by Russell C. Block ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2018
Progressive and modern in approach, an engaging appeal to the future Western church.
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A longtime minister offers a manifesto on faith.
Debut author Block, who has been involved in pastoring and community activism for over six decades, provides a lifetime’s worth of lessons about Christianity, Scripture, and the church. He necessarily begins with a brief autobiographical essay, providing readers with an idea of the author’s overarching frame of reference. From there, Block goes on to produce an outline of the Christian Bible, describing it in progressive and intellectually rich terms. For instance, in discussing the Tower of Babel, he takes the intriguing step of comparing the tale to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: “Human beings trying to play…God, while creating their own nemesis.” In discussing the New Testament, he extends a universalism to the story of Jesus, noting that “I fully believe also that God speaks to…people who profess other religions…and even no religion.” The author addresses what he views as misuses of the Bible, instances in which Scripture has been cited to support everything from racial and gender inequality to holy wars and the rejection of scientific findings. Finally, he commits a lengthy portion of his reflections to the subject of the church. His ideal view of the church is an open and liberalized one in which social activism is thoroughly coupled with a dedication to doctrine and evangelization. He also reviews the ministerial profession, with the benefit of a lengthy career’s worth of experience. Block is a clear and accessible writer who is frank, introspective, and well-read. But his opinions will not find agreement from the full range of readers. The author takes a thoroughly modern view of Scripture, studying it critically and proclaiming, for instance, that “one mistake is to maintain that the Bible…is automatically to be taken as the direct and literal word of God.” He quotes widely from progressive—and even controversial—authors like Eckhart Tolle, Bart Ehrman, and Marcus Borg and thoroughly discounts a literal reading of such traditional tenets of the faith as Jesus’ virgin birth. Still, his tone is generous and inviting throughout, endearing his writing to those who agree and disagree alike.
Progressive and modern in approach, an engaging appeal to the future Western church.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4897-0884-7
Page Count: 232
Publisher: LifeRichPublishing
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
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by Chris Gardner with Quincy Troupe ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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