes: when Mountain Meets Valley, published by Freshwind Press, Abbotsford, B.C., 2005;  91 pages, and $14.99  Review by Barry K. Morris

Ron Dart has written a concisely compelling reflection on the classic beatitudes. This book is very readable, and even a  quick browse yields gleanings that lure a more attentive return read, soon after.

The sub-title focuses the interpretation of Mathew's Gospel's  material. To excerpt one: "Each of the  Beatitudes begins and ends with a peak and positive insight, but there is a valley to be hiked between..." and again: "... each Beatitude begins and ends with a peak promise, but between each peak is a dark and difficult valley through which we must pass"(34,40). Dart shares scholarly sources, hints at lots more ( than what he actually  cites), and writes confessionally as well as polemically. The preface, introduction and two appendices -- "The Christian Prophetic Tradition" and "The Neo-Gnostic Tradition: Three Acts in an Unfolding Drama" -- are worth the price of the book alone! There are creative polemics going on, herein, in the service of a useable past.

Covenant of Peace by W.M. Swartley Book Review by W. Northey

Book Review of Covenant of Peace: The Missing Peace in New Testament Theology and Ethics, Willard M. Swartley, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmanns, 2006; 542 pp.

By Wayne Northey 

It was my good fortune to have spent a little time with Mennonite New Testament theologian Willard Swartley at the June, 2006 Colloquium on Violence and Religion (COV&R) in Ottawa, Canada. I first heard from him about what surely is his magnum opus, the volume under review. Though he has written and edited over 20 books during his fruitful career as professor (now emeritus) of New Testament at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhard, Indiana.

"When Invisible Children Sing" by Dr. Chi Huang

"When Invisible Children Sing" by Dr. Chi Huang
A Response - by Deanna Neustaedter

As I read Dr. Chi's book, When Invisible Children Sing, I was reminded vividly of my experiences in Botswana. When the children reminded Dr. Chi over and over again that all they wanted from him was for him to walk with them, to listen, to be there for them, it was an echo of what the children, youth and adults I've worked with have said to me. In our humanness, we want to fix the problems presented to us: Mercede's emotional damage that led her to cut herself; Gabriel's memories that led him to sniff paint thinner; Rosa's life situation that led her to be born to a family that lived on the streets for three generations.

The Evidence of Things Not Seen - Book Review

BOOK REVIEW:
By Dr. John Mavroides, Emeritus Professor of Physics,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN--ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY AND MODERN PHYSICS by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo (Synaxis Press)

In this very clear and well-referenced book, Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, a hesychastic theologian, uses the historical approach to contrast the theology of the Orthodox Christian Church to that of the Western Christian Churches. In addition to presenting a lucid and accurate exposition, without any phyletic distortions of traditional Orthodox theology, the theology of the Apostles, the Patristic Fathers and the later Church Fathers, as one would expect of a hesychastic monk, this gifted theologian is also comfortable with the rather difficult field of quantum physics.