Friedman (Hebrew and Comp. Lit./Univ. of Calif., San Diego; Who Wrote the Bible?, 1987) traces the theme of God's disappearance in the Hebrew Bible and in the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and proposes a new religious outlook based on a synthesis of the Big Bang theory and Kabbalah. Dramatic interventions of God in human affairs, like the parting of the Red Sea, are found in the earlier books of the Bible and gradually diminish, according to Friedman, as the human race learns to take responsibility for its own destiny, above all with the institution of rabbinic Judaism, in which men hand down decisions concerning God's law. Friedman offers a stimulating analysis of Nietzsche's Zarathustra and the Superman, with parallels from Dostoevsky, arguing that both writers experienced the full weight of the disappearance of God and man's consequent loneliness. Finally, he speculates that science, which had seemed to strip the world of its religious meaning, is now reuniting us with God as we learn about cosmic background radiation from the explosion that gave birth to the universe. The ``singularity,'' he suggests, from which the universe is expanding vindicates the Kabbalah's mystical theory that the visible universe emanated from a single, unknowable point. He argueswithout much evidencethat, in a world where God seems absent, we will surely find a basis for morality in the idea of loyalty to the human species. Friedman exaggerates the importance of the short-lived Death of God theology of the '60s, and in his ideal of a cosmic and somewhat pantheistic deity, he seems to equate the notion of a personal God with anthropomorphism. And many readers will dispute Friedman's dismissal of Dostoevsky's religiosity and of the present-day openness to contemplative awareness of God's presence. A nontheological approach to a profoundly theological question that is both exciting and inevitably limited.
Pub Date: Oct. 2, 1995
ISBN: 0-316-29434-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1995
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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