An enjoyable sojourn into feminine spirituality.
A lovely memoir of the quest for inner peace.
As English professor and secular Jew Weimer (Back Talk: Teaching Lost Selves to Speak, 1994) sits paralyzed by fear during a bumpy plane ride, she begins to feel a mysterious calming presence. Though she’s not sure how to interpret the experience, she’s certain that she shouldn’t tell her husband, David, a devout atheist. Instead, she confides in a friend, who matter-of-factly states, “ ‘Sounds like you met the Black Madonna.’ ” Intrigued by her friend’s comment, the author seeks to learn more about this embodiment of sacred maternal power. As she and David travel to Europe for a sabbatical, Weimer realizes that she desires to understand not only the Black Madonna, but also her late mother, with whom she shared a complex relationship. While David remains hostile to her sudden interest in prayer, she manages to transform the sabbatical into a spiritual quest, navigating a labyrinth in Ravenna, meandering alone through picturesque villages, sitting in chapels devoted to the Madonna and studying complicated texts about sacred sites. When the trip ends, Weimer continues her spiritual journey. Back at home, she attends a one-day “Walking Meditation” retreat, held at a local Episcopal church and led by a female rabbi, who teaches about female representations of the divine in Judaism and Islam. A final, shorter trip to Paris culminates in a general sense of ease and contentment. Throughout, the author demonstrates solid observation skills and a sharp eye for detail, as well as a skillful hand at metaphorical language. When she and her husband depart for foreign countries, they find that they discover each other anew, “with the same attention and wonder that we bring to a Gothic cathedral–craning our necks to admire the vaulted ceiling, descending into the crypt to stand on its ancient stones.”
An enjoyable sojourn into feminine spirituality.Pub Date: Dec. 30, 2005
ISBN: 1-59858-114-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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