A vigorous treatment of how the sacred, in all its multifarious forms, continues to exercise power, even if sometimes it...
Knight (Tripping with Allah: Islam, Drugs, and Writing, 2013, etc.) traverses the scenic highways of Islamic history, seeking paths that connect him to Muhammad.
Beginning as it does with the author tripping on hallucinogenic drugs, it quickly becomes clear that this is not the apologia for fundamentalist religion that the title might suggest. As the author writes, “some would find the comparison distasteful, but when it comes to manipulating reality, texts and drugs might not be so far removed from each other.” Erudite, introspective, and relentlessly provocative, the author interrogates the traditions of Islamic historiography, Quranic exegesis, and hadith verification, elucidating how participating in the life of the Muslim community inevitably shapes, alters, and re-creates that community. Even when believers, in a Salafi vein, seek to do only that which was permissible to the Companions of the Prophet themselves, their actions and the justifications for those actions cannot help but be thoroughly modern, and the search for the ultimate origins becomes a hall of mirrors obscured by fog. In every reading of the Quran, writes Knight, “ideas that did not exist for the earliest Muslim community sneak [in]…find homes for themselves in the words, and give the appearance of having always been there.” The author’s humor and generosity of spirit shine through, but much will remain opaque to readers without a background in Islamic studies. The author is intimately familiar with obscure theological points from a dizzying array of traditions orthodox and heretical (or both at once), but he has curiously and uncharacteristically little to say about the lived experience of being Muslim and interacting with other Muslims.
A vigorous treatment of how the sacred, in all its multifarious forms, continues to exercise power, even if sometimes it just feels like “we’re arguing over what the mystery god intended to say in his address to a mystic in a cave some fifteen centuries ago.”Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-59376-606-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Soft Skull Press
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
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
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
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