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The Destiny of the Mother Church (Twentieth-Century Biographers Series)
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
1
Author:
Book Type: Hardcover
1
Review Date: 4/10/2009
Helpful Score: 1
This book was written and published by a rich donor to Christian Science to promulgate his belief that Mary Baker Eddy was present at the creation of the world. It should be noted that "orthodox" Christian Science makes no such claim. In fact, the publication of the book caused a split in the church, but they finally went ahead with the publication because money talks and it said Publish.
Review Date: 10/26/2009
Helpful Score: 1
Richard Wilbur is perhaps the last major American poet to keep working in rhyme and meter. His poems show the kind of craftsmanship about which you might justly say "they don't make them like that any more." His subjects range through the world and history, and from fear to love to sheer humor and delight. There aren't many poets writing these days whose poems you might want to memorize, but he is certainly one of them. His popularity seems to have waned some over the past few decades, yet his poems are sure to last and be rediscovered by future generations.
Review Date: 7/9/2009
This brilliant book--unlike any other I've seen--presents a fictional conference to which various voices representing contemporary philosophies and religions have been invited, including a beatnik poet and a nun. In their wildly different voices and from their wildly different perspectives they discuss spirituality in the modern age. You get the experience of having been inside a remarkable collection of brains and having looked at the world through many eyes.
Review Date: 7/9/2009
This funny novel presents an idealistic Eastern writer being lured to LA to make a television show and being caught up in the cogs of a culture too weird for words. The book obviously capitalizes on Wakefield's own experience as a TV writer and a novelist whose books have been filmed.
Review Date: 4/20/2009
This book asks what may be inferred from all the things that Jesus did NOT say. The discussions are interesting and raise points that deserve further examination. However, the fundamental premise of reasoning from what the Gospels do not say is diluted in its strength by the fact that the Gospels actually say very little and are remarkably silent about all sorts of things. What did Jesus look like? Was he single or married? How did he feel about slavery (which figures heavily in his parables but is not the subject of direct moral pronouncements)? How did he survive? Did he pass the hat when he gave sermons? Did he have well-to-do supporters (possibly including the Mary, Martha and Lazarus family in Bethany)? Paul supported himself with tentmaking while preaching the good news. Did Jesus continue to work construction as a carpenter during any of the period where he was also starting to preach? Did he really take an entirely otherworldly attitude about the Roman occupation of his homeland? There is so much silence in the Gospels that almost anything could be read into it. Perhaps a more solid approach to "the silence of Jesus" is simply to point out that certain preachers preach a Scripture that just isn't there: Jesus doesn't promise his followers financial prosperity, he doesn't condemn homosexuality or even sex before marriage (not that he would have necessarily approved), and in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he makes no claim to be God. That much "silence of Jesus" is worth noting.
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