Surprisingly moving.
An earnest, if sometimes banal, account of one man’s struggle to get right with his Christian faith.
Early on in the story of his spiritual journey, Conger quotes the prophet Isaiah in describing the type of Christian he no longer wants to be—“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” For Conger, Christianity isn’t about following hollow rules; it’s about developing an intimate, life-transforming relationship with the living Jesus. He distinguishes between a lazy “cruise ship” belief and “battleship” Christianity, and, every day, he seeks to take up his sword and “join others on the front lines for Christ.” The book tracks his efforts to do so—by going to church, by leading Christian men’s groups and by testifying to Jesus’ truth in his words and actions. Not that the path is always straight or smooth. Conger also shares stories of personal hardship—loss of loved ones, marital strife and health crises. The most dramatic of these is his brush with death while undergoing open-heart surgery. But while all of these challenges make faith hard, he argues that life’s rough stretches are tests given by God that help the devout strengthen and “refine” their belief. Conger writes of his life, his family and his religion in clean, unaffected prose. And if one of the hallmarks of the Christian faith is humility, his modest, unpretentious style is a sign of his spiritual progress. The book’s only weaknesses are its longer, autobiographical non sequiturs. We could do without irrelevant tales of a lost dress coat, or a family trip to Lake Michigan—but only because the rest of Conger’s narrative seems so focused, and so important.
Surprisingly moving.Pub Date: June 24, 2011
ISBN: 978-1615079056
Page Count: 118
Publisher: CrossBooks
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2011
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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