A valuable, wide-ranging Christian study of the book of Ezra, complete with life lessons.
A Christian writer examines the book of Ezra.
In this compact work, Robertson quickly gets down to the business of explaining and extrapolating the Old Testament book of Ezra. The author opens by asserting that “Ezra is an encapsulated recording of God’s work of redemption.” He relates that the work, written between 455 and 444 B.C., begins in 538 B.C. during the reign of the Persian King Cyrus. Robertson tells his readers that Ezra reveals the story of “how God rebuilt the national and spiritual life of Israel.” The author goes through the book section by section and passage by passage, expanding on the Israelites’ history outlined at each juncture. One of Ezra’s central points encompasses both the spiritual rebuilding of Israel and the literal reconstruction of the great Temple of Jerusalem. Robertson concentrates a great deal of his scholarly attention on the specific sequence of historical events alluded to throughout Ezra. (The author’s reference to a “simple man” in his volume’s title is belied a bit by his obviously extensive research and frequent references to the original Aramaic of his subject.) But Robertson also works in a liberal amount of Christian exhortation, mapping the literal content of Ezra onto broader Christian living applications. When writing about the process of rebuilding the Temple, for instance, he widens the focus smoothly. “You can not sneak into heaven!” he writes. “Every person called to God is to be a worker with and for God, to build His church.” Some of these elaborations take Robertson far afield of the technical study of his subject, usually into recognizably evangelical topics. “When we become Christians and invite Jesus to come into our hearts,” he writes at one point, “or when we renew our commitment to God after a period of living by and for ourselves, our enemy, Satan, hears our words and sees the change in our attitude and life.” The result is a very strong guide to Ezra and a thought-provoking, inspirational manual.
A valuable, wide-ranging Christian study of the book of Ezra, complete with life lessons.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-973608-05-9
Page Count: 114
Publisher: WestBowPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2020
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
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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