... for two Ignatius Press book. First, Jean Heimann of Catholic Fire has this to say of MIchael D. O'Brien's brand new novel, Theophilos:

Fr. Dwight Longecker, accomplished author and blogger, has just read and reviewed
God Is No Delusion: A Refutation of Richard Dawkins (Ignatius Press, 2007), written by Thomas Crean, O.P.

As a long-time fan of O’Brien’s work, I found Theophilos to be a rich, contemplative work which delves even deeper into the spiritual realm than his previous works. The language is provocative, poetic, lyrical, and somewhat mystical at times. The author’s words are carefully chosen to clearly convey profound meaning and truth in a simple, but non-didactic way.Read Heimann's entire review. And read my recent interview with O'Brien about the novel, "The Novelist and the Great Story."
The characters are well-developed, vividly portrayed, and very realistic. Although they are from another era, it is easy to relate to both their virtues and their vices.
It is obvious that O’Brien has done an extensive amount of meticulous research in composing this story, making it come alive for the reader. Many of the stories of both the Old and New Testament are revisited and the characters correspond remarkably well to the biblical stories.
In summary, Theopholis is a deeply moving story about the interaction between faith and reason and the triumph of love over death. It is a book that will leave a lasting impression on its readers and open their hearts and souls to the infinite love and mercy of God. It is a must read novel for both believers and non-believers -- I highly recommend it.
Fr. Dwight Longecker, accomplished author and blogger, has just read and reviewed

Fr Thomas Crean O.P. is an English Dominican based in Cambridge, and he responds to Dawkins with a wonderful mixture of erudition, sharp argument, subtle wit and patient charity. All this is combined with the best sort of wry, English understatement and bemused condescension. Having lived in the damp land for twenty five years and got to know this wonderful race, I could just hear the intellectual repartee and see the amusement and concern sparkling across Fr. Crean's face.Read Fr. Longenecker's entire review. You can also read my interview with Fr. Crean—"Professor Dawkins and the Origins of Religion"—and an excerpt from his book, "Professor Dawkins and the Origins of Religion".
Behind the actual debate is the long rivalry between Cambridge and Oxford Universities. Here is a theological and philosophical version of the famous University boat race--with Fr Crean the physically fit and effortless rower while poor old Dawkins is seen to be huffing and puffing to pull the oars to keep up. Eventually Dawkins' boat sinks and the bedraggled don surfaces and stomps from the river to console himself in the boathouse with his drunken friend Hitchens.
<snip>
The rout goes on through Dawkins' sophomoric views on the origins of morality and the origins of religion. The chapter on Dawkins and the Catholic Church is my second favorite. Once again Dawkins astounding ignorance about the Catholic Church is displayed by Fr Crean. The poor Cambridge don is amazed and bewildered by Dawkins utter ignorance not only of the fine points of Catholic belief and behavior, but of the big picture as well. He simply doesn't get it. To quote Terry Eagleton's famous quip, "Reading Dawkins on theology is like reading a book on biology written by someone who has only ever read the Big British Book of Birds."
I'll second Fr. L's review. Fr. Crean's book is one of my favorite purchases over the last two years. He systematically deconstructs Dawkin's views with simple reason and laser-like logic. It is not too much to say that Crean makes Dawkins seem a fool, or at least a very uninformed person regarding the specific subjects covered.
A clumsy analogy:
Picture a giant, noisy, light-filled, cloud-monster (like in LOST but bigger and stable). This thing gets more and more attention and fright from increasing amounts of people. Camera crews and journalists from all over the world come to witness it's fury, as do millions of regular folk.
Across the street from the cloud monster lives this humble man who preaches, reads and studies. He occassionally talks to people about the cloud monster but mostly just goes about his business, not worried about it at all. But then the cloud monster just gets so loud and annoying and people are getting very bothered by it. So this man puts his book down, grabs a high-powered fan and walks across the street.
He puts the fan on 'high' and all the smoke just blows away, revealing several wooden structures with lights and noisemakers strung throughout. In the middle of it all is one regular man. This man is angry at being exposed and flashes the lights and turns up the volume, but the man from across the street just calmly and systematically goes to each wooden structure and pulls out one, two, three pieces as he calmly explains each structure to the watching crowd. As he does so, each structure falls harmlessly to the ground. And as each structure crumbles he calmly walks to the next and the next...
When he's finished he simply walks back across the street, brews some tea and opens a book.
Posted by: scott | Friday, May 07, 2010 at 07:42 PM
And by the way...
As long as we're talking about great and underappreciated Ignatius Press books, if I can convince even one single person to buy The Shadow of His Wings: The True Story of Fr. Gereon Goldmann I will be very, very happy.
What an incredible and powerful true story that is! You won't believe how exciting and inspiring it is. Please check it out(and the Fr Crean one)--you will thank me later and will surely pass the word on to others.
Posted by: scott | Friday, May 07, 2010 at 08:23 PM
God needs more friends (Θεοφιλος) like Michael O'Brien. He has done it again with the help of the Holy Spirit, using a totally different venue and some excellent insights and portrayals into ancient mysteries. If the secular book culture were really interested in talent and skill with a phrase Theophilos would be on the Times Best Seller List. Magnificent!
Posted by: Brian J. Schuettler | Saturday, May 08, 2010 at 08:40 AM
Fr. Crean's book is great to read in tandem with David B. Hart's Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies.
Posted by: Jackson | Saturday, May 08, 2010 at 03:21 PM