Awkward poems, but sound biblical summaries.
Weiglein adapts the Bible into verse in this debut collection.
The author’s journey through Scripture, as she describes in a brief foreword, is not that of a typical reader. As she made her way through the Good Book, she says, she noted highlights of each chapter and summarized them in brief poems. This volume, the first in a planned series, represents her poetic rendering of the Pentateuch, the Historical Books, and the Wisdom Books. These feature many of the Bible’s most famous stories, including those of Adam and Eve (“God formed Adam from the dust of the ground. / Then He planted a garden all around”); Noah’s ark (“Noah was told to build a boat / and make sure that it would float”); the Exodus (“God showed the strength of His mighty hand. / The Red Sea parted and there was land”); David and Goliath (“David’s courage, faith, and skills / helped him the giant to kill”); and Job (“For Job things got really bad / He lost everything he had”). Each chapter of each book gets its own brief poem, generally four to eight lines in length. Weiglein generally writes using rhyming couplets, giving the poems an unmistakable nursery rhyme quality, but it’s one that lends itself well to the ancient stories. Unfortunately, she largely ignores meter, so each of the two lines in a couplet can have anywhere from five to 12 syllables. This keeps the reader from ever finding a consistent rhythm, which would have made the reading experience much more enjoyable—particularly during the drier books, such as Leviticus: “We have not used sex God’s way. / It has been degraded in our day. / Washing was the act of purification / that kept the act from degradation.” Weiglein writes that she hopes this book will provide a jumping-off point for readers who might be unfamiliar with Scripture, and it’s true that her work is much less intimidating than the Bible itself. By breaking each chapter into a rhyming, bite-sized unit, this book will allow readers to quickly understand and even memorize the main points of the stories. Although many other summaries of Scripture are available, this is perhaps one of the more fun offerings.
Awkward poems, but sound biblical summaries.Pub Date: April 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-973625-97-1
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.
A deeply thoughtful exploration of the first book of the Bible.
In this illuminating work of biblical analysis, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Robinson, whose Gilead series contains a variety of Christian themes, takes readers on a dedicated layperson’s journey through the Book of Genesis. The author meanders delightfully through the text, ruminating on one tale after another while searching for themes and mining for universal truths. Robinson approaches Genesis with a reverence and level of faith uncommon to modern mainstream writers, yet she’s also equipped with the appropriate tools for cogent criticism. Throughout this luminous exegesis, which will appeal to all practicing Christians, the author discusses overarching themes in Genesis. First is the benevolence of God. Robinson points out that “to say that God is the good creator of a good creation” sets the God of Genesis in opposition to the gods of other ancient creation stories, who range from indifferent to evil. This goodness carries through the entirety of Genesis, demonstrated through grace. “Grace tempers judgment,” writes the author, noting that despite well-deserved instances of wrath or punishment, God relents time after time. Another overarching theme is the interplay between God’s providence and humanity’s independence. Across the Book of Genesis, otherwise ordinary people make decisions that will affect the future in significant ways, yet events are consistently steered by God’s omnipotence. For instance, Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, and that action has reverberated throughout the history of all Jewish people. Robinson indirectly asks readers to consider where the line is between the actions of God and the actions of creation. “He chose to let us be,” she concludes, “to let time yield what it will—within the vast latitude granted by providence.”
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780374299408
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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
