by Jerry Walters ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2017
A thoughtful and comprehensive Scripture guide for part of the year.
A daily Christian planner provides readings for the fall and early winter.
This debut book from Walters presents detailed and densely informed daily readings suitable for preachers, clergy, and prayer group leaders to guide their discussions from October through December. (While the entries are all marked 2017, they feel suitable for any year.) Each day provides a morning and an evening offering, both consisting of two anchoring Scriptural passages (one from the Old Testament and one from the New) and exegetical elaborations of varying lengths but uniform complexity. These lessons dig vigorously into their target passages, with line-by-line readings and ample context, all of it delivered in an appealingly direct and unpretentious rhetoric. On Oct. 29, for instance, the first part of the morning offering is Psalm 55: “My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. / Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.” The commentary addresses the heart of the verses: “The Psalmist is troubled. His restless thoughts have shaken his confidence. David’s many enemies have worn him out and worn him down.” Walters has carefully chosen the pairings of his offerings so that their themes resonate with each other. The evening one for Oct. 15, for example, begins with Joshua 8-9, the story of the Gibeonites employing a guileful strategy, using the technical wording of an Israelite vow in order to trick victorious Joshua into sparing their lives. The entry then follows up with Galatians 3:15-20, in which St. Paul tells the Galatians that “the terms of a manmade covenant, such as a will, once established, cannot be added to or subtracted from,” going on to elaborate: “In the same way, the promises that God made to Abraham and his seed are irrevocable and unchangeable.” These parallels are often thought-provoking and never heavy-handed; they should be very helpful both to teachers leading discussion groups and to individuals engaging in their own daily Bible studies.
A thoughtful and comprehensive Scripture guide for part of the year.Pub Date: July 21, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-64045-935-9
Page Count: 281
Publisher: LitFire Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Share your opinion of this book
by Frances E. Ruffin & edited by Stephen Marchesi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2001
This early reader is an excellent introduction to the March on Washington in 1963 and the important role in the march played by Martin Luther King Jr. Ruffin gives the book a good, dramatic start: “August 28, 1963. It is a hot summer day in Washington, D.C. More than 250,00 people are pouring into the city.” They have come to protest the treatment of African-Americans here in the US. With stirring original artwork mixed with photographs of the events (and the segregationist policies in the South, such as separate drinking fountains and entrances to public buildings), Ruffin writes of how an end to slavery didn’t mark true equality and that these rights had to be fought for—through marches and sit-ins and words, particularly those of Dr. King, and particularly on that fateful day in Washington. Within a year the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been passed: “It does not change everything. But it is a beginning.” Lots of visual cues will help new readers through the fairly simple text, but it is the power of the story that will keep them turning the pages. (Easy reader. 6-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-448-42421-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
Share your opinion of this book
by William Weaver & Simonetta Puccini ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 1994
Puccini wins the prize for most-maligned great composer. In a fit of depressive self-deprecation, Puccini himself called his own music ``sugary,'' and the persistent popularity of his mature operas at box-offices around the world for nearly a century has too often provoked critical condescension, as if art so well-loved could not possibly be worth much. But that situation, thankfully, is changing, and this much-needed essay collection on Puccini by leading scholars of 19th- and 20th-century Italian opera is worth a good deal more than several new biographies. The volume ranges from a lengthy piece on Puccini's family by his granddaughter (one of the editors) to chapters devoted to Puccini's ``musical world'' and each of his operas by luminaries such as William Weaver, Harvey Sachs, Fedele D'Amico, Verdi heavyweights Mary Jane Phillips-Matz and Julian Budden, and William Ashbrook. A favorite: David Hamilton's expert investigation of the early Tosca recordings, especially the legendary ``Mapelson cylinders'' of live Metropolitan Opera performances from 1902-03, to see what light they shed on Puccini's original interpreters. The editors, perhaps hoping to attract non-musicologist admirers of the Luccan master, issue the disclaimer that ``this is not a work of scholarship'' (even though two of the chapters make a start on an accessible Puccini bibliography). They needn't have worried. Lovers of Puccini and Italian opera at every level of interest and knowledge will want this book. (Photographs—not seen)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1994
ISBN: 0-393-02930-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1994
Share your opinion of this book
More by Umberto Eco
BOOK REVIEW
by Umberto Eco & translated by William Weaver
BOOK REVIEW
by Italo Svevo & translated by William Weaver
BOOK REVIEW
translated by William Weaver & by Italo Calvino
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.