This is an excellent, pastoral and sensitive work that has given much hope to people searching for a solution to their individual marriage cases. Father Catoir is known for his sensitivity and gentleness and it is very evident in this book. Yet, it is also done in a professional, canonical and informed manner.

I have given this book to many people in my parish who are in situations in which they were turned down by the local Tribunal and felt that since they have remarried, their life in the Church was "over."

This book has brought them much hope, relief and guidance.

I highly recommend this to any Catholic who works with people who are divorced and either have or have not approached the Tribunal with their cases.

As a former advocate procurator for a Tribunal, I longed for a concise pastoral guide for the divorced and remarried Catholic, particularly with regards to the reception of the Eucharist. This is that book. Clearly and simply written, it gives a pastoral approach to the problem of reception of the Eucharist by the remarried Catholic. Following the advice will not be easy, particularly for those who feel their individual conscience must bow to external forums. Yet it relies upon Canon Law and the 1994-97 Catholic Catechism to bring hope and joy to the remarried. Unlike the vicious diatribes of Vasoli and Kennedy who seek to wreck demonical vengance upon their nullity seeking spouses, this guide uses the examples of the Samaritan woman and the Chicago "marriage in possession" practices to guide the "internal forum" solution. Thus, in good conscience, a divorced and remarried Catholic can receive Communion, be a Lector and Eucharistic Minister, even when the Tribunal has said that the evidence for the "external forum" is insufficient. A must read for remarried Catholics, their pastors, and their bishops. AMDG

Forget every other book about annulments that is on the market. This is the only one you should bother reading. All the others are marred by pushing an agenda of one sort or another. Peters's is the only one that cuts through the agendas and gives a balanced, informative survey of the Church's actual law.

Skip the "angry litigant writes angry book" volumes by Kennedy and Vassoli; go for the one that tells you what the Church's law is, in a balanced, neutral, (non-hysterical) style. Whether you're seeking an annulment or seeking to avoid one, this is the work that gives you the straight, unvarnished story.

This book is a user-friendly one. The question and answer format is used to its highest possiblity. It deals with all of those questions we never bothered to ask our high school religion nun or college theologian, and now wish we had. As both a civil and a canon lawyer dealing in divorce and annulments, I cannot think of one question not asked asked and answered here. The index makes it even easier to navigate the concepts explored. The result is a book that explains the concepts but also tells you how to deal practically with them in the context of the Church's laws and canons. This book takes the whole package of married life and puts it into Catholic perspective. This start to finish result, especially starting at the time of the marriage, is the crux of what so many do not understand about the Catholic Church and marriage. Foster's approach is totally successful just because of its simplicity. The book should be read by those thinking of marriage and not just those far down the road. It's assistance to both is what makes this book so important.

This slim volume documents and explains the first 24 official interpretations (answers) given by the Vatican to questions which have arisen under the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Wrenn is a nationally respected canon lawyer who makes sense of the cumbersome process by which canonical interpretation issues are resolved. A copy of the 1983 Code of Canon Law is necessary in order to make reasonable use of this book.

My background for this is meager, just a keen interest in the inter-testamental era. (200 BCE to 200 AD) And some careful reading of the excelent books by Golb and Wise.

However, one doesn't need to be a Biblical scholar to enjoy the divers points of view represented here.

My favorite sections were those concerning the copper scroll, which told of the locations of other caches.

Let's evaluate this scroll with a recent article in US News & World Report (July 9, 2001, page 44: "Gone, but not forgotten") In that article it was reported how a Jewish photographer in Poland in October 1942, stashed 400 photographs in numerous different locations.

After the war he returned and found them all. This is remarkable, and leads us to the question as to how many Dead Sea Scrolls remain to be found?

One of the authors notes that in the perios of the Roman conquest (66 AD to 70 AD) the temple at Jerusalem was under the influence of a sect called "Pharisees". (See Mathew and Acts for comparable discussion) Since this group was of an "oral history" bent, as compared with Saducees, who were more inclined to write, it is probable that scribes, not priests were the carriers (buryers) of the thousands of leather scrolls.

This is a great book. A page turner. If you get just one on this topic, buy this one.

Oh, is it possible that more scrolls will be found under the tallis (rubble) at Masada?

Bernie Lumbert Phoenix, AZ

If you are interested in getting a commentary that is the result of a lot of top level scholarly work, but don't want alot of the way advanced technical terminology, this is a good book for you. Don't get me wrong, nothing is watered down or made simple. It is still very scholarly and detailed, but it is understandable. The whole Tyndale series is an excellent buy.

For those familiar with Alter's other works on Biblical literature this will be a joy. It focuses on how three great modern writers use the Bible to create their own art. Although the three writers, Kafka, Bialik and Joyce use the Bible differently than traditional writers - they treat the Bible with the utmost respect. Alters shows how the great moderns appreciate the wonders of the Bible and use it to enhance their art. Canon and Creativity will help you understand the artistic process of the moderns and the ancients. This is a book that the writer clearly enjoyed writing - and the intelligent reader will enjoy reading.

McDonald and Sanders have done an excellent job of convoking the best and brightest to discuss issues around the formation and understanding of the biblical canon.(Their use of the word "debate" for the title may be a bit of an overstatement considering the respectful collegiality of the participants.) Every contributor is a highly credentialed major player in the field. The editors express disappointment that Bruce Metzger, Roger Beckwith, Earle Ellis, Brevard Childs, and Gerald Sheppard were unable for various reasons to contribute articles. While their thoughts would have been interesting, the 31 Jewish and Christian scholars who did contribute are not to be considered second string (many of whom quote and reference the five absent giants anyway).

My enthusiasm for the thought contained in this 662-page book is based on having read the introduction and five randomly selected articles: "The Notion and Definition of Canon" (Eugene Ulrich), "Jamnia Revisited" (Jack P. Lewis), "The Old Testament Apocrypha in the Early Church and Today" (David J. Harrington, S.J.), "The Codex and Canon Consciousness" (Robert A. Kraft), and "The Problem of Pseudonymity in Biblical Literature and Its Implication" (Kent D. Clarke). As far as I can tell, these are new papers, not reworkings of existing materials. Harrington's thoughts on the Apocrypha, for instance, go far beyond anything he expressed on this subject in his own excellent book, INTVITATION TO THE APOCRYPHA (1999). Clarke's article on Pseudonymity answered a lot of questions I've had about this issue and I felt it did a good job of showing how a person's assumptions about a biblical book's pseudonymity (whether the practice is honorable, innocent, and licit or dishonorable, deceptive, and illicit) affects how a person is likely to judge that book's status within the canon. So far I've been impressed with everything I read. I look forward to savoring the remaining 26 articles.

Editor McDonald provided four interesting appendices and the bibliography is worth the cost of the book (they seem to identify English translations of scholarly works created in other languages when possible, though I noticed they did not do so with Trobisch's FIRST EDITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, Oxford, 2000; otherwise, the bibliography seems to be quite current).

If you're at all curious about how the Bible came to be and why different religious traditions have different Bibles, THE CANON DEBATE will give you lots to mull over. Accessible, but challenging.

Canon EOS 650/620 User's Guide

This book is a handy guide for both the seasoned photographer as well as amateurs. The jargon stays simple and the easy to follow instructions are a pleasant surprise. The EOS IX is a complex, ground-breaking SLR APS camera with many features that you may not take advantage of without this guide. I strongly recommend it.