Can love between two persons continue after one of them has died? This book argues that it can, based on the author’s own experience of “mystical” love with her soulmate, a Trappist monk 20 years her senior who died in late 1995. Bourgeault met Brother Raphael Robin at a Colorado monastery in 1990, when she, an Episcopal priest, was attending a prayer workshop there. When her marriage fell apart shortly thereafter, she returned to the monastery to center herself and developed a unique spiritual relationship with Rafe. The book recounts their instant soul attraction, which, while sometimes syrupy, seems genuine enough. After Rafe died of a heart attack, Bourgeault spent the night sitting beside the corpse and holding his hand. She had the profound impression that she was called to continue their relationship, to not let go—a conviction that only grew stronger as the months passed and her grief did not diminish. Bourgeault recounts experiences—in her cabin, on a beach—where she clearly heard Rafe’s voice guiding her. The book describes such “mystical unions” by drawing upon Rafe’s own wisdom (invariably dispensed while logging or fixing a snowmobile), as well as the writings of Rilke, Nouwen, the Desert Fathers, and some more recent Christian mystics. An explanatory afterword highlights the books Bourgeault used to understand mystical union, but readers might be forgiven for remaining skeptical that such unions take place.
Pub Date: Sept. 29, 1999
ISBN: 0-609-60473-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Bell Tower/Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
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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