A useful manual for Christians seeking to find the roots of their faith in Jewish Scripture.
In his nonfiction debut, Mapp tracks down and explicates threads of Christian prophecy in the Scriptures, operating under the familiar religious assumption that, as he puts it, “The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is about Him.”
Mapp extensively explores the Old Testament, finding incidents and symbols that he contends foreshadow later happenings in the life and ministry of Jesus. He “decodes” these incidents—events ranging from the creation of Adam and Eve to the Flood and Noah’s Ark to the Israelites’ years of wandering in the desert—by overlaying them with Christian symbology. The author envisions most of the greatest Jewish prophets and leaders, from Isaac to Joshua to Moses, as precursors and archetypes of the Christ story, even when these connections are heavily conflicted. For example, Mapp (following many experts) attempts to find Christian parallels in the worldly, entirely human life of King David. “Of course, the type breaks down in a number of key aspects,” he concedes in this instance. Bible “decoding” accounts like Mapp’s typically make allowances of this kind. Although the author contends that “many notable Old Testament passages…forecast details of His life with amazing accuracy,” “amazing accuracy” would be for Jeremiah or Ezekiel to say, “In 1,025 years, a man named Jesus will be born in Bethlehem who will be the Son of God.” “Amazing accuracy,” in other words, requires no decoding. Instead of such clarity, explicators of Christian prophecy seem forced into the same kind of word games that Mapp plays in his book, sifting through Old Testament texts for phrases that can be applied to New Testament contexts. It’s a venerable practice (indeed, the authors of the four Gospels were the first to indulge), but Mapp’s efforts will probably fail to persuade his unconvinced readers that the Old Testament writers had Jesus in mind. Yet for devout Christians who place importance on the New Testament being the fulfillment of the Old (who have, in Mapp’s tidy phrasing, the “gladly held conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord”), this book provides a handy gathering of the most popular of these interpretations. As a bonus, Mapp’s readings of the New Testament—particularly the Gospel of St. John—are enjoyably nuanced.
A useful manual for Christians seeking to find the roots of their faith in Jewish Scripture.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5127-1040-3
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2015
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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