by James Mikolajczyk ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 3, 2016
An excellent treatment of the concept of Israel.
A scholarly attempt to reconcile the long-standing theological divisions between Jews and gentiles.
The definition of Israel has always been somewhat contentious; in ancient times, it was more symbolic than tangibly linked to a geographical location. After the rise of Christianity, Jews insisted on the priority of their time-honored rites, and Christians argued that following Christ has nothing to do with Judaic observance. Debut author Mikolajczyk charts a middle ground between these topics that aims to reconcile Jews and gentiles by demonstrating that Jesus is actually the embodiment of the idea of Israel. To that end, he carefully examines the discussions of Israel in both the Old Testament and the New Testament and pieces together what he believes is a coherent, exegetically sound synthesis. Part of the problem he confronts is that historical events, such as the creation of the modern state of Israel, have confused these messages of revelation. In particular, Mikolajczyk discusses “supersessionism,” the view that the Christians simply supersede the Jewish people as God’s special elect, and “premillennial dispensationalism,” which attempts to accommodate Israel’s creation in 1948 by recognizing it as the fulfillment of prophecy, which more thoroughly acknowledges the significance of Jewish heritage to Christians. Although the author is a self-professed Christian, he aims for a theological union of sorts rather than a triumph of Christian theology: “What I mean for readers to gain from this book is that Jesus Christ arrived in the world to reconcile the divisions of God’s people, not to create new ones.” The author’s analysis is consistently fair, painstaking, and lucid, and the treatment of Christ is memorably provocative: “If there is no judgment against those who believe in Jesus (Rom. 8:1), there are likewise no separations based on gender, race, religious background, or socioeconomic status, because he has united the church in his name (Gal. 3:28).” Overall, this book has the virtue of great brevity. That said, the concision is also a touch frustrating, as many readers will be left pining for an elaboration of how the biblical notion of Israel has been transformed by worldly events. Nevertheless, this is an edifying introduction to a historically and philosophically important subject.
An excellent treatment of the concept of Israel.Pub Date: June 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5127-4379-1
Page Count: 130
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 8, 2016
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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