A calm, spiritual call to a faith “for all humans, for the world, and for all times.”
Inspired by his reading of Punjabi mystic poets, Ghulam, in his debut work of nonfiction, takes the broadest possible deistic approach to personal spirituality.
The author describes an ultimate divine source underlying all the religious faiths of the world. “The God of the universe,” Ghulam writes, “is not God of any particular faith, race, or group of people, claiming any sort of superiority over others.” Neither is this God a creature of trappings; he “prefers neither the designs of prayer buildings nor the days or times of worship,” Ghulam notes in a typically eloquent passage. “He needs neither the meat of the sacrifices nor the hunger of the fasts, if these do not evoke love and mercy.” Love and mercy are central to this benign concept of a supreme being; Ghulam roundly denies divine complicity in human atrocities throughout the ages, which have been caused by entirely human traits such as “obstinacy, irrationality, greed, and pride of power.” According to Ghulam, God is beyond all such pettiness, accessible to any “free mind” who seeks enlightenment. Ghulam himself wishes everyone their own liberties, based on “equality and justice” (this equality doesn’t extend to the rest of the animals on Earth, who, the author believes, “have no values, so these were created to serve humans”). The author goes into great detail when describing his concept of a God free of the taint of human conflict. He points to “fighting between Pakistan and India, Palestine and Israel, or mujahedeen and Russians in Afghanistan,” stressing that these tragedies were born of human foibles, without divine prompting or sanction. In a handful of elegantly reasoned chapters, he reduces the bewildering multiplicity of conflicting human faiths to a simple series of spiritual precepts, keeping his focus on compassion and charity.
A calm, spiritual call to a faith “for all humans, for the world, and for all times.”Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2012
ISBN: 978-1475964592
Page Count: 192
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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