Carol Zaleski

No Ordinary Angel: Celestial Spirits and Christian Claims about Jesus by susan r. garrett yale university press, 333 pages, $30 When Gregory the Great arrived in heaven, according to Dante, he saw the seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, and angels . . . . Continue Reading »

On October 19, 2003, Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) will be beatified in Rome. During the three-and-a-half-year investigation into her cause, no less thorough for having been hastened by the waiver of the customary five-year waiting period, every nook and cranny of her life was studied for . . . . Continue Reading »

Reviewed by Carol Zaleski This is a brilliant treatment of the history of Purgatory in England and its survivals and echoes throughout Shakespeare’s plays, above all Hamlet . The Hamlet who is in Purgatory is Hamlet Senior the ghost, not Hamlet Junior the prince; but the Purgatory that is in . . . . Continue Reading »

In 1904, less than six years before his death, William James made a revealing statement in response to a questionnaire circulated by his former student James Pratt. To the question, “Do you believe in personal immortality?” James answered, “Never keenly, but more strongly as I grow older.” . . . . Continue Reading »