The Form of Faith is a hybrid work, part spiritual autobiography and part essay–a style that stands in a long and honorable line going back to Lewis, Newman, and ultimately Augustine. Moreover, this work was created in response to the question that loomed large in the author's mind and with which he still wrestles: how does one live a Christian witness in the twenty-first century that is not culturally hijacked by political identification and can speak to the millennial generation?
The Virgin Mary has appeared to thousands and performed miracles from the early fifth century until now. Millions around the world are devoted to her. But have we wrapped so much elevating imagery around her that we've lost the real woman who gave birth to Our Lord? Was Mary of Nazareth a pain-free, perpetual virgin, a spiritual superwoman, even something of a goddess, floating calmly above the storms of her life? Or was she a woman who experienced the agony of childbirth, the dirt and...