A simple story of faltering faith propped up by its fanciful milieu.
A lost soul attempts to reconcile religion and science in a violent world.
The authors tackle a metaphysical question–“What would it be like to be transported to a religious paradise of suppressed science?”–and apply equal parts medieval violence and Twilight Zone fantasy to their unconventional premise. The story opens with a heated argument between two friends with strongly differing views on faith and religious doctrine. John Pope is the conservative pastor of a local church, a man who believes that the word of God, via the Bible, should be evidence enough of his existence. His friend Mark is a doctor, a champion of science over faith who, to John’s dismay, has turned his back on the church. Before he goes to sleep that night, Pope delivers a mighty prayer: that science no longer exist. In a twist reminiscent of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s writing about teleportation, Pope awakens in a place vastly changed from the one he knew. Trapped in a medieval world where the Dark Ages rage on, Pope quickly loses his wife and children to a conflict between warring religious tribes. Seeking vengeance, Pope devotes himself to rediscovering scientific tools ranging from cannons to antibiotics, with little more than his high-school scientific knowledge to fuel his mission. He gains a lover, a similarly devout woman named Catherine, and loses a friend, Timothy, who is hanged for his devotion to Allah. When the disoriented preacher is arrested for heresy and blasphemy, he struggles to justify both his blind faith and scientific curiosity, even as his former friends are threatening to burn him at the stake. The thought-provoking plot is muddled by rudimentary action sequences cribbed from pulp thrillers, but Pope’s tortured questioning of his own faith is complex enough to buoy the story’s weaker sections.
A simple story of faltering faith propped up by its fanciful milieu.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2006
ISBN: 0-595-40796-X
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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