bookshelf

THE GENESIS LABYRINTH

Name: THE GENESIS LABYRINTH
Author: David P. Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-64300-874-5

INVESTIGATING ALTERNATIVES IN THE FIRST ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF GENESIS

by David P. Diaz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 14, 2019

An impressively researched review of Christian biblical thought.

bookshelf

A broad overview of Christian interpretations of the initial chapters of the book of Genesis.

Diaz (The White Tortilla, 2006) offers readers a work four decades in the making. The author writes that he’s long grappled with the profound mysteries in Genesis’ first 11 chapters, which include the stories of Creation and Noah’s Ark, 900-year-old men, the Tower of Babel, and obscure genealogies. These are among the most debated and, indeed, labyrinthine passages of the entire Bible—hence, Diaz’s apt title. He aims to provide readings with “a broad spectrum of views…ranging from liberal to fundamental.” Chapter by chapter, he presents myriad interpretations, but he also avoids offering his own opinions on them in order to allow readers to come to their own conclusions: “There is room for variant understandings of Genesis” is a refrain that echoes throughout. For example, his chapters on the Creation story include a literal interpretation that God created the world in six days as well as modern glosses that incorporate the Big Bang theory and evolution into their understandings. Similarly, he gives equal footing to those who believe that Noah’s flood was a universal, worldwide event and others who believe that it was a local flood. Most of the book is an impartial survey of contemporary Christian literature on Genesis, but it also includes four appendices in which Diaz offers personal musings on apologetics, metaphysics, philosophy, science, and the concept of truth. All in all, this is an exceptional overview of contemporary, scholarly interpretations of Genesis, and it features an impressive bibliography. However, nonscholarly, ancient interpretations—particularly from Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish thinkers—are mostly ignored aside from occasional references to St. Thomas Aquinas. Also, although Diaz is fair in his synopses of conflicting Christian interpretations, he tends to turn the arguments of biblical skeptics and atheists into straw men, hastily dismissing them as “absurd notions” and “anti-intellectual absurdities.”

An impressively researched review of Christian biblical thought.

Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-64300-874-5

Page Count: 250

Publisher: Covenant Books

Review Posted Online: Sept. 4, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

bookshelf

TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

bookshelf

An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.