by Chuck Robertson ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 13, 2017
A literate study of Esther hampered by an overly casual style.
An accessible commentary and study guide for the book of Esther in the Old Testament.
Debut author Robertson provides an unusual work that offers a blend of academic rigor and homespun flavor. He manages to find a middle ground between the weightiness of a detailed academic commentary and the simplicity of a basic study manual. The result is a tool for individual or group study of Esther that delves into the historical setting, cultural nuances, and linguistic subtleties of the book while also delivering an evangelical interpretation of the text, marked by commonplace prose. Esther presents readers with very real challenges for full comprehension and meaningful interpretation, and Robertson uses the tools of modern exegesis to flesh out the text for the average reader. Moving passage by passage, he wisely begins with an exploration of the social setting as well as a close look at key Hebrew words; for instance, he notes the use of two words for “pleasure”—one that focuses on “evil” pleasure, another on “moral” pleasure. After each critical reading section, Robertson goes on to provide an entirely separate part related to interpretation, asking readers, in most cases, where God is found in each passage. The author also defies convention by interpreting the story of Esther in almost exclusively Christian terms: “In our story…Xerxes would be representative of God the Father; Mordecai, Jesus; and Esther, the new covenant church, us.” However, Robertson’s otherwise laudable text is marred by a colloquial style that goes beyond hominess and borders on unprofessional (“The Jews are big on these [genealogies]”; “How sweet it is!”). It also relies too heavily on the first-person narrative voice (“I figure that right about now you’re saying…”). Nevertheless, Robertson does succeed in creating an easy-to-read guide that never skimps on substance. His exegetical conclusions, however, are up for debate.
A literate study of Esther hampered by an overly casual style.Pub Date: July 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5127-9243-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Share your opinion of this book
More by Chuck Robertson
BOOK REVIEW
by Albert Camus ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 1955
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
Share your opinion of this book
More by Albert Camus
BOOK REVIEW
by Albert Camus ; translated by Justin O'Brien & Sandra Smith
BOOK REVIEW
by Albert Camus ; translated by Ellen Conroy Kennedy & Justin O'Brien
BOOK REVIEW
by Albert Camus translated by Arthur Goldhammer edited by Alice Kaplan
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
© 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.