Danison presents an account of spiritual beliefs gleaned from her near-death experience.
At 43, Danison (Backwards Guidebook, 2009, etc.) died shortly before an operation. After a brief period where her heart stopped due to anaphylactic shock or hypoglycemia, she spontaneously revived. During the time that she was dead, however, Danison experienced a series of profound visions that would dramatically influence the rest of her life. In her third book concerning near-death experiences, the author sets out to compare the spiritual truths she learned during the experience with ideas from organized religion. She describes realizing or remembering truths about the universe, witnessing the Big Bang and understanding that beings are not truly individuals but manifestations of God. The book describes Danison’s experiences in simplistic prose using New Age terms, referring to her experiences as “knowings,” God as “the Source” and those in the afterlife as “Light Beings.” Throughout her near-death experience, Danison realized that humans never learned Christian dogma and teachings from the Source. Instead, they constructed religious ideas and the concept of a messiah who will lead them back to the divine and out of fear and an inability to understand that humans are the Source—they exist as thoughts and fragments of the Source’s consciousness. The book provides typical apocalyptic warnings, describing a “transitional period” beginning around 2013 that involves natural disasters, mass pandemics and flooding. Disappointingly, the book doesn’t provide a very complex investigation of near-death experiences and religion, instead skimming over the basic history of Christianity and comparing it to Danison’s experience, such as her witnessing the evolution of Christianity from early disjointed groups. Likewise, while Danison’s visions may theoretically have been hallucinations, the book presents them as physical and spiritual truths. Readers interested in near-death experiences may find the book compelling for its depiction of reality, but those who don’t accept Danison’s experience at face value will struggle with the text. Too narrow in scope to provide a legitimate comparison between near-death experiences and organized Christianity.
Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-1934482100
Page Count: 183
Publisher: A.P. Lee & Co
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2011
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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