A provocative, revisionist interpretation of the Bible, vitiated by hyperbolic overstatement.
An argument for a fuller conception of the biblical God, emphasizing the deity’s fearsome judgment.
Debut author Yohn contends that the prevailing understanding of God today is a sanitized one. The emphasis on God’s love, tolerance, and mercy, he says, comes at the expense of acknowledging his unyielding demands for obedience and his promise of eventual judgment. Instead of looking to the deity for authoritative guidance, the author notes, far too many people rely upon their own vacillating opinions as their primary moral compass: “people speak what they want to believe is true about the Lord instead of how God has disclosed himself to them.” However, according to Yohn, it’s impossible to truly understand God, or navigate an often dark world, without accepting that one’s life culminates in a verdict on one’s earthly rectitude. The author scours the Bible to defend his depiction of God and discusses various ways in which one can interpret the titular fear. He also provides textual evidence for his view that God’s ultimate judgment is inevitable, and not one to be understood in allegorical terms. In Yohn’s interpretation, life is largely a morally grim trial, and the only hope for mankind is submission to God’s will. The author makes a compelling case that the biblical God is a more complex figure than often surmised, and that some Christian denominations whitewash the Bible’s austere worldview. However, a more sustained analysis of the differences between the depictions of God in the Old and New Testament seems in order, as well as an expanded discussion of biblical hermeneutics. Also, the author can be remarkably strident in his conclusions, labeling dissent “nonsense” and defining a “psychologically healthy person” as one who’s obedient to God.
A provocative, revisionist interpretation of the Bible, vitiated by hyperbolic overstatement.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-973615-21-7
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: June 4, 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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