An earnest but unevenly executed religious critique.
Debut author Tuck’s treatise urges readers to embrace what they deem to be the simple truths of Christianity.
The book begins by discussing the reasoning behind its premise. Tuck states a belief that Christians in the 2020s need to get back to their roots. He also writes that many branches of the faith “have no leaves, [and] they produce no fruit,” and goes on to assert that the truth of the Bible has become lost in a vast sea of interpretation. The book appears to be aimed at a target audience of modern Christians, with a goal to bring them back to what the author considers to be the basics of the religion. For example, he asserts that “The guiding forces are faith and love” and that these core Christian values are being ignored due, in part, to complacency. The book is fairly short at just over 150 pages, but it’s packed with the author’s deeply felt perspectives, and the clear passion behind them jumps off the page to maintain reader interest: “It is not a matter of being argumentative, but of bringing the truth to light.” Overall, it feels like an angry call to action. However, some of it seems intended to arouse a sense of fear, which may put off some readers: “We are neither on fire for God or completely turned hostile to God. Because of this, we can now begin to see the rapture taking place.” Also, at times, the book feels like a stream of consciousness put to paper, and this uninterrupted flow—with arguments unsupported by references to other works, other than the Bible itself—may not appeal to all readers.
An earnest but unevenly executed religious critique.Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 979-8885406338
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A small gem of medical philosophy.
In his second book on medical ethics, philosopher Gorovitz (Syracuse Univ.) reports on his seven weeks in 1985 as "Authorized Snoop and Irritant-at-Large" at Boston's renowned Beth Israel Hospital.
As in Doctor's Dilemmas (1982), here Gorovitz tackles some tough topics: abortion, "do-not-resuscitate" orders, transplantations, and other issues circling around the question of "where to draw the line." His judicious investigations will not please hard-liners on either side. For instance, while supporting most fetal-tissue research, he opposes interspecies transplants; he restages the abortion debate on high moral ground, exploring prevailing community standards and such vexing questions as what happens when an aborted fetus survives the operation, in the process forging a middle path between abortion-on-demand and no-abortions-ever. Hospital advertisements, medical expenses, surrogate motherhood, and doctor-patient relations are among other issues explored with characteristic care. This all may sound dry, but in fact it's captivating, thanks to Gorovitz's decision to confront issues as they naturally arise in the course of day-to-day hospital operations. This grounds his difficult, sometimes abstruse themes in real-life, flesh-and-blood struggles, giving his conclusions added authority.
A small gem of medical philosophy.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1990
ISBN: 19-504428-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
What curmudgeon would argue?
Once there was a parablist named Joshua and at times his fresh new parables were received with open minds by reviewers (Joshua in the Holy Land, 1992) as Joshua brought peace to the strife-torn Middle East. Yet in still later sheaves, as Joshua set about reforming sin-laden New York City, reviewers felt an encroaching blandness wash over them (Joshua and the City, 1995).
Clearly one cannot read all of Joshua’s parables at one sitting, particularly when one may not share Joshua’s views that God awaits all at journey’s end and will judge the righteous and the unrighteous and that heaven is a shining city to be sought under the guidance of the church while God counts (and recounts) votes for or against us with His mind as open as a left-wing liberal’s while perhaps weighing our interest in the social security of our offspring and the need for enforcing or cutting the death tax and measuring our decision to back or not back legal executions for capital offenses. Why not, a Republican might ask, embrace the wealthy just as warmly as we do the poor and spiritually disenfranchised? But Joshua’s latest parables fearlessly take on the hardhearted businessman, obsessed by the ever-rising value of his stocks, and in no way support Big Money. He takes on moviemakers focused on massacres. He dispenses wisdom about marriage in the parable in which Satan seduces the devoted wife, and in the parable of the ants shows how the peaceful and cooperative ant builds a healthy home life that husbands and wives should look to—though he fails to note the rages between rival ant colonies. To one synagogue he describes God as a Supreme Artist whose masterpiece includes the most far-flung matter in the Universe and whose Artistic Genius is not to be understood quickly, although He has a tender heart, witness our taste buds and eyes and ears for experiencing the ecstasy of His creation.
What curmudgeon would argue?Pub Date: March 20, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-49511-0
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
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