Columnist and academic Fr Joe Borg has published a collection of 73 short essays analysing Maltese society.
'The Pilates of the Mediterranean. Reflections on God, politics, the media and society' is an analysis of contemporary society.
The book is based on a selection of commentaries chosen from the hundreds of commentaries that the author published in The Sunday Times and timesofmalta.com over the years. Fr Borg chose the best and most relevant to today’s situation in Malta. He re-wrote a number of them to reflect developments.
The title of the book is adopted from the title of a commentary he wrote in The Sunday Times of Malta last month.
“Pilate is one of the characters of the Passion narrative that I dislike a lot. He is worse than Judas and the Pharisees. Had he done what was expected of him the malicious work of Judas and the rest of the Jewish leaders would have come to nought,” Fr Borg said.
He added that several people heading a number of state institutions together with many in civil society, the Church, industry and the rest of Maltese society prefer to wash their hands, Pilate-style, than carry out their duty come what may.
“My parents,” said Fr Borg “taught me that one should never shirk his duty. Silence is not an option. That's why I write in newspapers.”
The book proposes a vision for local politics based on the concept of Malta as our common home. It discusses the rise of cynicism, post-truth politics and, most of all, the tsunami of corruption under which public administration is floundering.
Fr Borg expounds on the politically and socially explosive potential of the Christian concept of God and of the most important celebrations in Christianity, mainly Christmas, Lent and Easter.
Fr Borg studies the media sector in a holistic way and outlines how it is radically changing the way we live and re-structure society. In another section, Fr Borg writes an appraisal of 13 different persons ranging from popes to priests and politicians.
'The Pilates of the Mediterranean. Reflections on God, politics, the media and society' is published by Midsea Books and printed at Progress Press.