A passionate appeal to Christians to embrace selflessness in their prayer rituals.
Christian minister Garcia calls for a renewed faith in the power of prayer in her nonfiction debut.
Many Christians only pray during weekly church services, or only in times of need. However, in this strong work, Garcia challenges this practice. She cites biblical references that indicate that prayer should not only be continuous, but also difficult, at times: “Is your worship costing you anything?” she asks. “If it isn’t, you must examine your heart and make sure it’s prepared and ready to worship God.” The key, in her view, is the intensely personal nature of prayer, which, in the New Testament, is often conducted in solitude. Her book’s chapters are often broken into many smaller sections, featuring insets containing bullet-pointed insights. Overall, they include many prayers for many occasions, all oriented around the idea of intimate communication with God. Prayer is not concerned with checklists of personal needs, she notes; its focus shouldn’t be on what the faithful have to say to God, but what God has to say to the faithful: “Prayer is like having your phone ring,” the author points out. “When we don’t answer the call to pray, we miss out on what God wants to say to us.” Overall, Garcia uses a clear and accessible prose style to target the practice of facile, lip service prayer, and to encourage readers to pray for the homeless, for orphans, for the outcasts of society who were the focus of Jesus’ ministry (“he did not discriminate. He was available to all people”); she also urges, as Jesus did, prayer for one’s enemies. In the end, this book’s intended audience of fellow Christians will find many simple but valuable affirmations in this book’s pages.
A passionate appeal to Christians to embrace selflessness in their prayer rituals.Pub Date: June 22, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-973625-38-4
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2018
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
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
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