A vibrant and compassionate call for Christians to remember that their faith is a gift.
A series of reflections explores various aspects of modern Christian life.
Ransom’s nonfiction debut consists of dozens of short chapters that cover a surprising range of topics and allusions in order to address the many facets of modern life in the Christian worldview. The author repeatedly reminds her Christian target audience that God so loved his human creations that he sent his own son to surrender his life in order to give them a path to salvation. Her narrative is suffused with sympathy for Christians who believe this inconsistently or imperfectly. “Our faith gets tired,” she concedes, “and our heart aches.” The book’s spotlight shifts from history to pop culture to Ransom’s personal stories, but the two themes running throughout—that faith can be hard, exhausting work and that God is always there to help shoulder the burden—are never far from the surface. “When you are maxed out emotionally from family, work, church volunteering, or even just worshipping, listen to God,” the author writes in a typical aside. “Find time for rest.” Roman Catholic readers will notice the Protestant nature of her sentiments (“I cannot earn my salvation through overcoming my faults. Salvation is a gift, freely given, but I must accept that gift”). And some of Ransom’s conclusions are deliberately soft (a lack of solid scriptural knowledge is floated as a possible explanation for the 21st-century loss of religious faith among young people rather than, say, a rise in scientific literacy). But the caring, sympathetic tone of all her chapters tends to bridge such fissures. After every anecdote or rumination, the author stresses community, humanity, fellowship, and humility in the face of life’s challenges: “We absolutely cannot be a Lone Ranger in life. We were made by God to…care for one another.” This unifying tone of empathy remains the book’s most memorable feature.
A vibrant and compassionate call for Christians to remember that their faith is a gift.Pub Date: March 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-973655-98-5
Page Count: 298
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2020
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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