"The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain is distinguished philosopher Ralph McInerny's hymn of praise to the spiritual and intellectual life of the great Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain (1881-1973). The structure of this work is modeled on the medieval book of hours, making use of the daily offices, from Matins through Compline, to examine each stage of life of Maritain and his wife, Raissa. Through this unique blending of biography and meditation,...

"Is the conviction that there is a God the default position of the human mind? This is the suggestion of Vatican II's Gaudium et spes, as well as Cardinal Newman and even St. Thomas Aquinas. But however natural it is for human beings to acknowledge their maker, it seems almost as natural to throw up obstacles between man and God. Characters in Search of Their Author, the Gifford Lectures delivered by Ralph McInerny in Glasgow in 1999-2000, is devoted...