Christopher Tin; Stephen Michael Newby; Mary Townsend; Maureen Swinger; Joseph Julián González; Phil Christman; Eugene Vodolazkin; Esther Maria Magnis; Ben Crosby; Nathan Schram; Brittany Petruzzi; Norann Voll
Communal music has the power to shape a soul and a society.In many places today, a culture of singing and making music remains robust, despite pressure from the commercial music industry. Or it was until the Covid pandemic hit and we glimpsed what a world without communal music-making could be like. According to Plato, virtuous music is vital for building a virtuous community. Jewish and Christian traditions take this insight even further: good communal music shapes and builds up the people of God. So how can we choose good music and avoid the bad? The sheer ubiquity of music available for consumption – its presence as a near-constant soundtrack to our daily lives – poses a hazard. Digital music on tap is a temptation to chronic distraction of the soul, to a habit of superficiality and non-attention. Fortunately, the remedy is straightforward: spend less time consuming prepackaged tunes and more time making music. This will be doubly rewarding if done with others – singing with one’s family, singing in church, playing in a string quartet, starting a regular jam session. If personal media players tend to cut us off from the physical presence of others, sharing in good music together breaks the spell of isolation and disembodiment. It builds friendship and community.On this theme:- Maureen Swinger’s amateur choir sings Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion.- Stephen Michael Newby says Black spirituals aren’t just for Black people. - Mary Townsend finds Dolly Parton magnificent, but would Aristotle? - Phil Christman finds catharsis in the YouTube comments of eighties songs. - Ben Crosby says congregational singing should be unabashedly weird to visitors.- Joseph Julián González draws on ancient Nahua poets in his music.- Christopher Tin explains why he weaves so many historical influences into his music. - Seven musicians talk about making your own music in schools, churches, prisons, backyards, or children’s bedrooms: Nathan Schram, Esther Keiderling, Norann Voll, Chaka Watch Ngwenya, Eileen Maendel, Adora Wong, and Brittany Petruzzi.Also in the issue: Exclusive excerpts from forthcoming books by Eugene Vodolazkin and Esther Maria Magnis- Thoughts on music from Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, Hildegard of Bingen, Martin Luther, and Eberhard Arnold- Catholics and Anabaptists unite to commemorate the Radical Reformation- New poems by Jacqueline Saphra- A profile of Argentinian singer Mercedes Sosa.- Reviews of Kate Clifford Larson’s Walk with Me, Rowan Williams’s Shakeshafte, and Sam Quinones’s The Least of UsPlough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to apply their faith to the challenges we face. Each issue includes in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art.
'Nabokov can move you to laughter in the way that masters can - to laughter that is near to tears' GuardianLev Ganin is a young officer sharing a boarding house in Berlin with a host of Russian émigrés. Alone in his room, he dreams of his first love, Mary. Awash with memories of youth and idyllic scenes of pre-Revolution Russia, Ganin becomes convinced that Mary is in fact the wife of a fellow-boarder, due to arrive at this very house soon. He longs for her arrival, when he can whisk her away and leave everything behind ...
A fascinating and intimate novel of the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, narrated by the First Lady herself Mary Todd Lincoln is one of history s most misunderstood and enigmatic women. She was a political strategist, a supporter of emancipation, and a mother who survived the loss of three children and the assassination of her beloved husband. She also ran her family into debt, held seances in the White House, and was committed to an insane asylum which is where Janis Cooke Newman s debut novel begins. From her room in Bellevue Place, Mary chronicles her tempestuous childhood in a slaveholding Southern family and takes readers through the years after her husband s death, revealing the ebbs and flows of her passion and depression, her poverty and ridicule, and her ultimate redemption."
A gripping tale of youth, first love, and nostalgia. - Written in 1925, Mary is Nabokov's first novel. Like his other early masterpieces, it bears witness to Nabokov's sensual mastery of language. "In MARY we see him evoking the first of what became an increasingly brilliant series of worlds." - Newsweek In a Berlin rooming house filled with an assortment of seriocomic Russian migr s, Lev Ganin, a vigorous young officer poised between his past and his future, relives his first love affair. His memories of Mary are suffused with the freshness of youth and the idyllic ambience of pre-revolutionary Russia. In stark contrast is the decidedly unappealing boarder living in the room next to Ganin's, who, he discovers, is Mary's husband, temporarily separated from her by the Revolution but expecting her imminent arrival from Russia.
In recent years Mary has stepped out of the closet of piety and devotion and become the subject of serious theological study and work. For too long Mary was an icon for the repression of women by a male dominated Church, but now Mary is seen as a vital theological symbol, a symbol of true femininity and true humanity for the Church and the modern world. Jung has argued that the Definition of the Doctrine of the Assumption was the most important religious event since the Reformation: the feminine principle has been absorbed into the Godhead. Yet amongst some modern Catholics, as well as most Protestant Christians, the Virgin Mary is still seen as someone who has a very small part to play in the drama of salvation and creation. In Mary, Sarah Jane Boss seeks to correct this view. She argues that Christian theology should conceive of the created order, both physical and spiritual, as sacred in the highest degree, and that this understanding is already implicit in traditions of Marian doctrine and devotion. Far from being peripheral this understanding of Mary is central to Christian doctrine. It must underlie any attempt to answer the fundamental ethical questions of our age, namely that of the extent to which human beings are entitled to intervene in the natural order.
Sometimes, overcoming the past can be as challenging as surviving the present.Mary Crawford, vivacious, beautiful, and adored by many gentlemen, has a secret. Her confidence is a fa ade, and while she may welcome one and all, she trusts few.Gabriel Durward, an enterprising and wealthy tradesman, prizes integrity. Known for his shrewd business dealings, he is one gentleman that few would dare to cross.Mary has never met a gentleman quite like Gabe. He seems impervious to her usual ploys, never prevaricates or flaunts himself as so many others have, and even though he knows her faults, he still chooses her without any need to be persuaded to do so. It is enough for Mary to begin to open her heart.However, not everyone appreciates Gabe's character as much as Mary does, and some of those individuals will go to great lengths to see him destroyed. When nefarious plans are put into action, Mary's fledgling trust will be tested, and fear will raise its ugly head, tempting her to retreat. Will Gabe be able to survive the onslaught and finally prove to Mary that she can trust him to protect her heart with his very life?Mary: To Protect Her Heart is the third episode in Leenie Brown's Other Pens, Mansfield Park series of books. If you like well-written stories of sweet transformation with swoon-worthy, gallant heroes and strong yet vulnerable heroines, then you will enjoy this story about overcoming the past and learning to trust.So, put the kettle on, grab your copy of Mary: To Protect Her Heart, and let Gabe and Mary's story guide you through rough seas into the welcoming safe haven of deep, enduring love.
