An optimistic account of the church’s future in the midst of a secular age.
What are American Catholics to do in today’s troubled world?
Chaput (Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life, 2008, etc.), the archbishop of Philadelphia, urges Christians, and Catholics in particular, to be hopeful in the midst of a changing culture. Honing in on Western and especially American society, the author posits that irreparable changes have occurred in recent decades that change how the church must view its role; though times are more difficult for the Christian faith and for the institution of the church, believers can still live with hope. Chaput begins with a healthy dose of doom and gloom, describing social ills and a general drift away from faith or even from shared value systems. He writes at length about the sea change in sexual ethics, from the advent of the birth control pill to issues surrounding gender fluidity. These changes, he asserts, have challenged society at its very core. “Ultimately,” he writes, sexual freedom “leads to questions about who a person is and what it means to be human.” Likewise, excessive relativism in our education system means that “moral truths accessible to human reason, such as those in the Ten Commandments, don’t really qualify as true.” However, “for Christians, of course, truth is a Person,” Jesus Christ, and this is what separates believers from the secular world surrounding them. Chaput goes on to encourage readers to embrace hope as a worldview and as a lifestyle. He points to the Beatitudes as a set of rules Christians can and should follow in a world that is ambivalent or even hostile to their beliefs. Finally, he encourages believers to pass on their faith in confidence and with purpose. Chaput is an erudite writer, and his work includes a wide array of quotations and allusions. His observations on Western culture are keen, and while secular-minded readers will find plenty to argue with, his writing will appeal to a wide Christian audience.
An optimistic account of the church’s future in the midst of a secular age.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62779-674-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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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