A readable and highly detailed inquiry into the roots and values of Christianity.
A writer searches for the existence and nature of the Christian God.
The “Club” mentioned in the subtitle of Smith’s nonfiction debut is, according to the author, “the (multi-denominational) Christian Church” that was “founded” by Jesus and uses the Bible as its “charter”—meaning, presumably, Christianity. Smith came to his current examination of the Club after a time of being a “lukewarm” Roman Catholic, employing a process called “Experiential Learning” (Using your life experiences “to re-examine and evaluate assertions, ideas, and beliefs”). In his 40s, the author reached a point where he considered it “somewhat likely” that Jesus was not the son of God and that the Gospels may have been altered over the centuries. During the ensuing years, he pursued these questions, reading famous atheist books by Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris and always looking for some kind of intellectual confirmation—through experiential learning—that the basic tenets of the Catholicism of his upbringing were actually true. It’s not many pages later when his doubts have apparently been resolved enough for him to write “we do know we were created by something we call God.” The rest of the book breaks down the exegesis of that belief and provides the author’s intriguing rundown on a wide array of controversial topics on which the Catholic Church has pronounced dogma over the centuries. Masturbation is “a sin,” for instance, and abortion and euthanasia are “against God’s will.” But many of Smith’s readers will be surprised and perhaps pleased at how often he finds the position of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to be a “misinterpretation” of God’s will as expressed in Scripture—the author countenances things like contraception and gay sexuality. Those same readers will find Smith’s lucid analytical approach to all of the teachings of the Club endlessly thought-provoking.
A readable and highly detailed inquiry into the roots and values of Christianity.Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5456-1204-0
Page Count: 414
Publisher: Xulon Press
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.
A deeply thoughtful exploration of the first book of the Bible.
In this illuminating work of biblical analysis, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Robinson, whose Gilead series contains a variety of Christian themes, takes readers on a dedicated layperson’s journey through the Book of Genesis. The author meanders delightfully through the text, ruminating on one tale after another while searching for themes and mining for universal truths. Robinson approaches Genesis with a reverence and level of faith uncommon to modern mainstream writers, yet she’s also equipped with the appropriate tools for cogent criticism. Throughout this luminous exegesis, which will appeal to all practicing Christians, the author discusses overarching themes in Genesis. First is the benevolence of God. Robinson points out that “to say that God is the good creator of a good creation” sets the God of Genesis in opposition to the gods of other ancient creation stories, who range from indifferent to evil. This goodness carries through the entirety of Genesis, demonstrated through grace. “Grace tempers judgment,” writes the author, noting that despite well-deserved instances of wrath or punishment, God relents time after time. Another overarching theme is the interplay between God’s providence and humanity’s independence. Across the Book of Genesis, otherwise ordinary people make decisions that will affect the future in significant ways, yet events are consistently steered by God’s omnipotence. For instance, Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, and that action has reverberated throughout the history of all Jewish people. Robinson indirectly asks readers to consider where the line is between the actions of God and the actions of creation. “He chose to let us be,” she concludes, “to let time yield what it will—within the vast latitude granted by providence.”
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780374299408
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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
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