The lessons of the natural world seen engagingly, but narrow-mindedly, through a scriptural lens.
A book of insights about finding Christian inspiration in nature.
Baker’s (Natural Conclusions from the Big Thicket, 2015) latest book, geared for students and adults and pitched in an easy, accessible prose style, finds spiritual teaching situations in the contemplation of the animal and plant life of the Rockies. Each of the book’s many short chapters begins with a natural fact, provides the “natural conclusion” and a bit of the underlying science about that fact, and then gives Baker’s view of the spiritual parallels of those facts. In this sense, the book joins a very long Christian tradition of teaching by allegory, and Baker early on signals his Christian target readership not only by including regular urgings to discuss concerns with God, but also with fundamentalist insults to the nonreligious, calling their worldview self-centered and noting their “shades-of-gray morality” and “situational ethical system.” But Baker’s Christian readers, even the citified ones who’ve never so much as hiked a trail in their lives, will find a great deal of inviting faith advice in these pages, all of it using natural facts like the protectiveness of moose for their calves, the seed-hoarding of chipmunks, and the needle-casting of pine trees. In the process of his pastoral instruction, Baker manages to impart a good deal of scientific information. The natural fact that “during hyperphagia in the fall, brown bears may eat up to ninety pounds of animal and vegetable material per day!” is followed up with the “natural conclusion” that “Christians need to feed on both the easy and difficult portions of scripture.” The follow-up projects suggested to bring home the practical side of the lessons are often hands-on and interesting—Christian instructors will find them heaven-sent.
The lessons of the natural world seen engagingly, but narrow-mindedly, through a scriptural lens.Pub Date: May 24, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5127-8532-6
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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