Books, Arts & Manners: Poetry Reading at Greeley’s Pub

Religion as Poetry, by Andrew Greeley (Transaction, 253 pp., $32.95)

FATHER ANDREW Greeley is a singular figure, the intellectual equivalent of an eccentric Irish bartender who serves up odd spirits—one part illuminating, another exasperating. Besides the novels, which intend to titillate as much as to assure us that Providence lies behind the declensions and conjugations of lust, Father Greeley has produced a serious body of work on the sociology of religion. You can count on him to take to task the foolishness of prelates, professors, and pundits, liberal or conservative. But there the predictability ends. By turns commonsensical and perverse, when he’s good he’s a helpful gadfly, but when he’s bad he’s—well, still a man of the cloth.

RR

About the Author

Robert Royal

Robert Royal is editor in chief of The Catholic Thing and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is A Deeper Vision: The Catholic Intellectual Tradition in the Twentieth Century.

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Religion as Poetry, by Andrew Greeley (Transaction, 253 pp., $32.95)

FATHER ANDREW Greeley is a singular figure, the intellectual equivalent of an eccentric Irish bartender who serves up odd spirits—one part illuminating, another exasperating. Besides the novels, which intend to titillate as much as to assure us that Providence lies behind the declensions and conjugations of lust, Father Greeley has produced a serious body of work on the sociology of religion. You can count on him to take to task the foolishness of prelates, professors, and pundits, liberal or conservative. But there the predictability ends. By turns commonsensical and perverse, when he’s good he’s a helpful gadfly, but when he’s bad he’s—well, still a man of the cloth.

RR

About the Author

Robert Royal

Robert Royal is editor in chief of The Catholic Thing and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is A Deeper Vision: The Catholic Intellectual Tradition in the Twentieth Century.