Psychotherapist and Bible teacher Rosenblatt's first book is a well-meshed combination of her chosen fields: It's a self-help reading of the book of Genesis. With her longtime student Horwitz, a writer, Rosenblatt presents what is in many ways the most traditional form of biblical exegesisa line-by-line, literal-minded interpretation of the Scriptures. But Rosenblatt's explanations are colored by her experiences as therapist and by her obvious self-empowerment agenda. For her, Genesis is not so much a religious tract as a document of human relationships, sexuality, and spirituality. As such, it is a also a guide to life today, or ``a three-step approach to endowing our lives with meaning and direction.'' These steps are: identity, which is spiritual and flows from God; accountability, meaning that we are responsible for our actions; and purpose, which is to ``preserve creation by making our lives an expression of the innately divine qualities that make us human.'' In Rosenblatt's weltanschauungsome would argue a reactionary onehumanity should exert its dominion over the world and over its own nature. But Rosenblatt is at times less traditional, reading into the text whatever seems appropriate to her 20th-century career-woman sensibilities. However understandable this attitude, it makes for some exegetical acrobatics, as when she explains that God's telling Eve, ``And [your husband] shall rule over you,'' in fact means that man will protect woman when she is homebound caring for her childrenas women were forced to be throughout their childbearing years in biblical times, when, Rosenblatt apologizes, ``birth control was nonexistent.'' Still, an often insightful look at the eternal nature of human experience. (Book-of-the-Month Club/Quality Paperback Book Club/Jewish Book Club selections; author tour)
Pub Date: Oct. 11, 1995
ISBN: 0-385-31330-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1995
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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