A comprehensive and intellectually curious religious guidebook.
A month-by-month Christian-themed devotional that aims to reinvigorate readers’ personal faith.
This second book in optometrist Horacek’s (Renew My Heart, O God, 2017) Renew Devotional Trilogy furthers the intent of the series to offer readers a devotional for use alongside the Bible each and every day to increase one’s spiritual connection: “Since the Garden of Eden,” Horacek writes, “our spirits have become separated from God, and we must reconnect with God in body, soul, and spirit, or we will never be complete or exist as our Creator intended for us to fully be.” The goal of the author’s trilogy, and of the present volume, is to facilitate this through a series of back-to-basics faith observations and practices. He clearly presents them in well-designed chapters that are structured around a series of broad concepts, such as humility, worship, and wisdom. In every chapter, Horacek is plainspoken and uncompromising as he evokes the duties of faithful Christians: “Peace will only rule in your heart and mind when your spirit rules over your body and soul,” the author writes, and just as the spirit should rule the body, he asserts, so too should the divine rule the personal. The faithful are also reminded to “bend the knees frequently and bow low before God in worship.” The author’s spiritual ruminations are engagingly wide-ranging, touching on everything from spiritual gifts to fasting to the controversial debate over the historicity of Jesus; on the latter point, the author wisely writes, “History can only assert His humanity. Faith must assert His divinity.” Some claims, such as those regarding the effectiveness of faith healing, will likely give nonbelievers pause. However, the target audience of fundamentalist Christians may welcome the book’s cleareyed advice.
A comprehensive and intellectually curious religious guidebook.Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-64299-976-1
Page Count: 534
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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