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IN MY FATHER'S GARDEN

Name: IN MY FATHER'S GARDEN
Author: Kim Chernin
ISBN: 1-56512-100-7

by Kim Chernin ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 31, 1996

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This exploration of spirituality via a look back at dad and the experience of easing a friend into death is right in sync with new directions in the self-help field. A prolific writer, Chernin (A Different Kind of Listening, 1994, etc.) is also a psychoanalyst who early in her career grabbed onto issues like body image, eroticism, bisexuality, and women's relationships with their mothers; her explorations of them brought her a dedicated audience. This small book uses her memories of her quiet and thoughtful father (as opposed to her noisy and assertive mother, whom she wrote about in In My Mother's House) as a springboard to reflections on the Meaning of Life. Her belief that ``we live in a universe built fundamentally upon spiritual values'' is not, she says, ``a fashionable idea,'' although, in fact, its current trendiness quotient is up there with those of Donna Karan and Web sites. Divided into three parts, Chernin's journey begins with a reminiscence of Saturday walks with her father, of his love for his garden, and of his ``small acts of kindness and concern,'' which may have had as much impact on her dreams of a socialist future as her mother's larger and more public efforts at political change. Next is a story of a woman dying of cancer. Chernin's efforts to help- -including a promise of assisted suicide, if necessary, and episodes of energy transfer from therapist to patient—led to a new agenda for the author, a desire to work with the dying. Third is the lure of a ``divine mother,'' a Hindu woman distributing her blessings in a small town in Germany. After a visit to Mother Meera, Chernin returns to her California home inspired to reconcile her legacies of political activism and spirituality. Perhaps enough spiritual sustenance for her but not enough for the reader. Tillers of spiritual soil need to dig much deeper than the author does here.

Pub Date: July 31, 1996

ISBN: 1-56512-100-7

Page Count: 196

Publisher: Algonquin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1996

Categories:

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMAN WHO GAVE BIRTH TO HER MOTHER
by Kim Chernin

- BOOK REVIEW
MY LIFE AS A BOY
by Kim Chernin

- BOOK REVIEW
CECILIA BARTOLI
by Kim Chernin with Renate Stendhal

ROSE BOOK OF BIBLE CHARTS, MAPS AND TIME LINES

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ROSE BOOK OF BIBLE CHARTS, MAPS AND TIME LINES

by Timothy Paul Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2005

Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.

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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 â€œHow 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

Categories:

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION

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THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS

AND OTHER ESSAYS

by Albert Camus ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 1955

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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.