The Summer Before the Dark

Book Description

As the summer begins, Kate Brown -- attractive, intelligent, forty five, happily enough married, with a house in the London suburbs and three grown children -- has no reason to expect anything will change. But when the summer ends, the woman she was -- living behind a protective camouflage of feminine charm and caring -- no longer exists. This novel. Doris Lessing's brilliant excursion into the terrifying stretch of time between youth and old age, is her journey: from London to Turkey to Spain, from husband to lover to madness: on the road to a frightening new independence and a confrontation with self that lets her, finally, come truly of age.

"A splendid and serious novel that reminds one once again of just how much the fictive imagination can order and enrich experience." — National Observer

"Lessing's prose has the nervous intensity and quick, impressionistic lightness of some of D. H. Lawrence's later work. We are caught up in a rush of strong feeling."— Walter Clemons, Newsweek

"(A) masterpiece...probably the best book she has written." — —

Customer Reviews:

Not her best, but readable, 3.5 stars.......2007-05-17

I hate to give a less than glowing review of any of Lessing's work, but this book is not one of her best. At best she can be transformative to read, I'm thinking of The Four-Gated City, The Sweetest Dream, The Golden Notebook, The Good Terrorist, Love Again. She has written some stellar books. Here, she is full of brilliant ideas, but they aren't fully integrated into the novel, so it is a little clunky to read, story hung with politically astute insights. Also, it's a little bit dated, such as, the protagonist is 45, which was considered quite a bit older in the 60s and 70s than we consider it now that the "Baby Boomers" are well over 45. There is a recurring dream in the book that could have been edited completely out, or at least made not as intrusive. It didn't add enough to justify how much of it there was.

The Summer Before the Dark.......2006-11-04

This story of a woman trying to find herself is certainly not new, but realizing that it was written in the 70's brings home the knowledge that some human problems will always be the same. Doris Lessing is a superb writer and never disappoints.

Quietly astounding.......2002-04-02

Kate, a middleclass London housewife on the cusp of midlife, becomes ungrounded and goes in search of her life's purpose. The strange things she encounters while traveling through Europe -- a bizzare tryst with a much younger man, an impoverished villa in nowhere Spain -- an then back again to London suck you with such subtleness, you won't know you've been charmed. Lessing expertly threads Kate's journey with a recurring dream and gives the characters that aid Kate's discovery a surreal edge that's surprisingly convincing. You won't stop reading, and what this book says about the point of a woman's life will blow you away.

It's never too late - a tale of self discovery.......1999-10-27

I was going to attempt "The Golden Notebook" as an introduction to Doris Lessing but lost my nerve when I saw how voluminous it was. The Contemporary Reading List recommended "The Summer Before The Dark" as an alternative and I wasn't disappointed. The novel starts off promisingly with a vividly drawn portrait of a 45 year-old middle class Englishwoman (Kate Brown) at the crossroads of her life. Realising that she has devoted most of her adult life to her husband (Michael) and children without a thought for herself, she sets out tentatively on a journey of self discovery when decides she doesn't like whom she sees in the mirror. She throws herself into a temporary job translating for a global food conference, which leads to an affair with a younger man (Jeffery) and culminates in a startling confrontation with herself when she gets to know a young girl (Maureen) whom she shares temporary accomodation with while her family is away. Maureen may not know what she wants to be (she has proposals from suitors of all persuasion) but what she does know is that she doesn't want to end up like Kate and her own mother. While her good friend, the selfish and amoral Mary, isn't a role model, she has always retained that sense of self that has gone missing from Kate's life. A large part of Lessing's prose consists of internal monologue, words and responses from Kate's mind and soul, all tremulously spoken. The recurring dream sequence with the "seal" is deeply poignant and symbolic of Kate's search for her own identity. The novel is a wonderful example of feminist literature exploring issues that will have eternal relevance for women all over the world. Lessing's beautifully written prose often leaves me breathless. Read it !

a midlife tale from one of the world's greatest writers.......1998-08-12

"You are young, and then you are middle-aged, but it is hard to tell the moment of passage from one state to the next. Then you are old, but you hardly know when it happened." Thus Lessing opens her novel, announcing that her character, Kate Brown will be the exception. Lessing has created a character who bridges the midlife transition in a single summer, from typical upper-middle-class British housewifery to corporate executive to older-woman-younger-man romance to denouncing the hair color that masks her age. By the end of Kate's summer, she is not entirely certain who she is, but quite clear who she is not. Lessing is recognized as one of the important writers in the English language, and the body of literature on midlife women is enriched by her genius and wisdom.

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Summer Before Dark
Doris Lessing
Manufacturer: BANTAM DOUBLEDAY @ DELL
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SELMVO

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The Summer Before the Dark
Doris Lessing
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000LEHXPU

Average customer rating:

The Summer Before the Dark
Doris Lessing
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000OUIFB2

Average customer rating:

The Summer Before the Dark

Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0553134337

Product Description

The woman is Kate Brown. Charming. Intelligent. Atrractive. Forty-five years old. Her husband is away for the summer. Her grown-up children have scattered. Suddenly a glamorous career and a young lover beckon her to anexciting future that turns into anawesome confrontation with her past.

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The Summer Before the Dark

Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0553118706

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The Summer Before the Dark
Doris Lessing
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000K0B1TO

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The Summer Before the Dark
Lessing Doris
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OOYKT4

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the Summer Before the Dark
Doris Lessing
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HL13TE

Product Description

Kate Brown, Charming, Intelligent, Attractive, 45 years old, husband is away for the summer and her grown up children are scattered. A glamorous career opens up and a young lover beckons her to an exciting future that turns into a confrontation with her past.

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Good read, but not Blind Your Ponies

Sweet Shattered Dreams is Top Shelf

Sweet Shattered Dreams

Another great one!
Sweet Shattered Dreams
Stanley Gordon West
Manufacturer: Lexington-Marshall Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
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Blind Your Ponies

Amos : To Ride A Dead Horse

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Finding Laura Buggs

Until They Bring the Streetcars Back (Mysteries & Horror)

ASIN: 0965624722

Customer Reviews:

Good read, but not Blind Your Ponies.......2007-08-03

I bought this book as I very much loved Blind Your Ponies. This book was a good read, but not as powerful as Ponies.

I wish Mr. Gordon hadn't used the titles of songs so much as it was jarring, Sonny Hollister may have been a star on the pages, but the references to Carefree Highway, Wichita Line Man etc brought to mind the singers that had those songs as hits. Sonny's comeback and machinations in California were unnecessary as there was a richness in the life he could have chosen in Montana. He was building a better life in Montana with the characters in Montana and felt the story could have been more powerful then the Sonny needing to be a star again story line. The young girl/older man story line was tired. Sally deserved better for her character.

I loved the Jesse/Guardian story line. Hezakaih was a wonderful character and could have been larger in the story. The peripheral characters like Rock and Butch could have been fleshed out more.

It's still a good read, but not the great read Blind Your Ponies was.

Sweet Shattered Dreams is Top Shelf.......2007-01-09

Stanley Gordon West does it again! I love his writing style, and the mix of emotions and surpises sewn into the fabric of his stories. I can hardly wait for his next book.

Sweet Shattered Dreams.......2006-09-29

I really enjoyed this book. I found this author in the Minnesota section at the book store. The first book written by Stanley Gordon West that I read was "Blind Your Ponies." It is my all-time favorite book. I have kept it so that I can read it over and over again. I would rate this book right up there with Blind Your Ponies. I enjoy everything written by Stanley Gordon West.

Another great one!.......2006-03-16

This is the latest book from Stanley Gordon West, once again it's a "can't put down" book. Mr. West has a style of writing that immediately pulls you into the book. As the novel progresses there are more twists and turns than you ever expect and that keep you hooked until the very end. I can hardly wait for him to write another book - keep the midnight fires burning Stanley!

Broken Promises, Shattered Dreams (Sweet Valley University(R))

Average customer rating:

Lila's Doughnuts
A very realistic, creative, and interesting book!
i could't even finish it, it was so dull!
It was great!!
I really liked this book.

Broken Promises, Shattered Dreams (Sweet Valley University(R))
Francine Pascal
Manufacturer: Sweet Valley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Love & Romance | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

General | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

Sweet Valley University | Series | Teens | Subjects | Books

General | Issues | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0553567012
Release Date: 1996-02-01

Customer Reviews:

Lila's Doughnuts.......2005-03-28

Jessica goes into a department store business,and Lila goes into a Doughnut business with Bruce,Isabella and Danny. Billie has lost the baby due to a miscarriage,but they want to marry,anyway.

A very realistic, creative, and interesting book!.......1999-08-09

I thought this was a good book. I want to get the next one. It is about Billie Winkler and her boy-friend Steven. Billie is pregnant but is considering other options besides having the baby. Steven wants the baby. Will this be the the end of their perfect lives? Meanwhile, Jessica is envolved in a fashion business with Val Tripler. Will their business go up in flames when Val and Jessica's ex- husband leave town with the money?

i could't even finish it, it was so dull!.......1998-07-17

This book was so boring. All it did was focus on Jess's new buisness ventures- like we even care. I mean, please gag me. Jessica is forever getting herself into scrapes that get old after a time. They happened in the sweet valley kids novels, the twins novels, the high school novels, and in SVU too. When is it going to be enough?

It was great!!.......1998-05-07

I mean, fransine pascal is a very good writer and I love her writing and this seems Great!!!well, i know that this was book was a very suspensful book and I loved it!!! I recommend this book to alot of people!!! By, the way ever heard of leonardo diCaprio?!! Fransine Pascal should write about him!!!

I really liked this book........1998-04-07

I think this book was very suspenseful and realistic but i also think it focused too much on Jessica, Mike and Val.

Book Description

Here, for the first time in one volume, is C.J. Cherryh's classic adventure of interstellar politics, a spacefaring fugitive, and first contact with a strange race known as "humans."

"Cherryh has given us an alien psychology story, and has done a grand job. It is a mark of Cherryh's success that here it is the human who seems alien."--Analog

Customer Reviews:

A big disappointment........2007-06-29

Alien species designed to appeal to reader love of cats? Check.
Alternative gender roles which should make us consider our own bias? Check.
Strange alien species with motivations outside human ken? Check.
Outside-in view of humans? Check.
Plucky underdog pilot fighting both her own politics and the rest of the universe besides? Check.
Realistic seeming science and linguistics? Check.
Inscrutable and unloveable alien race made up of giant bugs? Check.

If I love C.J. Cherryh so much, then why did this feel like a pastiche of the better elements of her other books? I have been circling back to pick up all the Cherryh that I had somehow missed, and the Chanur books came highly recommended. But, really, I was bored. The basic story tropes repeated themselves in the three books. The developments were predictable, and I never once felt really surprised by anything.

Also, immensely frustrating that the publishers felt the need to bind these three books (The Pride of Chanur, Chanur's Venture, and The Kif Strike Back) together. The Kif Strike Back was clearly not written as a natural break point in the series and after plowing through 694 pages of ragged ears and observations about Hani minds, I was left with a cliff-hanger. Too bad I was not left with any desire to pick up the concluding two novels.

Skip this one, and read Cyteen or The Faded Sun Trilogy instead.

Missing The Last Book.......2006-03-28

I rate all Chanur books 5+, however this compilation is lacking a very important item -- the last book! If you buy this, be sure to buy "Chanur's Homecoming" as well. I really cannot understand how the publisher could have made such a mistake! "The Pride of Chanur" stands alone and complete in itself (at the beginning) very successfully; and "Chanur's Legacy" is complete in itself (but should be read after the other 4). "Chanur's Venture", "The Kif Strike Back", and "Chanur's Homecoming" are three parts of one story and should be read together, despite C.J. Cherryh's formidible talents at finding a reasonable pausing place for each. If this set is ever republished as an omnibus book, at a minimum the 3 center books MUST be in it. "Pride" and "Legacy" could be included, or printed as stand-alones, with no problems either way. (I hope the publisher is listening, though I doubt I am the first to point this out.)

Science fiction type political action stuff!.......2005-11-25

I really think CJ Cherryh is quite underrated when you start talking about the really classic SF authors on the modern age. I don't know if that's because she's a woman or because she's never written a widely critically acclaimed masterpiece or done anything truly genre-shaking but she is one of the most consistent authors out there and each of her books have something different to offer, while still maintaining a very distinctive style. Of course, the only books I've ever read of hers have to do with the Alliance-Union series and it's quite possible that all of her strengths lie there and everything she's written isn't that good, but I really can't say. This volume reprints the first three books of the Chanur Saga, although as the other reviewers mention, this isn't the entire saga, with at least two more books to go beyond it. I'm not sure what the publisher was thinking when they bundled them like this but as long as the other books are available it's not that big a deal (they recently came back into print, judging by the rather . . . antagonistic tone of the older reviews) and it does make it easier to get them all in one fell swoop. But is the story (or stories) worth it? Yup. Cherryh shifts the attention away from the human planets to a previously unknown section of the galaxy populated by a whole host of other aliens. Our main characters are the cat-like hani, a clan-based race of traders and spacefarers, with our story focusing on the Pride of Chanur, a ship captained by Pyanfar and her crew of merry bandits. They're basically minding their own business when suddenly a strange, pale creature shows up at their dock. They take him in and that's when all heck breaks loose, because it turns out that the creature is Tully, of a previously unknown race called human beings and everyone wants a piece of him in order to get exclusive trading rights. From there things get hideously complicated. People expecting a wall to wall saga of action are going to be disappointed, because there isn't breakneck action here, the crew spends most of its time trying to stay out of fighting and fighting the weariness that comes from a total lack of sleep. What Cherryh does here is create a whole host of new and totally different alien races, all with their own distinctive touches and agenda and throws them all up against each other. Basically there's a clockwork of alliances and counter-alliances going on . . . and then the humans show up and throw everything into chaos. So what follows is a quick lesson in alien politics, as Pyanfar tries to make one deal after another to keep her crew alive, to keep Tully alive, and to prevent everyone from killing each other. Complicating matters are the fact that there are the oxygen breathing species . . . and then there are the methane breathing species, who co-exist with everyone else, but not easily and who nobody wants to get involved. And then they start getting involved. The characterization here is top-notch, the aliens seem alien and yet we can follow the story and relate to them, while even Tully comes across as odd and out of place, unable to breach the language barrier, you're not sure if what he's saying is actually what he wants to say or even what he means. This all sounds overwhelming but she moves the books along at a good clip, and the dialogue crackles, especially when Pyanfar has to deal with her crew or the other aliens, the back and forth taking on a rapid rhythm of its own. It's hard to keep track of the politics at times, who is allying with who and who is betraying who and exactly what the stakes are, but the piece of her universe that she's carved out here is so fascinating that you can't help but keep reading to see how it all turns out. The way she does it with such practiced ease is admirable, especially in creating all those alien cultures and creating believable links between them. You don't even miss the total lack of people. Definitely recommended, especially with the whole saga now available.

The first half of Cherryh's masterpeice series.......2005-08-15

The Chanur series is made up of 5 books. A prologue novel ("The Pride of Chanur"), a 3-part series ("Chanur's Venture", "The Kif Strike Back" and "Chanur's Homecoming"), and an epilogue novel ("Chanur's Legacy")

This collection contains the prologue and 2 of the three books in the series. The concluding book of the series ("Chanur's Homecoming") is missing, but, finally, it's back in print, amking this mislabeled "saga" complete once more. For a while the concluding volume was Out-Of-Print, making some of the reviewers here very cross.

Basically it tells the tale of Chanur, a modest interstellar trader who gets caught up in a nightmare of galactic politics, and, just to survive, has to overturn the powers-that-be.

They should have left her alone.

good ideas, too many words.......2005-06-11

I must disagree with the other reviewers of this series. I can't give this saga 5 stars.
Although the idea is good, and there are a lot of good tricks, the saga as a whole is too long, too wordy, the writing too clipped and sometimes it curls in itself and is difficult to follow. I found the first two novels a bit boring and only "the kif strike back" seemed good enough in itself.
Ms. Cherryh is obviously a talented writer, but the books would be better if the less interesting parts were culled, the unnecesary dialogs and descriptions erased, and if we got some real information about the characters and the plot.
A bit more action would be welcome, too!

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El Orgullo De Chanur :Saga De Chanur 1
C J Cherryh
Manufacturer: UNSPECIFIED VENDOR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SHT6PU

3 Collections By Cherryh (8 Novels in All) - The Chanur Saga (Pride of Chanur, Chanur's Venture, Kif Strike Back) - Morgaine Saga (Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, Fires of Azeroth) - Deep Beyond (Cuckoo's Egg, Serpent's Reach)

Average customer rating:

3 Collections By Cherryh (8 Novels in All) - The Chanur Saga (Pride of Chanur, Chanur's Venture, Kif Strike Back) - Morgaine Saga (Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, Fires of Azeroth) - Deep Beyond (Cuckoo's Egg, Serpent's Reach)
C. J. Cherryh
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000RFPCD8

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Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.

Book Description

Is sound doctrine all that makes the church a viable organization in our postmodern world? Or is there something more? In Recovering Mother Kirk, church historian Darryl Hart argues that it is impossible to gain a proper understanding of Reformed doctrine, its worldview, or its piety apart from the experience of the worshiping body of believers. Recovering Mother Kirk discusses the church's commission, contemporary worship, office and ordinances, Presbyterian parochialism, and revival. Although he writes from a Presbyterian and Reformed perspective, Hart believes that every Protestant denomination faces a pressing need to put theology into practice through worship. Anything less, he says, is a form of Christianity that will have little appeal to either spiritual seekers or regular worshipers. Hart attempts to restore the balance between sound doctrine, which is vital to the health of the church, and sound practice. He argues that historically, members of the Reformed tradition have emphasized doctrine to the detriment of practice. In a postmodern world that craves connectedness, the need to restore the vitality of the worshiping faith community has never been more urgent. Recovering Mother Kirk is a thought-provoking manifesto that will be useful to pastors and laypeople within the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition, as well as those who seek to gain a greater appreciation for the relationship between doctrine and the public worship of the church.

Customer Reviews:

Looking for the Second Part.......2004-06-16

This book caught my immediate attention because Hart set out to argue a case for high-Church Calvinism. He in sense is laboring in the Introduction and Chapter 1 to point out that there is a "market" for this form of worship. Kudos, you got my attention! Let's here more about what, why and most important how? Yet despite his purpose to show that "at the heart of the liturgical outlook is a concern for the life of the visible church as embodied in her public worship" (13), Hart ultimately offers another critique of vanilla evangelicalism, a la David Wells. Let me say that Hart does a great job of it, especially if you sleep with the Westminster confessions under your pillow! If that is what you are looking for them buy this book. However, as a young fogy, I yearn for a constructive offering of something better than a reaction to what is currently in vogue. If liturgy and tradition have something to offer this generation then lets be proactive and constructive in making it a reality rather than defining it in terms of what is should not be. In short this book eventually disappointed me because it just became another book on internal apologetics. I would love to see Hart take his vision and write a constructive theology of liturgy and worship that will give us a useful model for building a church that can will be a viable venue between Catholicism, Anglicanism, Orthodoxy on the one side and low-church evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, and Meglo-mania churches on the other side. Looking forward to the next volume.

Robert Leach
Elder--First Presbyterian Church
Huntington, Indiana

Apologia for Mother Kirk.......2003-05-14

There has been a great deal of attention given to the phenomenon of pastors leaving the Protestant fold to join the historic Churches. Motivated by concerns over the triviality of much of what passes for Protestant worship and by an ahistoric and individualistic approach to doctrine, these converts have often sacrificed promising careers in the Protestant ministry for the chance to experience meaningful worship and doctrinal roots stretching beyond the last few centuries. Less noticed, however, is a move among Protestants who, while understanding the motivations of those who left, hold to doctrinal positions expressible only in the Reformation Churches. Rather than sacrifice their beliefs for a richer worship and a more historically rooted theological approach, they have chosen to sound a call to rethink the ideas that have dominated the discussion in Protestantism in the last century and recapture the ideals that fueled the Reformation - including their use of liturgy and their understanding of the historic beliefs of the Christian Faith enshrined in the Creeds.

A major entry in this growing movement is Recovering Mother Kirk by D. G. Hart. The title indicates the attachment to the Presbyterian cause of the author but this should not dissuade others from benefiting from his well reasoned analysis. The ills of the modern Church are not isolated by denominational boundaries and though Hart is primarily concerned with the Reformed tradition, his points can apply (with appropriate adjustments) to others as well.

Hart begins by noting the neglect that worship has been given in Reformed circles - even by those who are sticklers on Reformed belief and practice. Noting the current trend among Reformed Christians to conform to the theology of Evangelical Protestantism, Hart counters that the Reformed Tradition is better placed among the magisterial Protestants (e.g., Lutherans, Anglicans) and the current state is a marked departure from their heritage. Although Reformed Christianity emphasizes doctrine, cultural transformation, and piety, none of this can properly understood without the context of Reformed worship. The importation of revivalist worship patterns into Reformed settings inevitably causes confusion and a weakening of adherence to Reformed distinctives elsewhere.

The main part of the book consists of essays on five topics (the Church's commission, the contemporary worship scene, offices and ordinances, ecumenism, and the influence of revivalism on Reformed worship). In each section, Hart presents evidence, both historical and theological, supporting his thesis that Reformed Christianity is a "high church" Protestant tradition sidetracked by the importation of ideas foreign to its nature. The chief culprit in this was, according to Hart, the revivalism of the Great Awakenings in their blurring the distinctions between evangelistic outreach and worship. Hart contends this continues to this day with the "church growth" and other modern manifestations of the same confusion over worship.

Hart closely examines historical sources in painting a picture of a Reformed worship centered upon Word and Sacrament. Although it shares many aspects with "high church" liturgical traditions, it is governed by the "regulative principle" of using only that with biblical warrant. Important to this understanding was the development of Reformed liturgies heavily dependent upon Holy Scripture and the singing of the Psalter. The net result is a worship both reverent and austere.

Overall, Hart's presentation is a quite compelling case for the place of the Reformed tradition in the Church. Contrary to what many Reformed Christians have come to believe, he has aligned the Reformed tradition with Lutheranism and Anglicanism rather than the Evangelical mainstream. Like others who hold this view (e.g., Michael S. Horton, Keith A. Mathison), he points to Calvin's high view of the Church and call for a weekly Eucharist as evidence. This is all quite true, but it may not be that simple.

Unlike the Lutheran and Anglican reforms which sought to take existing Catholic beliefs and practices and (however successfully) prune the excesses, the early Reformed began more with their own unique reading of Scripture and constructed a rival system. Under Zwingli and others, the changes took on a highly sectarian nature and splits within the movement appeared almost immediately. The force of Calvin's theology restored more of Catholic order, but some points of his program (e.g., a weekly Eucharist) were never implemented even in Geneva. The proper boundary between Calvin's catholicity and Zwingli's sectarianism has left the Reformed Churches less agreed on doctrine than on attitude. These contradictory visions of the Reformed Faith have left their adherents prone to division and subject to the interpretations of individual Church leaders.
Indeed, such battle cries as "Reformed, Ever Reforming" illustrate the problem. While on the surface seeking to acknowledge itself in submission to Scriptural authority, this slogan also points to an inherent ecclesial instability. Just as there are high church Reformed Presbyterians with views similar to Hart's own, there are also low church Reformed Baptists who would reject many of his points. The key here is that being Reformed is not merely being Calvinist. In fact, much of what often is labeled "Calvinist" was never advocated by Calvin.

Another issue that can be raised is the application of the regulative principle itself. Although aspects of worship are considered in Holy Scripture, much of it is not explicitly discussed. This is not surprising since much of early Christian worship had already developed a basic form and was not a point of contention in the writing of the New Testament. The restriction to explicitly provided aspects may in fact give us an unbalanced view of the worship of the Apostolic Church. Indeed, the historical research into early Christian worship gives us a picture far different than that implemented by Zwngli, Calvin, et al who were influenced by historical and social currents not relevant in a first century context.

Yet for those in the high church side of the Reformed faith, Recovering Mother Kirk is a powerful presentation of their beliefs. As a blueprint for what Reformed Christianity should be, this book and other recent releases have identified the movement some call "the Catholic Presbyterians" as one to watch closely. If the Reformed continue their assimilation into the Evangelical mainstream (on the right) and the liberal mainstream (on the left), they at least have been shown another way. Thoughtful Reformed Christians like Hart are now asking the right questions. It will be interesting to see how many other Reformed believers disillusioned by current conditions find in this movement their answer.

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