A spirited cry for religious unity.
In a world filled with religious war and sectarian strife, Yousef sounds Rodney King’s famous cry: Can’t we all get along?
Where demagogues preach hate and zealots spread the gospel of division, Yousef delivers a message of peace and interreligious harmony. In his new book, he does not deny the variations between the three great Western monotheisms—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Nonetheless, he argues that their similarities should outweigh their differences and that believers of all stripes should come together to begin a new religious revival. The founder of the Islamic Center of Middle Georgia, Yousef writes from a Muslim perspective, but he continually reaches across spiritual divides and finds commonalities. He hopes that his book will spur a return to faith for Christians, Jews and Muslims alike, and he claims that only such a threefold about-face will save us from the numerous, growing evils of the modern world: drugs, divorce, abuse, violence, broken homes and chronic pain. His book draws more frequently on the Quran than on the Bible, but this reliance serves as a strength; it further educates the reader. Using its holiest texts, Yousef paints a portrait of Islam as peaceful, egalitarian and compassionate. Working against critics who smear the religion as violent or sectarian, he describes his faith as advocating social welfare, equality and nonviolence. Islam would benefit from more apologists who could—like Yousef—write to a Western audience. Occasionally, he’s so enthusiastic that one feels he has sacrificed clarity for energy. He could have spent more time developing a logical organizational scheme for his slim volume, and some of his points feel underdeveloped. Nonetheless, these structural deficiencies do not decrease the value of his message; we need more prophets like Yousef to tear down the walls between us.
A spirited cry for religious unity.Pub Date: April 20, 2011
ISBN: 978-1434909350
Page Count: 90
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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