For Vatican watchers, a good reference to have on hand when the smoke next rises over St. Peter’s Square.
An oddity: an instant book dedicated to an event that has yet to happen.
If you’re a betting person, writes National Catholic Reporter Vatican correspondent Allen, don’t put your money on an American succeeding John Paul II as pontiff. In the spectrum of odds, “the only probability determined by geography is that the next pope will not be from the US. The Vatican prizes its diplomatic independence too keenly to risk it by electing a superpower pope.” The chances are good, he adds, that the next leader of the Catholic church will be a non-Italian: the 456-year-old Italian monopoly on the papacy was broken by the current pontiff, and of 133 voting members of the College of Cardinals that elects the pope, only 23 are Italian. With all those handicaps and cautions in mind, Allen goes on to survey the field, writing of strong and weak candidates, picking his 20-odd favorites, and long-listing the rest of the eligible cardinals. Every cardinal who enters the conclave, he cautions, is eligible and cannot be written off; those who would lay odds on what he calls “the upcoming papal sweepstakes,” he warns, “shouldn’t allow themselves to trip on their assumptions” and try to outguess the powerbrokers within the Vatican walls. Allen’s roster of candidates and their qualifications will be the strong selling point of Conclave. Breathless though the prose is, it conveys much that is of use, including, for instance, a thorough discussion of just what the job of pope entails (settling squabbles and traveling a lot) and how popes get elected in the first place.
For Vatican watchers, a good reference to have on hand when the smoke next rises over St. Peter’s Square.Pub Date: June 18, 2002
ISBN: 0-385-50453-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2002
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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