No comments about Focused Lives.

1 comments about For God and His People: Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation.

1. Numbing, head-shaking...these are the feelings I come away with after reading this book. The life of the fallen Swedish hero Swingli has so much depth that a simple review couldn't do it justice. What the reader might come away with is a new understanding that God is so just and so defensive of his church of believers that he wouldn't even let a great warrior for the Gospel like Swingli, go unpunished after he started down the a very wrong (but understandable) path. The incredible sorrow of the dark medieval times due to the plague, the oppression of anyone lower than the royal or bishop class, and especially the violence of their wars, when the evil Roman Catholic Papacy armies slaughter Biblical Protestants (God chooses to let this happen because they've gone too political) pitted friend vs friend, relative vs relative, countrymen vs countrymen...a must read for anyone that thirsts for more knowledge of what has become to be known as Christianity and how God can allow belief in the Bible as the authority on Salvation flicker down to just a couple of people throughout the world in post Apostle Paul days...very sobering. Hundreds's of thousands of modern day Biblical Christians have much more in common with Swingli than they do with Luther, but probably have never even heard of this guy, this book shows why he was so instrumental. God Bless.

2 comments about Saint Augustine's Childhood: CONFESSIONES BOOK ONE (Testimony, Bk 1).

1. The absurdities produced by Wills' eccentric treatment of Augustine multiply like rabbits. One example: Wills insists on calling Augustine's son Adeodatus "Godsend" rather than Adeodatus. It is true that the etymology of the name roughly corresponds to "Godsend," but given the fact that almost every name in antiquity "meant something," this tick is supremely annoying. His translations are clunky to the extreme. He translates the classic line, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in you" (inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te) as "Our heart is unstable until stabilized in you."

   If you have to read the Confessions in English, by all means stick with Henry Chadwick.




2. Nobody has tackled the Augustine works like Mr. Wills. He has painstakingly translated from the Original idiomatticaly complex Latin, and wrung the nuance right out of it, making it transparent and pliable to even the average Intellect, while not pandering to the pretentious rabbleness normally exhibited by their ilk. It's like Shakespeare with the grammar fixed.
   
   I look forward to his treatment of St. Thomas Aquinas!
   
   (Disclaimer: Please insert humourous intent ... wherever; I do appreciate Mr. Wills work with St. Augustine.)

2 comments about Ella Dijo Que Si/She Said Yes: El Inverosmil Martirio De Cassie Bernall/the Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall.

1. "She Said Yes" is a good book. It is about an unusual experience with a normal person who thinks nothing can happen to her daughter. Then the unthinkable to her happens. This is an inspirational book and it tells you to do what you feel is right. If you do this you should have no regrets. This book was a very interesting experience because the author is a normal person.



2. She said yes is an interesting and real story about a girl who was living the worst moment of her life...trying to grow up, in a way which was no the correct one. she was a punker, and more than that, she gave her soul to satan; but after all, her parents noticed how whe was changing, in the right moment to stop her get her daugther back. although everyone was thinking Cassie was a lost girl already, she made it and start been a religious, educate, lovely and normal person again, as everyone else. what her parents did to change herm was the imposible and with the help of God she rebirth. since then, she tried to live her life in the best way, always thinking in God and trying to be better than herself, and better than the day before.
   she was always thinking about her mission in her life, what did God had prepared for her, and it was something really special, she died for what she believe on, and she died saying yes, i believe in God.
   
   Irecommend this book to everyone, because it show you that nothing is imposible to God's power and if you really want to chang you can make it true.
   Like in the chapter title "home front" there is a quote which could help every mother or dad to understand they're sons and daugther:"...stop trying so hard to be Cassie's friend. You're the adult; you're her mother; you call the shots.you don't have to have Cassies's approval for everything you do. She just end up thinking the world revolves around her, and that she can do whatever she wants, because you'll still love her." This is a story about someone who answer one of the most commom but hardest question: Do you believe in God? before she was murdered, and with the gun in her head, she just said the true, she said yes; and right after that Yes, she was death.
   Read this book that is going to teach you so much things; this book is also about a mother who lost her daugther and all of her dreams with her, she couldn't even say bye to her, and she didn't really spent time with her in her last moment, but she did everything possible to made the best for her daugther. like in the last chapter, the writter (Cassie's mom) says: "since she died, I've tried to be more like she was. I went through my CD"s and got rid of the ones that didn't have a possitive message. I've tried not to be negative and tried not to judge others by how they look or what they said. I'm also trying to be kinder and more giving. I guess that poem just shows how you can hurt someone without even knowing it"
   this book tells you every single moment: seek untli you find, and don't give up. Pray, believe in god, live the life day to day, because you don't know what can happen tomorrow or in an hour.

No comments about Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller: Portrait of a Seventeenth-Century Rabbi.

1 comments about Return: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Soviet Scientist.

1. Herman Branover here tells the story of his ' return' to Jewish faith and practice. A struggle which begins in the Soviet Union has its continuation in Israel. In Israel Professor Branover continued to develop his distinguished scientific career and became a pioneer in outreach to the large community from the former Soviet Union in Israel.

1 comments about Billy Sunday, Baseball Preacher (Preteen Biography).

1. The book Billy Sunday: Baseball Preacher tells the inspiring story of a young boy rising above his poverty and bad luck to be a successful baseball player and a great preacher. It is easily readable and especially appeals to young adolescent boys interested in the sports.

1 comments about The Besht: Magician, Mystic, and Leader (Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series).

1. This is one of the most enlightening books I have read in a long time. I appreciate the author's excellent writing style, his open mind, and his eagerness to search for the truth. The book is exceptional. I feel I learned something new on every page. Bravo!

2 comments about Abraham Joshua Heschel: Man of Spirit, Man of Action.

1. This is a beautiful book! Mr. Rose shares the incredible story of Abraham Joshua Heschel with grace and skill. This is an important addition to the small collection of literature for young readers on the lives of great religious and political figures in the United States.



2. I've always loved Heschel's writings and all that I knew of his life, but never thought any of it could be expressed in a form that kids could get. Or Rose did it!
   When I heard about this book, I was excited by the possibility of my daughters learning about Heschel. I read the book through. I think it will be perfect for middle school kids. It doesn't assume any background.
   A wonderful gift for your friends' children aged 9-13.

5 comments about Mary Magdalene: A Biography.

1. Chilton illustrates to what extent MM acted as one of Jesus' disciples, how exorcism, annointing, and visions were valued, and how she was integral both as witness and herald of the Resurrection. This book uses MM more as a catalyst for great discussion of historical events, political influences, other writings, translation issues, fundamentalist interpretations, modern feminist theology, etc. as it is biographical. Even though Chilton quotes the Bible and many other writings throughout, including The Gospel According To Mary, I perceive that Chilton is helping the reader find Truth from the Bible. It is well-organized, well-written, and interesting.



2. Chilton provides an excellent review of the church's response to the faith of Mary Magdalene. I appreciated his commentary on gnostic thought and, as always, his scholarship is impeccible. This book doesn't read as easily as did his almost-novelesque Rabbi Jesus. Chilton takes much more liberty in drawing conclusions about the Magdalen than the research should allow. Still, the book is well written and provides plenty of food for thought. If your church book club read the DaVinci Code, they should follow it up with Mary Magdalen: A Biography.



3. I found this book a fascinating read. Chilton has taken limited information about Mary Magdalene from gospel, gnostic, and other sources and drawn some educated conclusions about her as a person, her relationship with Jesus, her centrality in his movement, and her significance in the development of the Christian faith through the centuries. He has also posed an interesting theory about the legends about her and her supposed marginalization in the growth of the faith and church. Childton admits, more than once, that much of what he says cannot be proved decisively, yet he uses the little information available, along with his understanding of culture and history, to present a compelling portrait of Mary Magdalene, her relationship to Jesus, and her influence on the development of the Christian movement. Whether this portrait is on target or not, it is certainly interesting and plausible enough to bring some human spice into our reflection on the faith and its beloved Jesus. After all, we interpret history all the time using the information available, and that's what Chilton has done here in interesting fashion. I find it helpful to reflect on the human possibilities about Jesus, his movement, and those who first loved and followed him. It's fuel for the imagination and brings excitement to the faith, at least it does for me. As for me, such reflection helps me love all the more the one I call Christ, and gives me a new and inspired appreciation for the woman named Mary from Magdala.



4. This text was a major disappointment to read. The author uses so many "mights", "coulds", "maybes" and "perhapses" that it seems like a text in speculative biography. Maybe she did this. Perhaps she did that. This could have happened. It might have been the case...
   He claims that Jesus was not able to read or write, though most scholars give him some capacity for that. Frustratingly, he offers no reason for his statement. Also, he states that since Mary was possessed by seven demons it took Jesus at least a year to exorcise them all. Sadly I got so frustrated with his writing that I didn't even finish reading it. But my margins are riddled with question marks and exclamation points at parts where I was befuddled or frustrated.



5. As a woman in the healing profession I found this book to be a gem: perhaps the most important book I've read in my life. How indebted we are to Bruce Chilton for his work on the Magdelene who will,no doubt,continue to influence future generations despite what history denies her. A huge obstacle in our Spiritual development has been lifted thanks to this great soul and to the one who made her known to us.