An honest, if sometimes-fantastical, account of a strange life journey.
A debut memoir of drug abuse, mental illness, and eventual Christian redemption.
Beginning with his teenage years on Long Island in Smithtown, New York, Kurtzer details growing up with a difficult father and periods of reckless drug abuse: “I started out smoking marijuana and popping pills (uppers and downers); then I went on to do acid and LSD-25.” At the age of 19, he writes, “my life fell apart”; he received a diagnosis of schizophrenia, which would eventually be changed to one of manic depression. The author’s struggles with mental illness would continue for many years, and would include numerous brushes with the law, time in prison and mental health facilities, and a maniac episode that culminated in an attempt to drive his car up the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Despite years of taking medication, the author asserts that he only received lasting relief from his condition after surrendering himself to Christ; doctors, he says, “are only men practicing medicine, but Jesus Christ is the Great Physician who can heal any sickness or disease if you believe in Him and trust Him to heal you.” After using his faith in Christ as a means to recovery, the author continued his rigorous study of the Bible and ministered in the Philippines. This is a meandering tale by its very nature, but it takes readers to a number of novel places. The early pages devoted to drug use prove somewhat dull, though some sections, such as when Kurtzer was questioned by members of the U.S. Secret Service, help illuminate the reality of dealing with a debilitating condition. Skeptical readers will likely find the episodes of faith healing here difficult to swallow, such as an account of the instant cure of a deaf girl (“The minister then commanded the deaf spirit to come out in Jesus’ name, and the child instantly turned her head”). However, the tone throughout the work is effectively earnest.
An honest, if sometimes-fantastical, account of a strange life journey.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5049-6002-1
Page Count: 152
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2016
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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