Books

Conscience and catastrophe in the Thirty Years’ War

A powerful German novel explores how the fraught relationship between faith and political power sowed the seeds of disaster
Francis Phillips

Agatha Christie and the reality of sin

At the heart of the mystery writer’s anthropology lies the conviction that sin is a cancer to which none of us is wholly immune
Clement Harrold

Perceiving God in creation: the angel-filled world of Francis Thompson

Through poetry shaped by suffering, Francis Thompson urges us to recover the vision of a world still radiant with God’s presence
Joseph Shaw

Contextualising the Great Seige

A review of The Great Siege of Malta by Marcus Bull
HJA Sire

Reason, doubt and grace in Why I Am Not an Atheist

Part memoir and part intellectual history, Christopher Beha explores how honest scepticism can ultimately make belief possible again
Nick Ripatrazone

A windswept classic stripped of heaven and hell

Emily Brontë’s only novel is a drama of sin, suffering and redemption; this latest film adaptation forgets what made it timeless
Georgia L. Gilholy

Why we still read Tolkien

Beyond hobbits and heroic quests, Tolkien’s work is rooted in a sacramental imagination that continues to speak to modern readers
Fr Michael Halsall