A devoted Christian offers the fruits of faith and daily practice in a book intended to serve as a constant reminder of the...
A devotional by pastor and businessman Monge, author of another devotional and a spiritual autobiography.
Monge (Dancing with God, 2012, etc.) suffers from crippling clinical depression. As an expression of his faith, which has given him the strength to live, he has penned a devotional based on the Gospel of Mark, his favorite biblical book. Monge’s work follows a familiar pattern established in the 15th century by Thomas à Kempis, who wrote The Imitation of Christ, the most famous Christian book of inspirational commentary. Like Kempis’ book, the author’s devotional presents short chapters that summarize an abbreviated reading from the Bible followed by an opportunity for reflection and prayer. The author instructs his readers to consider each chapter after reading relevant sections of the Bible. Written in a simple, straightforward way, Monge’s book often details incidents from his own life to illuminate the chapters’ messages. The author has been studying Mark since 1965, and he brings a wealth of biblical scholarship to his enterprise. The other Gospels, the author contends, were all based on Mark, which served as a “primary source, plus there was another group of sayings called the Quelle, which in German means ‘source.’” Monge often offers historical or linguistic asides that contribute to his discussion. The author’s struggle with the demons of depression provides the emotional center for this devotional work, and he styles himself as a perseverant believer. He contemplated suicide, but his faith, despite the turmoil of his personal life, has brought him through. He writes that Jesus sat beside him “in Hell” and helped him through those dark times. Neither maudlin nor self-indulgent, the chapters reveal the author as a humble, devoted Christian practitioner who exhorts readers to realize their faith. “It is daily contact with God…,” Monge writes, “which causes the gradual transformation into a faith that is real.”
A devoted Christian offers the fruits of faith and daily practice in a book intended to serve as a constant reminder of the presence of Jesus in everyday life.Pub Date: May 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1482321494
Page Count: 306
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
An erudite and artful, though frustratingly restrained, look at Old Testament stories.
The Book of Genesis as imagined by a veteran voice of underground comics.
R. Crumb’s pass at the opening chapters of the Bible isn’t nearly the act of heresy the comic artist’s reputation might suggest. In fact, the creator of Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural is fastidiously respectful. Crumb took pains to preserve every word of Genesis—drawing from numerous source texts, but mainly Robert Alter’s translation, The Five Books of Moses (2004)—and he clearly did his homework on the clothing, shelter and landscapes that surrounded Noah, Abraham and Isaac. This dedication to faithful representation makes the book, as Crumb writes in his introduction, a “straight illustration job, with no intention to ridicule or make visual jokes.” But his efforts are in their own way irreverent, and Crumb feels no particular need to deify even the most divine characters. God Himself is not much taller than Adam and Eve, and instead of omnisciently imparting orders and judgment He stands beside them in Eden, speaking to them directly. Jacob wrestles not with an angel, as is so often depicted in paintings, but with a man who looks not much different from himself. The women are uniformly Crumbian, voluptuous Earth goddesses who are both sexualized and strong-willed. (The endnotes offer a close study of the kinds of power women wielded in Genesis.) The downside of fitting all the text in is that many pages are packed tight with small panels, and too rarely—as with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—does Crumb expand his lens and treat signature events dramatically. Even the Flood is fairly restrained, though the exodus of the animals from the Ark is beautifully detailed. The author’s respect for Genesis is admirable, but it may leave readers wishing he had taken a few more chances with his interpretation, as when he draws the serpent in the Garden of Eden as a provocative half-man/half-lizard. On the whole, though, the book is largely a tribute to Crumb’s immense talents as a draftsman and stubborn adherence to the script.
An erudite and artful, though frustratingly restrained, look at Old Testament stories.Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-393-06102-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf