Many readers will find the account of Kabasele’s mysterious illness riveting, but little else in this awkwardly written...
Kabasele’s traditional defense of Christianity blends biblical interpretation with an autobiographical account of a mysterious illness healed by faith.
Kabasele (Jesus Christ is My God, 2011) is a Congolese Muslim by birth and an evangelical Christian by calling. His book is largely an analysis of assorted biblical passages from Jewish and Christian versions of the holy book, although names of translations are omitted. Literal interpretation abounds as does a theological perspective that seems conservative evangelical Protestant. The author uses a simple though non-specific style and rarely strays from brief declarative sentences. He has a keen eye for etymology and offers finely detailed explanations of many of the original Hebrew and Greek terms in the Bible. Kabasele selects an unusual assortment of passages for exegesis: Job, Paul’s Letter to the Romans and Paul’s epistle to Philemon. There are 14 chapters, most of which run little more than a page. Each chapter moves through interpretation to conclude with a prayer culled directly from scripture or a quote to ponder. Interrupting this pattern is a curiously moving account of the author’s nearly yearlong hospital stay due to a disease doctors had difficulty diagnosing. Kabasele credits a bedside visit from Jesus as the spark for his unexpectedly speedy recovery; full healing might be credited, however, to the surgeons who removed his spleen. Unfortunately, Kabasele’s biblical analyses suffer from a lack of interpretative rigor. His understanding of the complex book of Job concludes with “I believe that if God had not used Job, many people in today’s world would not understand what’s going on with them.” This position is not clearly articulated, theologically developed, or framed through specific examples. The author also tends to make sweeping and unsubstantiated generalizations, once going so far as to claim that human beings control other planets.
Many readers will find the account of Kabasele’s mysterious illness riveting, but little else in this awkwardly written evangelical tract is original.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-1467879293
Page Count: 80
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
From Pope Gregory the Great in the fifth century to the death of Richard of St. Victor in 1173, the author of The Anti-Christ (p. 1339) continues his highly acclaimed history of Western mystics and their world. For McGinn (Divinity/Univ. of Chicago) mysticism is ``primarily (but not solely) an ecclesial tradition of prayer and practice nourished by scripture and liturgy in order to foster awareness of whatever direct forms of divine presence may be available in this life.'' True to this holistic vision, he offers us a diet rich in quotations from the mystics themselves in analysis of their concepts and in discussion of recent studies. He gives context in his introduction, which offers a concise account of how the western Roman Empire evolved into Christendom. Then we encounter the massive intellect of the ninth-century Irishman John Scottus Eriugena, who spanned Celtic, Latin, and Greek cultures and made available for Charlemagne's West the writings of such eastern Christians as Dionysius, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximos Confessor. McGinn guides us through Eriugena's immense vision of Nature as dialectically proceeding from, and returning to, God. He provides a masterly treatment of Pope Gregory's understanding of the roles of contemplative and active life as applied to Christianity, going on to cover the genius and influence of St. Benedict. The high point of this volume is McGinn's study of Bernard of Clairvaux, which illuminates Bernard's doctrine of the image of God in the human person and his teachings on experience, the spiritual (or inner) senses, and the essentially spousal love between Christ and the soul. The author also explicates the writings of the early Carthusians and St. Aelred's mystical concept of friendship. He concludes with a survey of French Victorine authors with ``scholastic'' propensities. McGinn's clear and beautiful style aptly expresses his serene command of this highly varied material.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-8245-1450-5
Page Count: 560
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
This excellent collection of essays probes the responses of one Native American tribe to the forces of Christianity. In this posthumously published anthology of essays, McLoughlin (History and Religion/Brown; After the Trail of Tears, 1993, etc.) returns once again to the Cherokees about whom he often wrote. These pieces are so interrelated and have such a directed flow that they actually form a comprehensive study of the struggles of the Cherokees (often among themselves) over the issues of conversion to Christianity and acculturation and assimilation into the dominant Euro-American culture. The first section of the work reflects on the history of missionaries among the Cherokees and their efforts to break down traditional religion. These efforts, most successful among mixed bloods, only succeeded, according to the author, as the traditional cultures and societies that supported the indigenous religion were also broken down, thus making individualistic Christianity (as opposed to the Indians' more communal attitudes) a viable response. Part Two deals with accommodations reached by the Cherokee as they balanced old ways with the new faith. Of particular interest is ``Christianity and Racism,'' an essay on the early debate over the origin of Indian peoples: Were they one of the lost tribes of Israel or the result of a separate genesis in the Americas? Also noteworthy is McLoughlin's review of how the oral tradition became fractured with old stories incorporating elements of the Jewish-Christian tradition. Apocalyptic Ghost Dance movements among the Cherokee are examined, as are political struggles within the tribe. Though the volume could have benefited from further editing (and some ethnocentric bias is evident in the use of generic, non- tribal specific terms like 'Great Spirit' and 'conjurer'), the book is nonetheless a major contribution to the study of Native American history and religious studies.
Pub Date: Jan. 3, 1995
ISBN: 0-8203-1639-3
Page Count: 364
Publisher: Univ. of Georgia
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
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