An earnest call for inclusivity that packs an emotional punch.
Taylor (Enabling the Disabled in the Body of Christ, 2016), a Christian pastor who’s blind and partially deaf, instructs churches on how to better attract and serve the disabled members of their community in this spiritual guide.
As someone with lifelong disabilities, the author has had both good and bad experiences with churches; one welcomed her into its supportive family, she says, and another rejected her by refusing to accommodate her needs. Now a pastor herself, Taylor offers this book as an “olive branch from the disabled side” to church administrators seeking to do a better job of ministering to their disabled flock. She outlines what the current landscape looks like for Christians with disabilities—from inaccessible buildings to congregations that exclude people whose conditions cause them to make too much noise. Many churches that attempt to accommodate the disabled, Taylor notes, only end up replicating the wider society’s tendencies toward “pity and paternalism.” In addition to preaching the benefits of welcoming parishioners with disabilities—such as spreading Jesus Christ’s teachings and fostering a more loving environment—Taylor shares her own experiences as a disability advocate to highlight the many ways that church leaders can care for all their congregants. Along the way, her prose is cordial and wise: “The biggest and most important strategy for successfully including the disabled is for you and your church to look at the disabled through God’s eyes rather than through the world’s.” The practical tips, such as listing disability accommodations on a church’s website, are specific and valuable, but the biggest revelation is that so much of the advice is applicable to any outsider group: Accept them, listen to them, and love them. Although this book is rooted specifically in Christianity, Taylor’s words will resonate with all able-bodied members of society.
An earnest call for inclusivity that packs an emotional punch.Pub Date: Dec. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-973642-85-5
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
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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