Russell (Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World, 1986, etc.; History and Religious Studies/Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara) offers a sensitive and intellectually alert survey of the concept of heaven, from its roots in Judaism and Greek philosophy through Dante's Paradiso. To many people, heaven suggests a bland and slightly comical attempt to answer questions about life after death. Russell argues that the concept of heaven involves an extensive and fairly coherent body of thought, which he succeeds in making accessible. Beginning with the differing views of the afterlife found in the Hebrew scriptures (where it was called Sheol), our author examines the Greek notions of Hades, judgment, and the transmigration of souls as developed by the Orphic movement and Platonism. He is sensitive to the tensions that the confluence of these traditions created for early Christian theology, e.g., the Greek emphasis on the immortality of the soul versus the Judeo-Christian belief in the resurrection of the body. He looks at answers offered by writers as different as Tertullian, Origen, Augustine, and the Cappadocian Fathers. In the same critical spirit, he sifts through what the tradition has to say about the meaning of time and space in heaven, whether everyone or only a few can get ``there,'' and what happens between one's death and resurrection. Russell devotes his final chapters to a summary and brilliant analysis of the majestic system and metaphors of Dante's Paradiso. He concentrates on the Christian tradition, writing from within it, in a vigorous manner that speaks to the general reader. His writing is thoughtful and elegant; his insights stimulate involvement with the text. A rare combination of scholarship, poetic sensitivity, and insight. (18 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: April 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-691-01161-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1997
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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