A sometimes-laborious read that will resonate mostly with progressive Christian readers.
A troubled life viewed through a theological lens.
Jones (Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World, 2009, etc.)—president of New York’s Union Theological Seminary and past president of the American Academy of Religion—provides a frank memoir undergirded by the works of liberal Christian theologians, philosophers, and other thinkers. Though ostensibly centered on grace, the narrative contains numerous themes of anger and unresolved guilt. The author begins with a careful review of her Oklahoma heritage: homesteaders and rebels immersed in what she calls “prairie theology” (“we were all justified by God’s grace alone, which was good news”). The primary focus of Jones’ ire is her grandfather, whom she remembers as a racist and distasteful man who inappropriately touched his granddaughters. Throughout the book, his memory haunts Jones as a source of original sin that continues to follow her as an inherited taint. A similar source of pain is her mother, a spiteful woman whose final blow—admission of a yearslong affair—devastated her entire family. Along with these close sources of familial pain, the author discusses Timothy McVeigh, whose terrorist act in Oklahoma City touched her family directly. His eventual execution was a further source of internal conflict for Jones. A variety of other life events—e.g., severe illness while studying in India, divorce, a bout with cancer—shape the narrative, all connected to the theological ideas of Barth, Kierkegaard, Niebuhr, and others. The near death of her infant daughter from an allergic reaction tested her faith, and she felt guilty that other mothers around the world lose children every day because they do not share her privilege. Though studded with intriguing and thought-provoking sections, the text is weighed down by the author’s overstated pride in her work as a theologian, her unresolved internal struggles, and her tendency to lash out at others.
A sometimes-laborious read that will resonate mostly with progressive Christian readers.Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2364-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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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