A lucid and approachable guide to re-evaluating conventional ideas about Jesus.
A debut book advocates refocusing on Jesus through biblically informed insights.
Smith focuses on John 11:1-12 and John 13 in order to most concisely present his ideas. This selection includes the raising from the dead of Lazarus, the backlash of Jewish leaders, and the anointing of Jesus in Bethany. Smith utilizes these stories to point out that Jesus often surprises people by defying their preconceived notions of God’s motives and actions. His thesis points to the possibility that Christians sometimes limit their understanding of God through these very same preconceptions. “What if the true God of the Bible,” he asks, “is the God we don’t believe in? What if the God of the Bible is much better?” He begins by noting that people often impose their own moral feelings on their understanding of God, which causes them to misunderstand him. “If we were God,” for instance, “we would never let someone have cancer. We would never let a child die.” The stories in the Gospel of John lead people to ponder a savior who does things they would never have expected. For instance, when Jesus is asked to come and heal his good friend Lazarus, he deliberately waits until the man has died. Later, despite being all-knowing and omnipotent, Jesus cries when he witnesses the grief of his friends. And though he is a man of ultimate peace, he knowingly sows discord and in fact acts in ways that will eventually bring about his own arrest and execution. Through Smith’s work, the reader sees a savior who waits to act, puts doubts into the minds of his followers, and causes division among people. Smith’s difficult role is to explain why, despite these realities, the believers of Jesus have reason to follow and to have faith in him. The author does so with plain prose and real-life, daily examples. Readers can expect to find a thoroughly traditional view of Jesus in a work meant to act, above all, as a self-help book for finding deeper faith.
A lucid and approachable guide to re-evaluating conventional ideas about Jesus.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5127-0668-0
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This fictional history of a church records not just the architectural changes it underwent over the years, but the links and connections with both the congregation that built the church and the culture that spawned it. A close collaboration between Otto and Lloyd (the team behind What Color Is Camouflage?, 1996) has resulted in a story told equally through pictures and text; it depicts how central a church was to the growth of community in early pioneer days. The first church was a log cabin constructed of trees felled from the hill where it was built. Meetings, weddings, births, and deaths were marked under that roof; when the church burns down, a sturdier structure replaces it. The landscape and the culture change around the church; eventually men and women share the pews, and the sermon is in English, instead of German. With the coming of electricity, the church is closed down, and only swallows inhabit its rafters. Several decades later, it is renovated and re-opened by loving restorationists who appreciate its history. In a style remniscent of American primitives, Lloyd records important storytelling details such as the pots and baskets used to carry meals to those building the church. By capturing such particulars, from the archaic sound of people’s names to the creeping suburban sprawl, Otto and Lloyd create a record of the larger picture of transformation in the landscape. (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8050-2554-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Longwinded though affecting tribute to resilience and solidarity.
Even a Category 5 hurricane can’t stop a revered coach and his championship high-school football team.
Popular historian Thompson (Driving with the Devil, 2006, etc.) begins in the locker room of New Orleans’ John Curtis Christian School on August 26, 2005. It was the night of the “jamboree” scrimmage that opened the season, and members of the Patriots were hoping to win another state championship for their school. Nationally recognized coach J.T. Curtis, also the school’s headmaster and son of its founder, knew that his hardworking, enthusiastic squad couldn’t compare to last year’s lineup. Many key players had graduated to college ball, and he needed to mentally and physically condition a young, unproven team with efficient, college-level practices consisting of “equal parts Broadway musical and football drills.” The 2005-6 Patriots included an anxious new starting quarterback, a Harvard hopeful, a spiritual heavyweight and a star linebacker whose religion forbade him to play on Friday nights. John Curtis School favored community building and happiness over flashy exteriors, and Coach Curtis reflected those values in his broadminded teaching style and paternal approach to his players’ personal lives. Hurricane Katrina confronted him and his team with the ultimate challenge. Returning to the drowned city, J.T. found the school in miraculously good shape and set out to reunite his squad and get them on the field again. Some players were tempted to join teams in other school districts, and Hurricane Rita tested them once again, but the devoted coach kept on plugging. Thompson deftly profiles a generous selection of players and families torn apart by the disaster and considers the contagious obsession for football shared by participants and fans alike. In a somewhat meandering fashion, he delivers a fully realized interpretative portrait of a coach and a sports organization willing to sacrifice all in the name of football.
Longwinded though affecting tribute to resilience and solidarity.Pub Date: July 31, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4165-4070-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Free Press
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2007
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