A rigorous textual juxtaposition of two faiths, marred by uneven writing.
A comparative study of Christianity and Islam that seeks to spell out terms of reconciliation between the two religions.
When Ireland (Christianity’s Invitation From Jesus to Islam, 2016) was a Protestant seminarian in 2000, he became fascinated by the theological connections between the Christian and Muslim faiths. He discovered many similarities and points of intersection, particularly in the religions’ authoritative scriptures. However, he also noted a considerable doctrinal divide, and that their interpretations of the conditions for salvation are mutually exclusive. For example, Christians venerate Jesus as the son of God and accept his combination of humanity and divinity. However, although the Quran repeatedly references Jesus and recognizes his status as a major prophet, it denies that he was more than a mere man. Ireland carefully reviews relevant passages in the Bible to present a remarkably concise snapshot of Christian theology. He provides a synoptic overview of the faith’s essential message, the Trinitarian conception of God, and an accessible interpretation of the Holy Spirit. Likewise, he explores the fundamental tenets of Judaism, as Christianity was historically connected to it and all three of the major monotheistic traditions are Abrahamic. The author also examines the Quran and adumbrates its foundational beliefs, which simply contradict the Bible’s claim to ultimate authority. Although Ireland calls for mutual respect and tolerance between the two religions—and reciprocal forgiveness for historical sins committed by zealots on either side—his deepest purpose is to describe and recommend the Christian view of salvation, which he says was made possible by Jesus’ ministry, martyrdom, and resurrection. The author’s command of the relevant scriptural material and scholarly commentaries is extraordinary, and this study functions as a handy reference guide for readers looking to compare the Bible and the Quran, point by point. Problematically, though, the prose style can be awkward and unwieldy: “In our review Christianity, would identify Islam as an individual religion separate from the basic beliefs of Christianity, since it uses many terms defined in Christianity or narratives in the Holy Bible in ways that are inconsistent with Biblical teachings.”
A rigorous textual juxtaposition of two faiths, marred by uneven writing.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-692-81648-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: Middle East Religious Studies Foundation
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
From the national correspondent for PBS's MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour: a moving memoir of her youth in the Deep South and her role in desegregating the Univ. of Georgia. The eldest daughter of an army chaplain, Hunter-Gault was born in what she calls the ``first of many places that I would call `my place' ''—the small village of Due West, tucked away in a remote little corner of South Carolina. While her father served in Korea, Hunter-Gault and her mother moved first to Covington, Georgia, and then to Atlanta. In ``L.A.'' (lovely Atlanta), surrounded by her loving family and a close-knit black community, the author enjoyed a happy childhood participating in activities at church and at school, where her intellectual and leadership abilities soon were noticed by both faculty and peers. In high school, Hunter-Gault found herself studying the ``comic-strip character Brenda Starr as I might have studied a journalism textbook, had there been one.'' Determined to be a journalist, she applied to several colleges—all outside of Georgia, for ``to discourage the possibility that a black student would even think of applying to one of those white schools, the state provided money for black students'' to study out of state. Accepted at Michigan's Wayne State, the author was encouraged by local civil-rights leaders to apply, along with another classmate, to the Univ. of Georgia as well. Her application became a test of changing racial attitudes, as well as of the growing strength of the civil-rights movement in the South, and Gault became a national figure as she braved an onslaught of hostilities and harassment to become the first black woman to attend the university. A remarkably generous, fair-minded account of overcoming some of the biggest, and most intractable, obstacles ever deployed by southern racists. (Photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-374-17563-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992
Necessarily swift and adumbrative as well as inclusive, focused, and graceful.
A light-speed tour of (mostly) Western poetry, from the 4,000-year-old Gilgamesh to the work of Australian poet Les Murray, who died in 2019.
In the latest entry in the publisher’s Little Histories series, Carey, an emeritus professor at Oxford whose books include What Good Are the Arts? and The Unexpected Professor: An Oxford Life in Books, offers a quick definition of poetry—“relates to language as music relates to noise. It is language made special”—before diving in to poetry’s vast history. In most chapters, the author deals with only a few writers, but as the narrative progresses, he finds himself forced to deal with far more than a handful. In his chapter on 20th-century political poets, for example, he talks about 14 writers in seven pages. Carey displays a determination to inform us about who the best poets were—and what their best poems were. The word “greatest” appears continually; Chaucer was “the greatest medieval English poet,” and Langston Hughes was “the greatest male poet” of the Harlem Renaissance. For readers who need a refresher—or suggestions for the nightstand—Carey provides the best-known names and the most celebrated poems, including Paradise Lost (about which the author has written extensively), “Kubla Khan,” “Ozymandias,” “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads, which “changed the course of English poetry.” Carey explains some poetic technique (Hopkins’ “sprung rhythm”) and pauses occasionally to provide autobiographical tidbits—e.g., John Masefield, who wrote the famous “Sea Fever,” “hated the sea.” We learn, as well, about the sexuality of some poets (Auden was bisexual), and, especially later on, Carey discusses the demons that drove some of them, Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath among them. Refreshingly, he includes many women in the volume—all the way back to Sappho—and has especially kind words for Marianne Moore and Elizabeth Bishop, who share a chapter.
Necessarily swift and adumbrative as well as inclusive, focused, and graceful.Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-23222-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
