A passionately argued work for Christian readers on an enduring topic of discussion.
DeStefano’s treatise asks why God bestows miracles upon some believers, but not others.
The author, who is Catholic, offers a book that’s primarily directed at fellow Christians with its exploration the concept of miracles. For the author, the existence of miracles, which Jesus performed in the Bible, is a given; in the age of miracles, which DeStefano defines as the period when the early Apostles founded the Christian church, such occurrences were “everyday realities. Healings, raising of the dead, exorcisms, divine interventions, and miraculous signs weren’t the exceptions; they were the rule.” Today, he says, the faithful have troubled hearts and minds, and he addresses their doubts with admirable integrity, as when he recounts the anguish of an unspecified church whose congregation spent weeks praying for a 6-year-old child with a diagnosed terminal illness: “They whipped themselves into a kind of spiritual-emotional frenzy. They were convinced with 100 percent certitude that this little girl was going to be cured.” The child died, leaving the congregation devastated and wondering why the Lord let it happen. To answer readers who, like himself, believe in a just God, DeStefano examines the nature of human desires and free will, arguing that most miracles occur in the course of everyday life, engineered by God’s invisible hand. He also provides accounts of what he characterizes as bona fide modern miracles. Most interestingly, he devotes several chapters to describing what he believes should be a Christian attitude toward miracles, especially in desperate times, as when tragedies occur. The result is a useful primer for religious readers on how to approach miracles and pray for them—believing in God’s omnipotence yet accepting God’s will.
A passionately argued work for Christian readers on an enduring topic of discussion.Pub Date: June 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781644134351
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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
A pleasure for fans of old-school historical narratives.
Avuncular observations on matters historical from the late popularizer of the past.
McCullough made a fine career of storytelling his way through past events and the great men (and occasional woman) of long-ago American history. In that regard, to say nothing of his eschewing modern technology in favor of the typewriter (“I love the way the bell rings every time I swing the carriage lever”), he might be thought of as belonging to a past age himself. In this set of occasional pieces, including various speeches and genial essays on what to read and how to write, he strikes a strong tone as an old-fashioned moralist: “Indifference to history isn’t just ignorant, it’s rude,” he thunders. “It’s a form of ingratitude.” There are some charming reminiscences in here. One concerns cajoling his way into a meeting with Arthur Schlesinger in order to pitch a speech to presidential candidate John F. Kennedy: Where Richard Nixon “has no character and no convictions,” he opined, Kennedy “is appealing to our best instincts.” McCullough allows that it wasn’t the strongest of ideas, but Schlesinger told him to write up a speech anyway, and when it got to Kennedy, “he gave a speech in which there was one paragraph that had once sentence written by me.” Some of McCullough’s appreciations here are of writers who are not much read these days, such as Herman Wouk and Paul Horgan; a long piece concerns a president who’s been largely lost in the shuffle too, Harry Truman, whose decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan McCullough defends. At his best here, McCullough uses history as a way to orient thinking about the present, and with luck to good ends: “I am a short-range pessimist and a long-range optimist. I sincerely believe that we may be on the way to a very different and far better time.”
A pleasure for fans of old-school historical narratives.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781668098998
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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