Things Seen and Unseen: A Catholic Theologian's Notebook »

For most of his professional life, University of Notre Dame professor Lawrence Cunningham has kept notebooks filled with memories, ideas, and reflections on the things that captured his attention in a given day. Now, for the first time, Cunningham has selected and compiled notes from his many volumes to create this book. This window into the mind and heart of an exceptional theologian reveals insightful, spirited, and often wickedly funny commentary on the messy, comic, tragic, and ultimately beautiful realities of the diverse landscape of contemporary Catholicism. Scholarly, popular, and personal in equal amounts, "Things Seen and Unseen" considers the legacy of such spiritual figures as Simone Weil, the interplay between religion and pop culture where Christmas and Easter are concerned, and the always-difficult balance between family and work. Cunningham also addresses difficult issues like the quality of Church leadership, the commercialization of spirituality, and the sad contrast between the ideal of Christian charity and the pettiness that can pervade everyday church life. In all things, Cunningham inspires readers with his deep love for and steadfast devotion to the Church.

Publishers Weekly

Gleaned from a 20-year-old collection of notebooks containing his reflections, this latest work by Cunningham, a University of Notre Dame theology professor, is filled with short and provocative , if disconnected, tidbits, jottings, thoughts, and opinions. Cunningham's short takes on subjects spanning prayer, atheism, the disappearing independent bookstore, and a scholar's life are written in true notebook style; he sets down an idea and works out his thoughts. He is at his best when he takes an uncommon view, such as saying he is less bothered by "spasms of anti-Catholicism" in the culture than he would be if there were a total lack of interest in his faith. "It would be a sign of irrelevancy," he writes. In opening his private musings to public view, however, Cunningham has left intact an occasional but unfortunate condescending tone that seems out of character for someone who presumably supports a diversity of ideas. For instance, he expresses his distaste for the Catholic Tridentine Mass in a way that is less than respectful of those who prefer this worship form. His references to some of the new Catholic colleges and his treatment of TV reporters are similarly dismissive. Nonetheless, readers cannot help finding his writing thought provoking. (Oct.)