Refreshingly humane, focusing on people rather than institutions. Admirers of Francis and students of church history alike...
In a collection whose original Italian publication marks the first year of his papacy, Pope Francis gathers homilies, sermons and brief essays that point to his most important concerns.
Francis—formerly Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires—has been widely hailed as the open, thoroughly modern leader that the Catholic Church has been seeking. Some of his programmatic interests are ancient, however: He devotes three pieces to Mary, “mother of evangelization” and “icon of womanhood.” He writes and speaks at greater length, however, on the plight of the poor and the duty of the church to them: “Our faith in Christ,” he said in one sermon, “who became poor, and was always close to the poor and the outcast, is the basis of our concern for the integral development of society’s most neglected members.” Conservative churchmen may find those words to befit Paulo Freire more than the pontiff, but Francis doubles down by frowning on “careerism”—specifically, priestly careerism, the desire to achieve recognition as something other than a pastor—and excoriating “the cult of the god of money”: “God our Father gave us the task of protecting the earth—not for money, but for ourselves, for men and women.” Consumerism, he adds with respect to the second, is an enemy of the good, encouraging waste; Francis counsels that every time edible food is discarded, we should think of it “as if it were stolen from the table of the poor, from the hungry.” Elsewhere, in a moment that distinguishes him from his immediate predecessors, he urges the churchly to extend charity not just to feeding the poor, but improving their condition so that they will be poor no longer.
Refreshingly humane, focusing on people rather than institutions. Admirers of Francis and students of church history alike will find this a useful introduction to the pontiff’s thought.Pub Date: April 20, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8294-4168-0
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Loyola Press
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
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
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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