by Paul Harrington ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 21, 2013
A book with challenging, uplifting messages that may spark valuable discussions about the community of faith.
Harrington, in his debut, interprets a collection of parables for readers seeking the kingdom of God in everyday life.
The author’s interpretation of the Bible rests on the principle that it’s necessary to understand the Bible’s original context in order to apply it to modern living: “A fundamental, vital task is to understand what the authors were saying first in their own situation, to the listeners of their day….[T]hen we can apply that meaning to ourselves. Only then can we put together a full, meaningful, vibrant understanding of God and how to relate with Him.” To that end, this collection seeks to help readers determine where they are in their journey to the Christian religious community he calls “the kingdom of God.” Harrington emphasizes its communal nature, contrasting it with the individual joys of salvation and a personal relationship with God: “Our family, our kingdom, has at its head the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” he writes. “Government does not justify us; religion does not save us. Only being in community, and fellowship…with Jesus Christ does that.” The author notes that many people concentrate on individual churchgoing and personal faith, and so he attempts to illuminate the necessity of religious fellowship. Harrington’s work as a pastoral counselor and Bible teacher shines through in this book; he’s clearly very familiar with the Scriptures, but also intimately familiar with everyday life and its struggles. He’s also gifted at turning profound ideas into messages that all readers can grasp. In his introduction, he mentions his hope that this book will be useful in a group setting, and its presentation seems ideal for that purpose. The discussion questions at the end of every chapter will be of particular interest, as they may help readers reflect on Harrington’s insights and use them in their own lives.
A book with challenging, uplifting messages that may spark valuable discussions about the community of faith.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2013
ISBN: 978-1490810614
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Albert Camus ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 1955
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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by Stephen Batchelor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 18, 2020
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
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