A useful daily primer for Christian couples.
A month of Christian meditations aimed at structuring and strengthening romantic relationships.
Bergmann’s slim nonfiction debut, aimed squarely at fellow Christians, takes readers through 31 days of reflections on all aspects of relationships between men and women, reminding readers that “the first step is to look for someone whose heart is after God’s.” This idea is key to every aspect of the book; indeed, this is much less a study of how two people can perfect a relationship with each other and more a study of how, in the author’s view, a healthy relationship contours to three participants: a man, a woman, and God: “Everything we have, every opportunity given to us,” Bergmann writes, “is by His hand.” (Bergmann opens with a note asserting that the book will also appeal to single people by giving them a kind of relationship blueprint, but the book is clearly designed for married couples.) Readers are also continually warned by the author that Satan always lurks to do harm and pull people apart: “Satan enslaves us. Christ frees us,” he says. “Satan destroys our lives. Christ saves.” Many meditations, though, simply concentrate on the basics of any relationship, applicable to people of any faith: honesty, clear and enthusiastic communication, common courtesy. Couples are urged to control their tempers, not to be careless with words, and to curtail pointless, trust-sapping complaining. Bergmann uses a clear, sparse prose style throughout in elaborating these points, and each chapter is lavishly supplied with quotes from Scripture at every step. The author has many useful things to say about the dangers of egotism and anger, but the book’s main point is evangelical: The highest goal of every relationship, it says, is to make that relationship pleasing to God. Religious couples will likely find each of these meditations instructive.
A useful daily primer for Christian couples.Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-973607-38-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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