A stern but friendly treatise on the obligations of faith.
A passionate series of chapter-long reflections on the true nature of the Christian calling.
In his nonfiction debut, Aragon continues a long Christian tradition that began with the epistles of St. Paul. He transforms a series of Scripture lessons, originally designed for use in prisons, into a handbook for an intense, renewed personal faith, rather than “passive fellowship,” which he warns is the false premise of too much major-denomination Christianity. The Christian faith, he says, is not, in fact, a religion, but rather a “bona fide intimate relationship with the Godhead.” In order to experience it, he asserts, the faithful must be willing to “exchange the worldly things that hold the affections of life” for a straightforward, wholesale life of faith. He deals with the subject of prisoners, who have, in many cases, faced the rock bottom of their lives; to these and other readers, he offers kindly but hard-line testimony about what true, nondogmatic Christianity requires from those who seek its mercy: total surrender. “Let’s get rid of that religious pacifier that has put the body of Christ into a deep sleep…and get the courage to make the choice to return to the true teacher and tutor, the Holy Spirit,” he writes. He earnestly calls for Christians to “imitate and duplicate” the union that Jesus Christ had with his Father, and stresses that all the faithful need to do so is to hold the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit inside their own hearts. To help that process, Aragon provides a great many learned, readable scriptural analyses throughout this book, including “Dispelling Religious Myths about the Kingdom” and “Removing the Hurdles of Entering the Kingdom.” These textual lessons will be valuable to Bible study groups, and Aragon’s frank, searching account of his own personal interpretations of Christianity’s heart will interest all other believers.
A stern but friendly treatise on the obligations of faith.Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4917-1472-0
Page Count: 244
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2015
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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