Soulful and well-written, this will appeal to readers on spiritual paths of their own.
A thoughtful account of religious discovery.
Trauma, physical or emotional, often precipitates spiritual awakening. For Benedek (The Wind Won’t Know Me, 1992) it came in the form of a mysterious episode of near-blindness, followed by visits to doctors who mulled over possible causes—lupus, MS, Lyme disease—for the abnormal MRI readings their tests turned up. Marooned in Texas, where she had followed a boyfriend who turned out not to be the man of her dreams, and working as a television reporter against her writerly instincts, Benedek concluded that the disease was a matter of a troubled heart: “I feel,” she writes, “the cause of my illness was a deep psychic confusion, a rupture from myself. I believe that the cause of this illness was inside myself, in my psyche and in my soul.” Seeking solace, she turned to the wisdom of the Navajo people, among whom she had lived for several years, and to modern psychiatry as interpreted by one Dr. Andresen, whose cagey, idiosyncratic intelligence enlivens the middle section of her memoir. She also began to explore her roots as a Jew, finding a community of Orthodox believers in a Dallas suburb and continuing her studies on her return to Boston. That exploration was by no means easy, she writes, given her views as a feminist against various Orthodox traditions (such as the prayers of thanksgiving recited by men “for not having been born women”). Intellectually torn, she nonetheless reached a reconciliation. “I have come to a newfound respect for tradition, yet I am wary of strictures that impede individual creative strivings, particularly of women.” A subsequent trip to Israel, she writes, deepened her devotion to her faith—and, by good fortune, brought her new love as well.
Soulful and well-written, this will appeal to readers on spiritual paths of their own.Pub Date: April 17, 2001
ISBN: 0-8052-4138-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Schocken
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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