A dry study of the origins and evolution of a fiercely controversial organization in the Roman Catholic Church. Opus Dei (work of God), officially founded in Madrid in 1928 by Monsignor Escriv† de Balaguer, is a unique body of priests and laypeople (more than 75,000 worldwide) who see work as the means to holiness, both because it is a sharing in God's creative action in the world and because it is a concrete way of making Christ present in society. For Opus Dei members, asceticism involves striving to be highly successful as professionals, something that has not often been characteristic of Catholic lay spirituality, and this has brought many charges of elitism and power-seeking, not least from other Catholics. Because of its policy of ``discretion'' and the discipline imposed on its members, Opus Dei has been accused of beig a secret society within the Church, even a ``holy Mafia.'' Pope John Paul II recently declared Escriv† (who died in 1975) ``blessed,'' and he acceded to the founder's desire that the organization be given a large measure of autonomy as a personal prelature. Estruch (Sociology/Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) takes readers through a labyrinth of documents, chiefly from the official literature of Opus Dei. He shows that the complex character of Escriv† and the organization was very much a product- -though a most unusual one—of Franco's Spain, and that Opus Dei has, in fact, adjusted its thinking more than many members like to admit in order to keep pace with changes in both Spain and the Catholic Church. In a final section, the author draws on Max Weber's thought to make a stimulating comparison between Opus Dei's ``sanctification of work'' and the worldly asceticism of Puritanism. Confined to documentation and constantly referring to methodology, this study makes for heavy reading. Meticulous, but perhaps excessively unsensational.
Pub Date: July 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-508251-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1995
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
