Things Seen and Unseen: A Catholic Theologians’s Notebook

For most of his professional life, University of Notre Dame professor Lawrence Cunningham has kept notebooks filled with memories, ideas and reflections on the things that captured his attention in a given day. Now for the first time, Cunningham has selected and compiled notes from his many volumes to create this book. This window into the mind and heart of an exceptional theologian reveals insightful, spirited and often wickedly funny commentary on the messy, comic, tragic and ultimately beautiful realities of the diverse landscape of contemporary Catholicism. Scholarly, popular and personal in equal amounts, Things Seen and Unseen considers the legacy of such spiritual figures as Simone Weil, the interplay between religion and pop culture where Christmas and Easter are concerned, and the always-difficult balance between family and work. Cunningham addresses the difficult issues like the quality of Church leadership and the commercialisation of spirituality, yet inspires the reader with his deep love for and steadfast devotion to the Church. LAWRENCE S CUNNINGHAM is the John A O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is a leading US scholar and award-winning professor, editor of the forthcoming Norton Anthology of World Religions, and has written and edited more than 25 books. He has been the ‘Booknotes’ columnist for Commonweal and is the recipient of three awards by the Catholic Press Association.