An insightful treatise on the intersection of faith and science for believers and nonbelievers alike.
A timely book on the relationship between religion and science.
Al-Ali, a surgeon, argues that there is no gap between religion and science when they’re seen and studied in the correct light. As a devout Muslim—though that wasn’t always the case—well versed in both fields, he’s ideally positioned to write a treatise on religion and science. There’s a long tradition of both religious authors and laypeople writing tafsirs, or commentaries on the Quran. Al-Ali writes that “classical Tafsirs (commentaries) were written centuries ago and, of course, without the benefit of the scientific discoveries and knowledge that we now have.” His goal in part is to remedy this deficiency, thereby illuminating the close relationship he perceives between scientific discoveries and timeless sacred texts that, he writes, contain scientific truths, some of which have only recently been realized. Consciously approaching his project as a layperson, Al-Ali has different intentions than what some readers might expect from a commentary on the Quran. He aims not to prove Islam but to demonstrate “to all believers that faith is tangible, not visionary or priggish.” While it is common for Christians writing on the same topic to assert that, Al-Ali means to show that faith and science are nonexclusive, overlapping domains that support and reinforce one another. After all, he maintains, science discovers the laws and workings of the creator, and divine books anticipate scientific advances that would have been unthinkable at the time they were written. While quoting extensively from religious texts to make his points, Al-Ali’s engaging, readable commentary is accessible even to readers with little or no knowledge of the Quran.
An insightful treatise on the intersection of faith and science for believers and nonbelievers alike.Pub Date: April 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1480169968
Page Count: 282
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An interesting and largely rewarding volume that discusses the relationship between women and the Roman Catholic Church. Meehl, who left the Catholic Church, calls herself a recovering Catholic. For years she struggled with the church in which she was raised, often bored in the highly liturgical mass and alienated by the church's attitude toward women. But she remained faithful until an epiphany in the Grand Canyon told her that there could be more to religious experience. Finally, she joined a Unitarian congregation and became interested in the experiences of other women who had chosen to leave Catholicism. This volume presents the fruit of some 80 responses to a questionnaire she developed on the topic, supplemented by interviews. She lets the women (whose anonymity she protects but who come from a broad cross section of society) speak largely in their own words. She finds a remarkable constancy in their stories—in the way they reacted to a church that elevates Mary to the status of Holy Mother but refuses to ordain women. These are accounts of shame and guilt, mixed with much anger, at a denomination that claims to want them but, they feel, makes very little place for them (``If you think women in the church have it bad, remember, there is one group lower: nonpersons often referred to as `the good sisters,' '' says one angry bride of Christ). The church's stance on birth control and abortion plays an important part in the study—both as a reason for dissent and as an indication of the denomination's views of women. Mistreatment by nuns and clerics in both church and school is also a recurring theme. A sense of trauma and betrayal sounds on almost every page. All of this is powerful but somewhat undercut by the lack of voices and attitudes of women who choose to remain Catholic. Meant as a support mechanism for women who leave the church, the volume also provides an intriguing glimpse into their thoughts.
Pub Date: Feb. 15, 1995
ISBN: 0-87975-927-5
Page Count: 283
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1994
A provocative meditation on the way we live now.
Ottawa Citizen politics editor Potter (co-author: Nation of Rebels: How Non-Conformity Drives Our Consumer Society, 2004) argues that the widespread quest for “authenticity” simply exacerbates our discontent with modern life.
A journalist with a doctorate in philosophy, the author writes with authority about the ways in which today’s men and women seek authenticity, or meaning, in their lives—loft-living, ecotourism, yoga, the slow-food movement, etc. Dissatisfied with a world dominated by the fake, the prepackaged and the artificial, they seek “the honest, the natural, the real, the authentic.” But the quest is a hoax, writes Potter. There is no such thing as authenticity, any more than there is an authenticity detector that you could wave at something. Our search for authenticity is a response to the malaise of modernity. Emerging between 1500 and 1800, the worldview of modernity swept away traditional sources of meaning on a tide of secularism, liberalism and the market economy, leaving people with profoundly changed attitudes toward science, religion and personal identity. Potter draws nicely on the writings of Lionel Trilling, on philosophical thought from Rousseau to Diderot and on elements of popular culture from the singer Avril Lavigne to the TV program The Office. He shows how alienation from the ever-changing modern world has prompted several centuries of “rainbow-chasing” after authentic living that is often simply nostalgia for a nonexistent past or disguised status-seeking. For example, the case against suburban living “is little more than lifestyle snobbery disguised as a quest for authenticity.” Potter’s anecdote-filled book explores such topics as art forgery, plagiarism, organic living, fake memoirs, politics and Oprah Winfrey’s “cult of authenticity through therapeutic self-disclosure, of the sort promoted by her frequent guest Dr. Phil.” The author’s discussions of authenticity as a strategy for marketing “vintage” jeans and other goods and as a way of promoting an undiluted cultural past to tourists are especially rewarding. How to avoid the authenticity hoax? Potter writes that we must pursue forms of individualism that make peace with the modern world, with all its benefits and losses.
A provocative meditation on the way we live now.Pub Date: April 13, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-125133-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2010
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