A search for meaning in a rapidly changing, often frightening, world that mostly preaches to the choir.
Welekwe, a technology consultant and evangelist, looks to the biblical past to understand our future.
As he has watched flurries of technological innovations and trends toward interconnection change our world, the author has identified positive developments, but he is also alarmed by much of what he sees. He notes how a sense of impending doom seems to hang over contemporary civilization—but as a Christian, Welekwe believes that everything happens according to God’s plan. In his introduction, the author explains that his book is a response to the works Sapiens and Homo Deus by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari. Like that author, Welekwe moves from the deep past to the present to trace how we got here and predict where we’re going. But where Harari relies upon science to draw his conclusions, Welekwe depends on his faith. This is not to say that he ignores science; indeed, he writes a great deal about science in this book. Rather, the author believes that science and religion “address different sorts of questions”—a perspective common among intelligent design advocates and others who seek to reconcile these two very different approaches to unraveling the secrets of the universe. For Welekwe, the Bible is the ultimate authority. His attempts to construct rational explanations supporting the literal truth of the Bible are unlikely to convince nonbelievers—for example, he argues that the text of Genesis must be true, because no human was present at the moment of creation, so the biblical account of creation must be the product of direct communication with God. That’s quite a leap in logic, but the author’s feelings of awe and gratitude may well resonate with people who share his religious beliefs, and this book may offer them a much-needed message of hope. These readers will likely also appreciate his many biblical citations and his clear, inviting style.
A search for meaning in a rapidly changing, often frightening, world that mostly preaches to the choir.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2023
ISBN: 978-9787987988
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Forerunner Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2023
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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