by Dorcas Massanga Germaine ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 29, 2018
An intense, provocative, and conservative religious treatise.
A Christian spiritual exhortation, related in a prophetic voice.
Massanga Germaine states at the outset that this debut work is not merely inspired by God, but also dictated by him, “given to me word for word by the Holy Spirit.” As such, its statements seem to be directed both to the author and to the Christian community at large. The work covers a wide array of topics, with most of the material conveying theologically traditional Christian teachings concerning the worship of the triune God, one’s personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. It admonishes Christians to dress modestly, abstain from alcohol, and observe the Sabbath, while also warning them to beware of cultural influences which may turn them astray (“Your phone devices have become a satanic weapon”). Overall, this work, while clearly heartfelt, is somewhat disjointed in structure, and it offers a number of unconventional ideas, such as a declaration that the United States has lost God’s favor, due to its sinfulness, and an assertion that “the Hebrews of the Bible were black people.” It also displays a particularly conservative viewpoint on Christian living that many potential readers won’t share, thoroughly condemning homosexuality (“it is being under a spell (encroachment), it is a hidden spirit that multiplies itself daily, which convinces people to mock God”), as well as any sexual practices outside of marriage; its views on gender are similarly traditionalist: “I established you [women] the mother of the nation—it is you who has to watch over the children, it is you who is responsible for the children, it is you who is love, it is you who is the heart.” As a book claiming to be God’s own word, Massanga Germaine’s work will automatically be open to criticism and controversy within the Christian community. However, similarly conservative readers who are open to the possibility of prophetic messages may find the book intriguing.
An intense, provocative, and conservative religious treatise.Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4624-1230-3
Page Count: 190
Publisher: Inspiring Voices
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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
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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
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