A vibrant, if sometimes troubling, scriptural interpretation of mankind’s beginnings.
A short explication on Christian themes that uses a verse from the Book of Revelation as a springboard.
In the King James Version of the Bible, Revelation 12:11 says: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Debut author Foster uses this verse as “the Rosetta stone for unraveling the truths found only in the Word of God.” He expounds on a wide range of thought-provoking issues, from the ultimate beginnings of the human soul (“Heaven is a real and physical universe,” he writes, “and we have all been there; it is our point of origin”) to what he sees as the biblical foreshadowing of such events as the Big Bang, to the nature of matter and antimatter. “There seems to be no end of correlating Scripture with the sciences of today,” he writes, as he does just that. He extends his prophecy-based musings from science to cultural history, asserting that Great Britain and the United States once shared a land mass known as Pangaea, and that through this inheritance, America became “the country of Jesus Christ” and, more problematically, the British Empire “fits Jesus’ description of the nation to receive the kingdom of God.” “In [the Gospel of] Matthew the kingdom of God was taken from the Jew and given to the British Empire,” Foster asserts, even though nothing even remotely like this occurs in that text. Likewise, when he flatly states that the United States was “founded on the Ten Commandments of God in the city of Philadelphia as a Christian nation,” readers familiar with the First Amendment may raise an eyebrow. That said, the passionate personal conviction of these meditations is undeniable; when the author says that the magnitude of these revelations stunned him, readers will readily believe it. However, their final form here might have benefited from deeper explanation.
A vibrant, if sometimes troubling, scriptural interpretation of mankind’s beginnings.Pub Date: June 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-1499235876
Page Count: 58
Publisher: The Emerald Rainbow
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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