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  • A Better Wine: Essays Celebrating Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.
  • Keith J. Egan
A Better Wine: Essays Celebrating Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. Edited by Kevin Culligan, O.C.D. [Carmelite Studies, 10.] (Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 2007. Pp. xxviii, 353. $13.95. ISBN 978-0-935-21641-7.)

Historians of the future will have much to say about the revival of Christian spirituality in North America that occurred after the Second Vatican Council. A major contribution to that revival has been the publication of Christian spiritual classics, including Carmelite classics by the Institute of Carmelite Studies.

Key to the success of the institute has been the skills of Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. This Festschrift honors Father Kavanaugh on the occasion, in 2005, of the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. Regis Jordan has composed a quite useful bibliography of Kavanaugh’s publications that include his works of translation as well as essays and reviews on Carmelite themes.

In the 1950s, the Spanish Discalced friar Otilio Rodríguez suggested that Kavanaugh translate into English the writings of St. John of the Cross. This suggestion led to a fruitful collaboration between the two Carmelites in translating the texts of Ss. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross into American English, with Kavanaugh providing excellent introductions. In his edition of The [End Page 102] Collected Works of John of the Cross (Washington, DC, 1991), Kavanaugh used more gender-sensitive language—a welcome development.

Kavanaugh followed all this work with the two volumes of The Collected Letters of St. Teresa of Avila (Washington, DC, 2001, 2007). These 466 surviving letters made special demands on the translator, as they are written in a colloquial style. Today, Kavanaugh remains occupied with additional projects, such as study versions of various translations.

The essays in this Festschrift focus on Carmelite themes and are written by Kavanaugh’s colleagues in the institute; also included is the afterword by William Johnston, S.J., “St. John of the Cross and Interreligious Dialogue in Asia.” Daniel Chowning explores with a sure hand the Christology of Teresa. Marc Foley’s essay is an especially insightful study of chapter 14 of book 1 of John of the Cross’s Dark Night. Michael Dodd has translated into English a satire by Jerome Gratian on the theme of melancholy. Historians will benefit from Steven Payne’s exposition of the background and meaning of the declaration of St. Thérèse of Lisieux as a doctor of the Church. Emmanuel Sullivan takes up the role of the Holy Spirit and of Mary in the writings of Thérèse, while John Sullivan offers important data on Edith Stein’s and Jacques Bunel’s experiences in Nazi concentration camps. Denis Read has a lightsome essay on the impact of Carmelite mysticism on Christian thought, especially its influence on Pope John Paul II. Salvatore Sciurba ably translates an essay on the theme of hope in Thérèse’s writings as articulated by Charles Niqueux. The book’s editor, Kevin Culligan, provides a biographical essay on Kavanaugh and a personal account of his own response during fifty years to the Carmelite challenge of the daily practice of meditation.

This Festschrift is a fitting fraternal tribute to a diligent Carmelite friar who has greatly enriched the present and future movement in Christian spirituality and who has put countless students of the Carmelite mystics in his debt.

Keith J. Egan
Saint Mary’s College and the University of Notre Dame
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