bookshelf

UPSIDE DOWN?

Name: UPSIDE DOWN?
Author: Ward Smith
ISBN: 978-1-64367-762-0

DISCOVERING CREATION

by Ward Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A mostly well-written collection of musings that unnecessarily insulates itself from past Christian thinkers.

bookshelf

A series of loosely connected essays on the nature and tenuous future of Christianity.

Ward (Who Me?, 2011), a layman in the Episcopalian Church, begins his book by reflecting on the dire state of traditional churches, whose decline in membership over the last century shows no sign of abating. He encourages the church to avoid becoming despondent and instead turns its current paradigm, which prioritizes biblical texts, “upside down.” Instead of focusing exclusively on the “words of God,” he suggests, the church should give “equal status” to God’s creations and reflect on what they say about the nature of God, the church, and humanity and about the meaning of life. Using this basic thematic framework, the author offers more than 40 short essays that ponder subjects from evolution to behavioral psychology and examines what they reveal about the nature of God. For example, the science of evolutionary biology, he says, asserts that life must “adapt or die”; given humanity’s predilection toward violence and self-destruction, he says, Jesus’ message to love one’s neighbor must become a “new survival behavior.” Ward is at his best when discussing the relevance of science to the spiritual realm. Traditional Christians may be skeptical of a book that makes few references to biblical passages, but other readers may find refreshing spiritual insights in modern science, be it quantum physics or neurology. Ward is, of course, far from the first Christian to contemplate existential questions left unanswered by the Bible, and his work would have been strengthened by acknowledging the roughly 2,000-year corpus of Christian theological and philosophical ruminations, from St. Thomas Aquinas to Søren Kierkegaard. Additionally, the book concludes with an out-of-place political essay that laments the current state of America’s economy and an educational system in which “our best technical schools are over half filled with foreign students.”

A mostly well-written collection of musings that unnecessarily insulates itself from past Christian thinkers.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 978-1-64367-762-0

Page Count: -

Publisher: Self

Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2020

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

bookshelf

TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

bookshelf

An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.