Antonacci's research will reinforce the faith of those who already believe in the Shroud, but is unlikely to win any...
An attempt to demonstrate the scientific authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, believed by some to be the burial shroud of Jesus.
Drawing on the research performed by the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) in 1978, attorney and former law professor Antonacci assembles a superficially impressive body of evidence to discredit the 1988 carbon-dating of the Shroud, challenge the theory that the images on the Shroud were the creation of a medieval artist, and prove that the Shroud must have been imprinted during the Crucifixion. His refutation of the possibility that the Shroud was painted in the Middle Ages is engagingly presented and argued: the STURP scientists' examination of the Shroud's fibers found no trace of medieval paint pigments, and no attempts to replicate the Shroud using techniques available to medieval artists have succeeded so far. Antonacci also makes a strong case against the results of the 1988 carbon-dating, which assigned the Shroud's origin to the 14th century. Although the section is confusingly organized, he convincingly argues that the procedure violated existing protocols for carbon-dating, using a poorly chosen sample that compromised the results because it had sustained fire and water damage in 1532. He also provides some evidence that the carbon-dating methods available in the 1980s offered limited accuracy at best, especially when applied to textiles. There is a big difference, however, between calling for more research to explain the Shroud's anomalous features, and proving that those features resulted from miraculous forces. Antonacci attempts to fill this gap with hypotheses that he treats as facts, and with violent leaps of logic. The discussion of archaeological and historical evidence intended to establish the Shroud's compatibility with first-century practices and biblical accounts is riddled with inaccuracies, decontextualized information, circular reasoning, and unfounded assumptions.
Antonacci's research will reinforce the faith of those who already believe in the Shroud, but is unlikely to win any converts among empirical-minded skeptics.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-87131-890-3
Page Count: 354
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An erudite and artful, though frustratingly restrained, look at Old Testament stories.
The Book of Genesis as imagined by a veteran voice of underground comics.
R. Crumb’s pass at the opening chapters of the Bible isn’t nearly the act of heresy the comic artist’s reputation might suggest. In fact, the creator of Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural is fastidiously respectful. Crumb took pains to preserve every word of Genesis—drawing from numerous source texts, but mainly Robert Alter’s translation, The Five Books of Moses (2004)—and he clearly did his homework on the clothing, shelter and landscapes that surrounded Noah, Abraham and Isaac. This dedication to faithful representation makes the book, as Crumb writes in his introduction, a “straight illustration job, with no intention to ridicule or make visual jokes.” But his efforts are in their own way irreverent, and Crumb feels no particular need to deify even the most divine characters. God Himself is not much taller than Adam and Eve, and instead of omnisciently imparting orders and judgment He stands beside them in Eden, speaking to them directly. Jacob wrestles not with an angel, as is so often depicted in paintings, but with a man who looks not much different from himself. The women are uniformly Crumbian, voluptuous Earth goddesses who are both sexualized and strong-willed. (The endnotes offer a close study of the kinds of power women wielded in Genesis.) The downside of fitting all the text in is that many pages are packed tight with small panels, and too rarely—as with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—does Crumb expand his lens and treat signature events dramatically. Even the Flood is fairly restrained, though the exodus of the animals from the Ark is beautifully detailed. The author’s respect for Genesis is admirable, but it may leave readers wishing he had taken a few more chances with his interpretation, as when he draws the serpent in the Garden of Eden as a provocative half-man/half-lizard. On the whole, though, the book is largely a tribute to Crumb’s immense talents as a draftsman and stubborn adherence to the script.
An erudite and artful, though frustratingly restrained, look at Old Testament stories.Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-393-06102-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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