Fruitful if sometimes exasperating: worthy of shelf space next to Jack Miles’s God and Sigmund Freud’s Moses and Monotheism.
A wide-ranging biography of the patriarch and prophet who sallied forth from Mesopotamia swinging an iconoclastic hammer and earning himself a hallowed place in three world religions.
Biblical scholars have puzzled over Abram/Abraham for generations, debating whether he really wandered thousands of miles to preach a vision of the one true God and if he nearly sacrificed his son Isaac or actually did sacrifice the boy. (“A thread of tradition hints that the Binding of Isaac, contrary to what the Bible seems to say, did not end happily,” observes the author.) Former National Review editor Klinghoffer (The Lord Will Gather Me In, not reviewed) does a good job of sorting out the many, often conflicting interpretations. He assumes, with due qualification, that Abraham was a real person, born near Baghdad some 38 centuries ago, not long before Nimrod decreed that a ziggurat be built to storm the heavens and make war on God. Though he protests that he is not a fundamentalist, Klinghoffer seems to accept that the key events in Abraham’s life went pretty much as the Old Testament would have it. The author’s view of the prophet is appropriately awestruck, though he accords Abraham a full measure of humanity and mortal failings, all complicated by “a somewhat difficult wife” and a rather testy, unforgiving nature. Klinghoffer assumes that monotheism is a true and good thing in itself, venturing to suggest that believers in God writ large are ipso facto more moral than animists or polytheists. He also assumes, and here his argument grows a bit fuzzy, that “the household of Abraham” offers the one paradigm that can get Jews, Christians, and Muslims to stop killing one another in the name of God—a bit of wishful thinking that Bruce Feiler’s tougher-minded Abraham (2002) eschews.
Fruitful if sometimes exasperating: worthy of shelf space next to Jack Miles’s God and Sigmund Freud’s Moses and Monotheism.Pub Date: March 18, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-49973-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
