An admirable guide for those seeking a greater depth of belief in God.
A debut book offers a pastoral exploration of the meaning of Christian faith.
Faile explains that prior to his mother’s fatal battle with cancer, God revealed various definitions of faith to him. These disclosures, fleshed out with scriptural examples, form the framework for this brief work. The author utilizes short chapters, each starting with a relevant Bible passage, to provide a spiritual lesson. Each lesson includes a definition of faith, or at least a description of the work of devotion in the life of a believer. These are wide-ranging but truth-bearing: “Faith isn’t bound by what we see or believe but by what God sees in us and believes for us”; “Faith is believing God will do what you can’t”; “Faith comes by hearing and is strengthened by obeying,” to list only a few. The scriptural passages undergirding these delineations call to mind great heroes of faith, such as Elijah and Paul, as well as minor characters like the woman with a bleeding problem or the believing centurion. Faile brings up a number of very real issues of faith and continuing discipleship, including examining works resulting from spiritual belief, leaving one’s comfort zone, putting trust in God instead of in worldly things, and using devotion as a gateway to accepting God’s grace. Drawing on his background as a pastor, Faile is able to address authentic questions and problems with the benefit of extensive experience. His book is a completely accessible work for believers and spiritual seekers of any age. The author’s approach is thoroughly traditional and orthodox yet far from fundamentalist or judgmental in tone. The volume should be an especially worthwhile and simple read for newer believers who are still trying to grasp the meaning behind faith in an omnipotent God. It could even be seen as a helpful resource for other pastors and Christian educators struggling with how best to illustrate or lead discussions about faith.
An admirable guide for those seeking a greater depth of belief in God.Pub Date: Dec. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5127-6973-9
Page Count: 108
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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