A pensive and empathetic spiritual memoir.
Carr discusses maintaining faith through tribulation in this debut Christian memoir.
The Book of Job says that “man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward,” and it is with Job in mind that Carr offers this account of how he dealt with his life’s trials. An architect and Pentecostal bishop, the author was married for 54 years to his wife, Patricia, who suffered for most of that time from myasthenia gravis, a rare muscular disease. The decades of sickness, he says, gave her many moments of frustration and doubt. They also, at times, shook Carr’s own faith: “I just wait for the next thunderbolt to fall,” he wrote in an article for a Pentecostal magazine, “knowing that the present pain is so great that a little more will not matter. I’m crumbling inside, and all the vain platitudes from fellow saints are the mouthing of cold comfort.” For Carr and his wife, though, faith always returned—sometimes, he says, due to direct communication from God. The author uses these moments of epiphany, supplemented with Bible stories, anecdotes, and allegories from history and popular culture to present the case for faith, even during times when believing seems impossible. It’s one thing to have a formal creed—a nominal religion that one follows and relates to in an abstract or academic way—but the author calls for readers to pursue a living creed, celebrating and affirming one’s faith with one’s actions. Overall, Carr is a thoughtful, practiced writer, and he depicts his wife’s condition and its accompanying difficulties in a way that will move any reader, regardless of his or her religious beliefs. His spiritual message is strongly Christian, although it’s not as dogmatic or incurious as other authors who’ve sought to make similar arguments. Christian readers who sometimes find themselves insecure in their faith will likely take comfort in Carr’s words; he and his wife truly suffered in myriad ways, but he asserts that they managed to remain believers, due to their commitment to a living creed.
A pensive and empathetic spiritual memoir.Pub Date: July 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5246-3054-6
Page Count: 226
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2016
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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