On a remote mission station a monk buries the heart of his Superior beneath the great iron cross overlooking the no-man’s-land between the colonies of Natal and the Cape. He then begins to write his own account of his dead leader and friend Abbott Franz Pfanner, charismatic leader of the Trappists in South Africa and much mythologised founder of Mariannhill monastery and its chain of missions. Under Pfanner, Mariannhill became one of the largest abbeys in the world, but only at a terrible price. The narrator of this extraordinary tale is witness to a story that ranges from Austria to Bosnia, Natal to East Griqualand. Aptly named after Joseph of Cupertino, the Holy Fool and Gaper, his attempt at proclaiming the sins of others and confessing his own draws the reader into a vivid sense both of the silent life of the Trappists and the storm that breaks as Mariannhill drifts into the world of words. Here faith, contemplation and grace become intimately intermingled with demonic possession, madness, even murder.

"The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives--even the Emperor himself--against Imperial orders. But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier. On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe starts down a path that can only end in fire"--Publisher marketing.

The old maxim is true: sometimes it is not just what you say, it is how you say it. One of the great problems in the Christian community today is a general inability to communicate effectively without polarizing or driving people away. Sometimes the greatest problem is the seeming inability of many Christians to learn the truth of another old maxim: silence is golden. For God's Sake, Shut Up!, by Communications Specialist Brian Kaylor, offers numerous insights for Christian leaders and followers who desire to share their beliefs in more meaningful and effective ways.For God's Sake, Shut Up! offers numerous insights for Christian leaders and followers who desire to share their beliefs in more meaningful and effective ways.

Internationally renowned artist Makoto Fujimura reflects on Shusaku Endo's novel Silence and grapples with the nature of art, pain and culture. Showing that light is yet present in darkness, he uncovers deep layers of meaning in Japanese history and finds connections to how faith is lived in contexts of trauma.

Unfortunately, today the ascetical part of our spiritual life does not have many admirers, still less, followers. Many would like to reach the peak of perfection in a very short time, without any mortification or self-denial. To them it seems that love is all that is needed because it is the bond of perfection. What they say is correct but incomplete — they do not fully understand how many sacrifices are demanded by Christian love. We cannot really love God and our brothers if we do not die to ourselves. In order to love perfectly God and our neighbor, we must practically give up many things and accept many sacrifices. Love asks for courageous and generous sacrifices! “Love must hurt us,” said Mother Teresa of Calcutta. — from the Concluding Conference

Izydora Dąmbska (1904-1982) was a Polish philosopher; a student of Kazimierz Twardowski, and his last assistant. The present volume includes twenty eight translations of her representative papers.