A passionate and readable account that supports humility and gratitude as paths to God.
A writer looks at the importance of giving thanks in a Christian walk of faith.
In her well-designed nonfiction debut, Addo-Atuah stresses the vital roles of gratitude and obedience in the lives of her fellow devout Christians. The author asserts that salvation, justification, and redemption form the “three-step package” of Jesus’ mission among his followers. For Addo-Atuah, Jesus is the key to this process since he is “the only Person of the Triune God who is capable of redeeming mankind because He is the One who is fully God and fully Man.” This stance will be immediately recognizable to many of her readers even though there are some Christians in the world who would disagree. The author’s focus throughout her work is on the importance of being grateful to “the loving God…who hates sin but loves the sinner,” the God who, after the fall of humankind from grace, created a way for mortals to restore fellowship with him. This gratitude also extends to the people God puts in the lives of the faithful to serve as “conduits of blessings,” although someone with “an envious, jealous, or hateful heart may suppress divine promptings and thus fail to accord us the assistance that we need.” This communal aspect of her faith is important to the author, who illustrates it with examples of the many individuals—friends, loved ones, and even strangers—she’s known who’ve helped at various points in her life to strengthen her faith, and it’s the most emphatic strand running through the book. Occasionally, Addo-Atuah’s enthusiasm can lead her astray—sometimes into historical inaccuracies, as when she says G.K. Chesterton is “thought to be the greatest writer and thinker of the 20th century” (perhaps only Chesterton himself ever believed this). But in general, the work’s powerfully worded calls to humility will resonate with Christians who are sometimes discouraged by a self-centered world.
A passionate and readable account that supports humility and gratitude as paths to God.Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9600075-1-6
Page Count: 186
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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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