A religious treatise thinly disguised as a two-character play that might have been more effective without the fictional...
A dialogue that dramatizes the contest between faith and reason and discusses possibilities for Christian healing.
In the preface to his debut, Chak announces his philosophical design squarely: to explain in rational terms his own decision to become a Christian and, by extension, to show how faith and reason can happily coexist. Instead of a conventional treatise, the author presents a fictional exchange between a therapist and his patient. The patient, Sitara, is anguished over the sudden loss of her young son, who was killed in a car accident. She meets a woman grieving over a miscarriage in a support group and is intrigued by the strength that she finds in her faith, as Sitara has never been particularly religious herself. Once Sitara reveals this to Nathan, her therapist, he immediately launches into a historical account of Jesus’ disciples, followed by discussions about the rational defensibility of faith, the historical reliability of the Bible, the nature of the historical Jesus as both human and divine, and the scientific legitimacy of the Creation story in the book of Genesis. The conversation culminates in an analysis of spiritual redemption and of the nature of the properly lived Christian life. Chak provides an epistemology of faith that’s both philosophically sophisticated and accessible, as in the following passage: “Reason and faith are in a perpetual mental tango. Whenever reason can take a good step forward, faith takes the lead and creates the space for it.” Similarly, he agilely explains why he believes that creationism and science needn’t be understood as mutually contradictory. That said, much of the dialogue comes off as didactic, and the idea of a therapist spending the bulk of a session providing theological lessons may strike some readers as peculiar. As a result, this is an insightful work of Christian apologetics but one that fails as drama.
A religious treatise thinly disguised as a two-character play that might have been more effective without the fictional elementsPub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5127-6937-1
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2017
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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