A thorough, readable addition to the consistently fecund Jewish-Christian conversation.
An ecumenical look at the Bible.
Biblical scholars Levine and Brettler, editors of The Jewish Annotated New Testament, tackle the worthy yet weighty task of examining the Jewish Scriptures through both Jewish and Christian eyes, seeking to promote further understanding between adherents of both religions. The authors make clear that while both Jews and Christians have similar beliefs regarding what is variously called the Tanakh, the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible, the lenses through which each religion views these Scriptures—as reflecting either the story of Israel or the story of Christ—are quite different. Additionally, the original hearers and readers of these Scriptures viewed the texts through yet a third type of lens. Demonstrating how these three views of Scripture differ from and interact with each other, Levine and Brettler hope “to foster a different future, where Jews and Christians come to understand each other’s positions and beliefs, and at the minimum, respectfully agree to disagree.” To perform this task, the authors present 10 passages or themes from the Tanakh and examine how each has been read in different eras and across various faith traditions. These passages all tie in closely with the Christian understanding of its own faith tradition, yet some may not be as essential to Jewish readers—e.g., the story of Adam and Eve, the priesthood of Melchizedek, the Suffering Servant in Isaiah, the story of Jonah. In each case, the authors provide context for the theme based on other Scriptures and on what scholars know of the language, culture, and events of the time. They go on to explain how the Scripture in question has been viewed by both Christians and Jews and why and how modern believers might be able to find a common ground of understanding and tolerance between these interpretations.
A thorough, readable addition to the consistently fecund Jewish-Christian conversation.Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-256015-5
Page Count: 528
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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