A literary rendering of Bible tales that skillfully balances accessibility and fidelity.
A dramatic novelization of the life and gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Bible is a dense, challenging read written in a historically unfamiliar idiom and with a legion of characters. Debut author Ruopp set out to compose a more readable version that largely focuses on Jesus’ life and ministry, as chronicled in the New Testament Gospels. Using a novelistic style, the author begins with Old Testament stories, mostly from the books of Genesis and Exodus; even in these cases, he approaches the material with a view to prophecies that foretold the arrival of the Messiah. For the most part, Ruopp’s account closely hews to the substance of the original texts, only slightly departing to fill in some lacunae; for example, there’s a thoughtful imagining of Jesus’ childhood years and the early signs of his spiritual precociousness. Also, the author unobtrusively includes commentary throughout the narrative, as when he helpfully illuminates the anxiety that Joseph experienced at the prospect of a virgin birth, given strict societal rules regarding marriage and pregnancy. Ruopp maintains a tone of formality when it comes to dialogue, but he modernizes it just enough to make it more approachable, as in this slightly reworked quote from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are you, therefore, when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets, who were before you.” At the close of each chapter, the author furnishes a catalog of textual references for readers interested in the original King James Version language, but this book is more a work for beginners than it is a scholarly resource. The simplicity of the prose and the chronological rendering, which details Jesus’ life up until the Resurrection, should make it a particularly helpful guide for parents and teachers introducing younger readers to Scripture.
A literary rendering of Bible tales that skillfully balances accessibility and fidelity.Pub Date: July 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5127-7421-4
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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