A nuanced, if not comprehensive, call for revitalization of Christianity’s core messages.
The founder of 180 Church in New York City calls for a reevaluation of his faith’s core principles in this debut book.
“At the heart of God,” writes Christian minister Kim, “there are no liberals or conservatives….There aren’t even Christians or atheists. He sees only Lost and Found.” When Christians divide the world into an us-versus-them dichotomy, he cautions, “we have fundamentally misunderstood the Christian faith.” Echoing C.S. Lewis, who’s referenced in this brief book more than a dozen times, Kim seeks a return to the core fundamentals of the faith, which he says have been neglected by Christians preoccupied with wars against secularism, political rivals, and science. Like Lewis, Kim embraces a distinctly mainline Protestant brand of Christianity that’s ecumenical in nature, and he cited Christians from diverse perspectives, including fundamentalist evangelicals and Catholics. Divided into three parts, the book begins with the doctrinal foundations of Christianity (“Faith in Theory”) and a scientific examination of the “evolutionary longing to make meaning of human existence.” The book’s second part (“Faith in Process”) explores the “messy and tumultuous” aspects of religion, particularly in a postmodern society that values deconstruction of traditional ideals. The book concludes with a focus on “Faith in Practice” that addresses common critiques of religious skeptics, such as the historicity of Jesus and the reliability of the Bible. As a Harvard University-trained ethicist and regular contributor to Christianity Today, Kim approaches Christianity with well-reasoned, empathetic ideas that seek meaningful conversations, not heavy-handed conversions. The book revels in the nuances of religion, carefully balancing traditional theological interpretations with a willingness to reconsider entrenched positions, such as a literal six-day Creation. Written in an accessible style that includes many pop-culture references, the work is ideal for book clubs and group discussion, with each chapter concluding with questions for reflection. Its deliberate avoidance of politics, however, also means that it fails to engage with the intersection of faith and LGBTQ concerns, reproductive rights, racism, and other key social issues.
A nuanced, if not comprehensive, call for revitalization of Christianity’s core messages.Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781631959905
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Morgan James Faith
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An incisive, urgently relevant analysis of—and call to action on—America’s foundational ideal.
An examination of how the U.S. can revitalize its commitment to freedom.
In this ambitious study, Snyder, author of On Tyranny, The Road to Unfreedom, and other books, explores how American freedom might be reconceived not simply in negative terms—as freedom from coercion, especially by the state—but positive ones: the freedom to develop our human potential within sustaining communal structures. The author blends extensive personal reflections on his own evolving understanding of liberty with definitions of the concept by a range of philosophers, historians, politicians, and social activists. Americans, he explains, often wrongly assume that freedom simply means the removal of some barrier: “An individual is free, we think, when the government is out of the way. Negative freedom is our common sense.” In his careful and impassioned description of the profound implications of this conceptual limitation, Snyder provides a compelling account of the circumstances necessary for the realization of positive freedom, along with a set of detailed recommendations for specific sociopolitical reforms and policy initiatives. “We have to see freedom as positive, as beginning from virtues, as shared among people, and as built into institutions,” he writes. The author argues that it’s absurd to think of government as the enemy of freedom; instead, we ought to reimagine how a strong government might focus on creating the appropriate conditions for human flourishing and genuine liberty. Another essential and overlooked element of freedom is the fostering of a culture of solidarity, in which an awareness of and concern for the disadvantaged becomes a guiding virtue. Particularly striking and persuasive are the sections devoted to eviscerating the false promises of libertarianism, exposing the brutal injustices of the nation’s penitentiaries, and documenting the wide-ranging pathologies that flow from a tax system favoring the ultrawealthy.
An incisive, urgently relevant analysis of—and call to action on—America’s foundational ideal.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9780593728727
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
