Donaldson's willingness to admit imperfections in his work and the mistakes he’s made in pursuit of his subjects makes him a winning guide to literary biography.

Judas takes hold of Christ, pressing himself on him: arm, beard, lips. A soldier in gleaming armor goes for Christ’s neck. A young man flees: John the Evangelist.

Parish hospitality must begin long before people are parked in their seats. It entails a lot more than ripping open a bag of Oreos and serving coffee.

Paint. Paint the soft lines / of damp cheeks across a canvas. / Paint the deep eyes, the little / hand and the orb. / Splash some color along the curve / of her...

Readers write in about Scott Walker's battle with organized labor, Ronald Reagan, FDR, vomit, extreme unction, and sins—mortal and otherwise.

To hell with postmodern irony. Here are two earnest movies with straight-arrow heroes: "The Martian," with Matt Damon, and "Bridge of Spies," with Tom Hanks.

James Booth examines Philip Larkin’s life and work. Colm Tóibín writes on Elizabeth Bishop. James Wood looks at religious and secular modes of narration in novels.

In prewar Syria,  I found a place of beauty, peace, and coexistence that most Westerners either never knew of or have already forgotten.