A vivid, if uneven, faith account by a charismatic preacher.
A passionate exhortation of fundamentalist Christianity from a teenage evangelist.
In this nonfiction debut, Wilkerson (with co-author Clower) provides readers with a collection of stirring homilies and speeches of the sort that have earned him a large following on social media. His message, stated in the three-word title, is simplicity itself. Christians seeking salvation, he asserts, must surrender themselves entirely to Jesus and his teachings. Wilkerson admits no shades of gray in this interpretation: “The devil has a will for your life and if you are doing his will then you are not doing God’s will,” he says. “There is no middle ground.” The rhetoric he uses in this book is equal measures urgent and incantatory, with some exaggerated statements that may be familiar to attendees of big-tent revivals. For instance, Wilkerson regularly makes allowance for clerical donations; God, he writes, “beckons those who He has blessed with monetary wealth to abandon our right to it and be willing to use it to assist those who are going into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature.” (The New Testament makes no specific mention of providing money for itinerant preachers.) He also characterizes Jesus as doing something that had never been done before—“He would defy the laws of man to proclaim the laws of God”—when Old Testament prophets did this, as well. Still, Wilkerson’s account rings with his clear dedication to spreading the Gospel overseas: “While the only risk most of us take is the possibility of being pulled over for speeding to get to church on time,” he notes, “there are thousands who risk their occupations, reputations, and even lives for the sake of Christ.” Christian readers will likely be touched by this young author’s zeal.
A vivid, if uneven, faith account by a charismatic preacher.Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5127-9577-6
Page Count: 196
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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