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HIDDEN AND INACCESSIBLE KNOWLEDGE

Name: HIDDEN AND INACCESSIBLE KNOWLEDGE
Author: Celly Luyinduladio
ISBN: 978-1-4415-4183-3

: GOD THE MYSTIC, UNDERSTANDING AND NOT UNDERSTANDING GOD

by Celly Luyinduladio ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 2009

Hidden and inaccessible indeed.

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A well-intentioned but meandering discussion of God’s sublimity that frequently sinks into invective on the evils of organized religion.

Luyinduladio’s central claims about enlightened religious inquiry are admirable–they should be articulated and written about more often. The author argues that we should access our religious urges through our rational capacities. He further suggests that God is too great to be confined by any one religious tradition or sacred text–or even, really, by language. This is where the movement religious scholars call negative theology begins–with the suggestion that any God we can imagine would necessarily be too sublime, too inexplicable to be conceived. (God is in some ways the â€œhidden and inaccessible knowledge” of Luyinduladio’s title.) However, even the great negative theologians were ultimately stymied in their efforts to explain religious experience on their own terms. Meister Eckhart lapsed into mysticism, and Saint John of the Cross into gorgeous but obscure poetry. Luyinduladio has similar problems, but without the genius of an Eckhart or John of the Cross, he falls too often into wandering rants. Some are expected–the author abhors bigotry, religiously motivated violence, sectarian arrogance and the ignorance of the zealot. Others, however, come straight from left field. He castigates the second Bush administration for sending the United States to war in Iraq on false evidence–and Colin Powell for abetting. Luyinduladio goes on about the evils of slavery and applauds the archbishop of Canterbury for discussing the possibility of reparations. These are valid complaints but seem hugely out of place in a tract on God and spirituality. Further, too many of the author’s central insights come straight from the religious imagination of one of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine. In fact, so fond is the author of Paine that he repeatedly quotes him at long length–once for a laughable 22-page stretch. Readers may wonder if they should go straight to Paine instead.

Hidden and inaccessible indeed.

Pub Date: June 15, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-4415-4183-3

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION

ROSE BOOK OF BIBLE CHARTS, MAPS AND TIME LINES

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ROSE BOOK OF BIBLE CHARTS, MAPS AND TIME LINES

by Timothy Paul Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2005

Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.

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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 â€œHow 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

Categories:

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION

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THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS

AND OTHER ESSAYS

by Albert Camus ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 1955

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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.