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To Forgive God!

Name: To Forgive God!
Author: Peter Gasiorowski
ISBN: 978-1-5127-4059-2

by Peter Gasiorowski ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 25, 2016

A useful Christian work for readers seeking spiritual growth and self-help.

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Pastor and teacher Gasiorowski ponders the path to spiritual forgiveness after a tragedy in this short, debut religious tract.

The author had been married to his wife, Anna, for 16 years when she died in an automobile accident in Poland in 2003. Afterward, he couldn’t remember the events of that day, due to his own injuries, which only added to his emotional pain and spiritual confusion. He had to raise their two children, Joanne and Lucas, by himself while also crippled by grief. Even before the accident, the family had already struggled through the loss of twin babies, and the author dealt with a severe hepatitis-C infection, thyroid cancer, and surgery. His religious belief was severely tested, and he railed against God: “please leave me and my family alone!...No, I shall never forgive You this.” This crisis of faith led him to author this short tract, which charts his personal struggle to forgive God through his own version of the classic Kübler-Ross model of the seven stages of grief. For the author, the crisis largely manifested as a phase of running away from God, during which he also confronted the psychological sources of his pain. The process took years, and although his pain was not obviated, he reconciled with his faith to a point of spiritual peace. Throughout the text, Gasiorowski supplements his own observations with biblical homilies and examples. Along the way, the author offers some insight into the grieving process and, specifically, the Bible’s exhortations relating to it. Although the narrative gets off to a rocky start by confusingly switching perspectives between the author and his children, it eventually falls into a more predictable pattern. It’s not as polished in style and scholarship as similar writings by C.S. Lewis, for example, but there will surely be value in the work to readers who have a deeply spiritual or Christian viewpoint. The shorter length definitely lends itself to book- or study-group use, and it may spark lively discussion. An introduction by the Rev. Dr. Carson Pue, who also lost his wife, begins the book.

A useful Christian work for readers seeking spiritual growth and self-help.

Pub Date: May 25, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4059-2

Page Count: 74

Publisher: Westbow Press

Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION | GENERAL NONFICTION

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THE ART OF SOLITUDE

by Stephen Batchelor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 18, 2020

A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.

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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

Categories:

BODY, MIND & SPIRIT | PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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)