Rewarding, ripe wisdom for a life lived with open eyes and a caring soul.
A Maine-based pastor draws daily rations of wisdom from both nature and human foibles.
In short chapters that have the feeling of sermons, McCall seeks “deep chords of hope” to weather our fraught times. “Depression, suicide, anxiety and addiction, including wealth addiction, are rampant and threaten to crumble industrialized societies from within,” he writes, “playing into the hands of demagogues and the greedy. The author is clearly in tune with his surroundings, and the environment plays a crucial role in these thought pieces. Arguing that we “are moving from dogmatic religion established by male hierarchies and based on supernatural revelation to open-sourced religion established by consensus and based on Nature,” McCall leaves room for differing interpretations of divinity. Such comments as evolution being “the music of the spheres” open up different avenues of approach to the natural and spiritual worlds, all of which emphasize the author’s sense that “every creature is kin.” McCall tries hard to be relatable, and he mostly succeeds in serving as an affable guide to the complex mysteries and marvels of existence. For example, note his description of a particularly spectacular solar display: “Like a glimpse of the bone structure of the cosmos, and the bones were made of light.” It’s not all love and light, however, as the author also addresses such topics as climate change, income inequality, and estate taxes, “instituted by our founders to prevent the growth of a wealthy aristocratic class, as in Europe.” There are a few stumbles: The Permian extinction erased more than 90% of the planet’s species, not 50%, and the author’s discussion of intelligent evolution could use further consideration. More often than not, however, McCall hits the nail squarely on the head, and quotations from Thoreau, Whitman, Longfellow, Tecumseh, Welty, Dillard, and others add shading.
Rewarding, ripe wisdom for a life lived with open eyes and a caring soul.Pub Date: Dec. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-09600977-2-2
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Pushcart
Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
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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