How a community inspired by faith can combat crack use, sexual abuse, and other social woes, by the ``Minister of Liberation'' of San Francisco's Glide Memorial Church. In his autobiography, I'm Alive! (1980), Williams described his childhood (highlight: a battle at age ten with ``aliens,'' embodiment of his own alienation) and the early years of Glide, known for its liberal, multiracial, sometimes pop-star congregation. Here, he sketches in the same ground, but now as a foundation for the amazing tale of how Glide has saved hundreds of addicts from extinction. ``The true church,'' he says, ``stays on the edge of life where the real moans and groans are.'' Glide's rescues began with a march by Williams and his ``posse of lovers'' on Valencia Gardens, the worst project in the city. Soon, the minister worked out a ``spirituality of recovery'' that rejects AA's confession of powerlessness in favor of the belief that ``you have power but you are not the ultimate power.'' Add intense community involvement, cultural pride (Williams promotes Afrocentrism heavily), self-reliance, religious storytelling (lots of New Testament material in modern idiom), and job-training, and you have a prescription for salvation. Williams's style can irritate: He loves slogans (``It's not black to smoke crack''), catchy titles (therapy groups have names like ``African Queens Revisited''), recovery-movement clichÇs (we must ``reclaim'' our lives by breaking ``dysfunctional cycles''). He also likes to yak about himself, and dotes on visiting celebrities (Oprah takes a bow). On the other hand, Williams shows real grit in describing the problems of his kids (drug addiction) and wife (incest). And the bottom line is: His method works—as attested to by the many first-person accounts here by recovering addicts. An appealing, if hyped-up, primer for grass-roots social and moral renewal. (Eight pages of b&w photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-06-250967-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1992
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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