|
|
 |
Culture Corner
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Seattle Times , Culture Corner >>
Culture Corner
Faith-focused media picks
BOOKS
"The Sacred Art of Fasting" Thomas Ryan (Skylight Paths Publishing, 171 pages, $15.99)
The author, a Paulist priest, noticed that virtually every major religion observes the practice of fasting, but he never saw a resource on fasting that blended its physical and spiritual dimensions. With this book, he aims to fill the gap.
The book opens with the author's experience of fasting first as a rule religiously observed in his Catholic childhood, and later as an option largely ignored after Vatican II.
Ensuing chapters describe practices of fasting in other faith traditions: Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Latter-day Saints.
Fasting, Father Ryan concludes, "is a wellspring for the spiritually dry, a compass for the spiritually lost and inner nourishment for the spiritual ly hungry."
The author succeeds in whetting the appetite for this spiritual practice.
MUSIC
"Sacred Bridges"
The King's Singers, Sarband (World Village Records)
Jews, Christians and Muslims have a long and bloody history of war and persecution. But one thing the three religions share is the Psalms, those poetic celebrations of divine power and goodness, prayers for strength and calls for godly vengeance.
Here the male vocal sextet The King's Singers teams up with Sarband, a vocal and in strumental quintet that specializes in Middle Eastern music, in a fascinating me lange of European and Islam ic musical treatments of the Psalms.
Genevan Psalter hymn tunes from the 16th century are heard in original versions and in decidedly "Eastern" arrangements by the Polish-born Islam convert All Ufki (1610-1675), with slith ery wind and string instruments and hollow-sounding drums. The music alternates
between forthright and fragrantly evocative, and the performances are polished and beautifully recorded.
Seattle Times wire services 11/05/05
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
