Last week, two of our contributors made a point of knocking some conventional objects of piety down a peg or two — James Martin, returning to TJP’s pages again, confessed that watching Downton Abbey makes him feel a bit guilty, and Jayme Stayer, in his debut essay, explains why so much religious “poetry,” especially the famous “Footprints in the Sand,” can make us cringe. We’re willing to be pious on occasion (as Eric Sundrup is about none other than Lady Gaga) but we hope you won’t find us conventional as you take a look at our last week:
- Did you know there are Jim Keanes other than our own on the Internet? They’re jerks, apparently — until they reveal “we’re all a little closer to holiness” than we’re ready to acknowledge.
- The All Things Linked team gets at spirituality any number of ways:
- The Examen with twelve year-olds, from Perry Petrich
- Tim O’Brien on the New York Times‘s recent discovery of mindful eating
- And Sam Sawyer going “there and back again” with The Lord of the Rings
- Our bloggers are back in the action, too from Valentine’s Day to voice lessons to the challenge to see our suffering through love.
This coming week we’re going to be gearing up for Lent — in fact, if you look around, you’ll see some of our writers already making plans. Part II of Jayme’s consideration of the possibility of religious poetry is coming up as well. But you don’t have to wait for the next Week in Review if you’re looking for something to read — our essay archives are always open.
