An intelligent, impassioned plea for religious objectivity.
Blakeson’s debut memoir relates his lifelong quest for spirituality and seeks to open up a line of communication between those who are religious and those who aren’t.
The author grew up in Kansas, in the “buckle” of the Bible Belt. Raised in a conservative Baptist family, he was teased in school and felt out of place, so he ensconced himself in the church community, the first place that he truly knew love. After some time—and the onslaught of hormones—he experienced a “growing dissonance” between his preaching and his heart. In college, he studied world religions and came to discover the importance of objectivity, which he used to view religion in all its variations. He grew to believe that no one faith holds the answer to the meaning of life or the keys to morality. By abandoning the faith that formed him, he was free to “unlearn” his indoctrination and find inner peace without the “false advertisements” of polarizing and subjective beliefs. He also realized the depression he battled all his life was the product of his search for God. The second half of Blakeson’s book deals with the lessons he learned on his roller-coaster ride and how others may break the “religious cycle” to begin their true spiritual lives. Although the author’s critiques of conservative and fundamental Christianity are the most persuasive, he also adeptly explores what he sees as the shortcomings of other world religions, observing how good Muslims he knows contradict the Quran’s more troubling passages. He also writes about the difficulty he’s had speaking honestly about conflicts in the Middle East without being “unjustly vilified as anti-Semitic.” The author can be humorous at times, such as when young Cole asks God to watch over the United States on election night in 2004. God’s reply? “No.” The next day, he found out that George W. Bush was re-elected.
An intelligent, impassioned plea for religious objectivity.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-1458207968
Page Count: 202
Publisher: AbbottPress
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2013
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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