by Charles Determan Sr. ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 2018
A compact guide deftly emphasizes the supportive closeness of God in Christian life.
An addiction, recovery, and spiritual renewal manual focuses on Christianity.
“How is it that there is such a huge gap between having religious notions and living a religious life?” asks Determan (Finding Our Way Back, 2018) in his short, dynamic study of the role Christianity can play in the lives of recovering addicts and the everyday faithful. The author points out the prevalence of “privatized spirituality” in an era when increasing percentages of people describe themselves as “none” when polled about their religious affiliations. And he mentions the widespread idea among Christians that God is an august concept located far on the peripheries of their lives instead of right at the “nuts and bolts” level. Determan embraces the traditional Christian concept that Jesus came into the world not to show mortals how to become divine but rather to reveal how to be fully human, how to appreciate “the sacredness of humanity.” Much of the book deals with this spiritual/material dichotomy and the ways it can inadvertently serve as a disconnect for the faithful who need more immediate help in the not-at-all mysterious world around them. Determan stresses to such readers the reliability of a God “who is not distant but rather is standing beside us in our grief, weeping with us…helping us to heal.” The author doesn’t shy away from the rockier side of these daily challenges (one of his most striking metaphors is that of a gladiatorial arena), but he wants to assure his readers that they have greater resources than they might think. “I am convinced that in one way or another we are all called by the mystery and miracle of life,” he writes at one point, seeking to ally a spiritual dimension with a scientific element that increasingly structures modern life. Much of the encouragements in this short book will be familiar to readers of Christian motivational works (Determan cites many of these here). But the author’s clarity of prose and recurrent theme of optimism should still make this a valuable hour’s read for his core audience of fellow believers, particularly those going through rough times.
A compact guide deftly emphasizes the supportive closeness of God in Christian life.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-973635-14-7
Page Count: 130
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Share your opinion of this book
by Stephen Batchelor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 18, 2020
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
Share your opinion of this book
More by Stephen Batchelor
BOOK REVIEW
by R. Crumb ; illustrated by R. Crumb ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 19, 2009
An erudite and artful, though frustratingly restrained, look at Old Testament stories.
The Book of Genesis as imagined by a veteran voice of underground comics.
R. Crumb’s pass at the opening chapters of the Bible isn’t nearly the act of heresy the comic artist’s reputation might suggest. In fact, the creator of Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural is fastidiously respectful. Crumb took pains to preserve every word of Genesis—drawing from numerous source texts, but mainly Robert Alter’s translation, The Five Books of Moses (2004)—and he clearly did his homework on the clothing, shelter and landscapes that surrounded Noah, Abraham and Isaac. This dedication to faithful representation makes the book, as Crumb writes in his introduction, a “straight illustration job, with no intention to ridicule or make visual jokes.” But his efforts are in their own way irreverent, and Crumb feels no particular need to deify even the most divine characters. God Himself is not much taller than Adam and Eve, and instead of omnisciently imparting orders and judgment He stands beside them in Eden, speaking to them directly. Jacob wrestles not with an angel, as is so often depicted in paintings, but with a man who looks not much different from himself. The women are uniformly Crumbian, voluptuous Earth goddesses who are both sexualized and strong-willed. (The endnotes offer a close study of the kinds of power women wielded in Genesis.) The downside of fitting all the text in is that many pages are packed tight with small panels, and too rarely—as with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—does Crumb expand his lens and treat signature events dramatically. Even the Flood is fairly restrained, though the exodus of the animals from the Ark is beautifully detailed. The author’s respect for Genesis is admirable, but it may leave readers wishing he had taken a few more chances with his interpretation, as when he draws the serpent in the Garden of Eden as a provocative half-man/half-lizard. On the whole, though, the book is largely a tribute to Crumb’s immense talents as a draftsman and stubborn adherence to the script.
An erudite and artful, though frustratingly restrained, look at Old Testament stories.Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-393-06102-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2009
Share your opinion of this book
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.