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- A Blast From the Past!
- Quaint fun
- very cool
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Encyclopedia Brown and the Dead Eagles (Encyclopedia Brown)
Donald J. Sobol
Manufacturer: Yearling
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Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Slippery Salamander (Encyclopedia Brown)
ASIN: 0553481673
Release Date: 1994-02-01 |
Customer Reviews:
A Blast From the Past!.......2007-05-06
My husband and I are in our early 30's and we remember reading through the Encyclopedia Brown series in gradeschool. So, when our precocious 4-year-old son expressed an interest in mysteries, we bought him one of the series for Christmas.
He sped through it and was begging us for this partucular book for his 5th birthday. While the books are quite dated, he enjoys the close reading involved to figure out the solutions to the mysteries. He will sometimes read the solution to a story first, then read the case, but we've found that it has actually helped in enhancing reading comprehension.
I would recommend this book to parents and children - although realize up front that because it is very dated, your child may question the lack of technology in the book as well as the costs of some of the items mentioned in the cases, or even the geography of the city where hero Leroy Brown lives.
Quaint fun.......2002-02-08
This edition featuring Idaville's most famous detective includes a few mysteries that are rather challenging to solve. The challenge arises largely because of how long ago Sobol wrote the stories; solutions require knowing some quaint traditions or niceties that are not really part of today's society. Though perhaps a bit weak in terms of the evidence truly incriminating the criminal, the stories are fun and well-told.
very cool.......1998-08-24
i think it was very tough to solve the cases. but very cool
Customer Reviews:
wonderful, intriguing, challenging, disturbing.......2003-11-24
I highly recommend all of Danilo Kis's works.
BAROQUE REALISM.......2000-12-30
_The Encyclopedia of the Dead_ is one of the best short story collections of this or any century, I'm not shy to say, and it is my personal favorite of Kis' books (_A Tomb for Boris Davidovich [forthcoming from Dalkey Archive] coming in a close second). Kis' writes in a wonderful type of lyrical documentary style, mixing fact and fiction (though it is difficult to tell sometimes whether the fact is not fiction and vice-versa), reminiscent of some of the contemporary younger western writers (namely, William T. Vollmann, who himself is a big fan). In short, buy this book! (If you don't have a penny to your name and you can't buy one...you should not steal it, thought you would have it and be able to read and devour it like you need to.)
Great stories about inevitable.......1998-03-31
It took almost six months from the day I ordered this book, until it came out of print and I received it in my mail. It took me less than a week to read it...This is a book of stories about people who find their death in different ways. Kis mixes myths and legends of the Bible to: middle eastern legends, female intuition, patriotism, death anticipation due to long and difficult illness. Each story is setup in its own time, century, country and is viewed from different perspective. And all these situations and places combined, make up this wonderful book. My favorite story was "The Encyclopedia of the Dead". It sounds so personal, that anyone who knows a little bit about Danilo Kis' life, can see a lot of Kis himself - in this story. Mr. Heim did wonderful job translating this work. However, I was a bit disappointed that Mr. Haim did not make an effort to write an introduction for this book. Writer's notes at the end of the book were extrimely helpful in understanding stories more deeply and understanding what he wanted to accomplish with this work of art.
Many of Danilo Kis' reders like to remember him as writer who had Borges for an idol. Please, let us not forget that Kis had admirerers himself - no one less than Joseph Brodsky, amongst others.
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Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls: 2 Volume set
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0195084500 |
Book Description
This landmark reference work is the first of its kind. Featuring 450 articles by an international community of scholars it is the definitive account of what we know about the Dead Sea Scrolls--their history, relevance, meaning, and the controversies that surround them. Discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd, the collection of 800 manuscripts is older than any other collection of manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures by almost one thousand years. What do the scrolls tell us about the people who wrote them? What do they tell us about early Christianity and Second Temple Judaism? How do they confirm or contradict what we thought we knew about the Bible? With contributions from 100 distinguished scholars representing diverse traditions and fields of learning, this volume offers the most comprehensive critical synthesis of current knowledge about the Dead Sea Scrolls--and their historical, archaeological, linguistic, and religious contexts. Written in non-technical language this reference work provides authoritative answers and information for all readers.
Customer Reviews:
Recommended.......2000-07-10
As one might expect, given that many fine scholars contributed, this reference work can be highly recommended. It provides a good interim survey of on-going research from which anyone can learn much. As also ineluctable, no one publication on the lively scrolls research can be fully complete or error-free. There are so many excellent articles to be thankful for. Without minimizing how valuable this collection is, a few critical notes may be worthwhile. I haven't finished reading, so I may err too. It isn't illustrated, perhaps to keep this--relatively--less expensive. And many photos of scrolls and caves, etc., are indeed available elsewhere. Yet some articles are limited by this: scroll reconstruction and photography and computer imaging, for instance. While nearly all the important topics are covered adequately, there are absences. Though Epicurean and Cynicism articles are provided, Stoicism has no article, though the latter is much more relevant to Qumran Essenes or descriptions of them. Yes, Qumran Essenes, though several articles retain the now-pointless politically correct equivocation, as if a badge of methodological rigour. Qumran, we reliably read demonstrated here, was neither a fort to which all scrolls were brought from Jerusalem, nor a salt-seller motel, nor a luxury villa. The late S. Steckoll, though not a noted scholar, did dig at Qumran, so could have merited an article. The "yahad" ostracon (or not "yahad," depending on the scholar consulted) deserved an article, giving differing views (in mine, it relates to year two of initiation). Menahem the Essene (mistakenly indexed) could carry an article. The Qazone burials in the Lisan go unnoted, though known for years. Some articles are less than fully alive to latest research. "Essenes" mostly repeats a rather good book, but a 1988 one. It gives an explicit citation of evidence that the name came, via Greek spellings, from a Hebrew Qumran self-designation 'osey hatorah (observers of torah)--the source in effect predicted by scholars for centuries before the discovery--then unaccountably dismisses such as lack of explicit evidence (see DSS After 50 Years vol.2). We can now see the once-popular Aramaic proposals have no Qumran support. The Pliny article could have noted that his source's description of Essenes at Qumran was written in the rule of Herod the Great, when Ein Gedi (and *not* Jerusalem, as the H. Rackham [d. 1944], not Rackman, trans. has misled many to think) was still destroyed, an ashheap/graveyard, so not a toparchy, from fighting c. 40 BC. Yet another reason Y. Hirschfeld's Ein Gedi site, too late and too small, does not fit Pliny's Essenes. The Damascus article presents sect orgins in Babylon as if obvious, rather than a distinctly minority view. Numismatics well presents Herodian occupation at Qumran, but the later phase proposal raises questions, e.g., just who would accept Judaea Capta coins? Bibliography is endless. But surely the growing list of essays that 4Q448 is *against* Jonathan deserves to be noted. Not least because the two Jonathans --not Simon as one article has it--are the two which have been proposed most often over the last 50 years as "wicked priest," and the good chronological archaeology revisions here by Magness and others now tend to favor the later one, Jannaeus. Why no Dimant article in Angels bibliography? Why not S. Wagner in Pythagoraeans? But full consensus is not to be expected--and has never existed--in all aspects of scroll study. This Encyclopedia overall is an excellent and useful contribution to learning on this important history. I certainly recommend it, especially to libraries which aid history research.
Recommended.......2000-07-10
As one might expect, given that many fine scholars contributed, this reference work can be highly recommended. It provides a good interim survey of on-going research from which anyone can learn much. As also ineluctable, no one publication on the lively scrolls research can be fully complete or error-free. There are so many excellent articles to be thankful for. Without minimizing how valuable this collection is, a few critical notes may be worthwhile. I haven't finished reading, so I may err too. It isn't illustrated, perhaps to keep this--relatively--less expensive. And many photos of scrolls and caves, etc., are indeed available elsewhere. Yet some articles are limited by this: scroll reconstruction and photography and computer imaging, for instance. While nearly all the important topics are covered adequately, there are absences. Though Epicurean and Cynicism articles are provided, Stoicism has no article, though the latter is much more relevant to Qumran Essenes or descriptions of them. Yes, Qumran Essenes, though several articles retain the now-pointless politically correct equivocation, as if a badge of methodological rigour. Qumran, we reliably read demonstrated here, was neither a fort to which all scrolls were brought from Jerusalem, nor a salt-seller motel, nor a luxury villa. The late S. Steckoll, though not a noted scholar, did dig at Qumran, so could have merited an article. The "yahad" ostracon (or not "yahad," depending on the scholar consulted) deserved an article, giving differing views (in mine, it relates to year two of initiation). Menahem the Essene (mistakenly indexed) could carry an article. The Qazone burials in the Lisan go unnoted, though known for years. Some articles are less than fully alive to latest research. "Essenes" mostly repeats a rather good book, but a 1988 one. It gives an explicit citation of evidence that the name came, via Greek spellings, from a Hebrew Qumran self-designation 'osey hatorah (observers of torah)--the source in effect predicted by scholars for centuries before the discovery--then unaccountably dismisses such as lack of explicit evidence (see DSS After 50 Years vol.2). We can now see the once-popular Aramaic proposals have no Qumran support. The Pliny article could have noted that his source's description of Essenes at Qumran was written in the rule of Herod the Great, when Ein Gedi (and *not* Jerusalem, as the H. Rackham [d. 1944], not Rackman, trans. has misled many to think) was still destroyed, an ashheap/graveyard, so not a toparchy, from fighting c. 40 BC. Yet another reason Y. Hirschfeld's Ein Gedi site, too late and too small, does not fit Pliny's Essenes. The Damascus article presents sect orgins in Babylon as if obvious, rather than a distinctly minority view. Numismatics well presents Herodian occupation at Qumran, but the later phase proposal raises questions, e.g., just who would accept Judaea Capta coins? Bibliography is endless. But surely the growing list of essays that 4Q448 is *against* Jonathan deserves to be noted. Not least because the two Jonathans --not Simon as one article has it--are the two which have been proposed most often over the last 50 years as "wicked priest," and the good chronological archaeology revisions here by Magness and others now tend to favor the later one, Jannaeus. Why no Dimant article in Angels bibliography? Why not S. Wagner in Pythagoraeans? But full consensus is not to be expected--and has never existed--in all aspects of scroll study. This Encyclopedia overall is an excellent and useful contribution to learning on this important history. I certainly recommend it, especially to libraries which aid history research.
Book Description
Preserved people can tell us things that skeletons can't-hairstyles and tattoos can tell us what people looked like, full stomachs can tell us what thev ate, and autopsies can reveal what diseases they suffered.
With sections on Egyptian mummies, bog bodies, Einstein's brain, and the Ice Man, The Encyclopedia of Preserved People provides a fascinating look at those men, women, and children whose bodies have been preserved until the present day. It proves that history is not about dull dates, but about people who laughed, cried, ate, and worked, just like us-yet who were also incredibly different. It includes an index and a bibliography and is illustrated by over 30 full-color photographs.
From the Hardcover Library Binding edition.
Book Description
The third book in the new 'Encyclopaedia of Psychoanalysis' series. This book will be of interest to all those students and professionals alike who might have come to question consoling notions of therapy as leaving something important and central to Freud's thinking, his often neglected second reference point, the death drive.
Customer Reviews:
A Little Disappointing.......2007-03-08
This is the fifth book in the most recent Texas Cattleman Club series and to me it was not up to par with the first few books in the series. Rose Windcroft finds herself pregnant as a result of a one night stand at a business conference. When she comes home to visit her family ranch and realizes that Tom,the father of her baby is none other than a member of their rival family the Devlins. Rose is determined not to marry without love and vows she will not live in the country. Tom finds out that Rose is pregnant with their baby girl and asks Rose to marry him but she refuses. Tom believes that they can grow to love one another and vows he will be part of his baby's life, but is he willing to give up his ranch to have Rose.
The problem with this book for me was mostly Rose...she seems so selfish and shallow. She keeps the baby a secret from Tom, and refuses to marry him as long as she can't live in the city. She says she won't marry without love, but doesn't seem to have a problem with having sex with Tom at every chance. Second problem, when the TCC decides to use Rose as bait to catch a killer they vow to protect her. When a fire is deliberately set, even though they know the killer probably did it, everyone leaves Rose alone to go fight the fire....so stupid....No, this one was just okay and seems a little amateurish.
A quick read.......2005-12-06
I finally gave in after the third week of debating over whether to buy this book. It's short, and action based. I did find compelling characters, but as it is a part of a series, the ultimate resolution is not achieved. The characters seem to drown their sorrows in sex instead of dealing with their inner turmoil.
I found disappointment in how quickly the characters dismissed their apprehensions of each other. (It only took a kiss for our heroine to forget that the father of her baby was her the member of the family with whom her family had an extensive blood feud.) I also found acceptance of Rose's announcement to her family of her future child very undramatic, especially since the family was dealing with so much drama to begin with. When Rose is kidnapped, Tom's panic seemed minimal compared to his anguish in the hospital. I was also confused by the attempts on Rose's family I did not understand the motivation behind this problem, but I imagine that would be resolved with reading the rest of the 'Texas Cattleman's Club' series.
Bottom line: Quick read, okay mystery subplot with a happy ending.
Book Description
This classic work of science fiction is widely considered to be the ultimate time-travel novel. When Daniel Eakins inherits a time machine, he soon realizes that he has enormous power to shape the course of history. He can foil terrorists, prevent assassinations, or just make some fast money at the racetrack. And if he doesn't like the results of the change, he can simply go back in time and talk himself out of making it! But Dan soon finds that there are limits to his powers and forces beyond his control. This replaces 0553290061.
Customer Reviews:
A Book For All Time.......2007-09-17
The Man Who Folded Himself is a good book. It's not your standard time-traveling tale. Don't expect Marty-and-Doc-like adventures in the Old West or zooming back to the time when your parents were dating. Don't expect the hero to be chased by allosaurs or Huns or anything like that. This is a tale that focuses on the psychological effects and philosophical questions caused by time-travel (don't let that intimidate you). It's thus a good read: original and thoughtful, and avoids all of the clichés and pitfalls of the genre. Have an open mind and you'll have fun.
The Man Who Folded ... and Adored ... Himself.......2007-09-02
Danny inherits a special belt from his Uncle. This magical belt allows him to travel through time. The result: many various creations of himself, each traveling through a different facet of time. This presents him with an unusual proposition, to meet and love 'himselves' in a very personal manner. What an awesome idea for a plot! Sadly, the momentum of the story was lost. The original impetus was neglected and replaced by self-adoration. The plot had been sacrificed for some other goal, promotion of self-absorption and narcissism. I found this book to be very disappointing.
Time's Lonely Arrow.......2007-07-18
In Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself, 19 year old Dan Eakins is given an unusual gift by his Uncle Jim just before he dies...the gift is a belt that allows the user to travel backwards and forwards through time at a whim. What does Dan do with such a remarkable gift? (What would any of us do?) Dan travels into the past and wins big at the track. But Dan is not alone. Dan finds another version of himself...also a time-traveler, to share his temporal exploits...and, over "time", Dan discovers many versions of himself, all time-travelers; and all find themselves in the same predicament Dan finds himself in: How exactly does one find meaning with one's life -- where does one look? -- when the only person that will ever truly understand you, is you?
I didn't really know what I was expecting coming into this book. It is quite short and I wasn't sure how Gerrold was going to fit a full story into the minimum number of pages. However, Gerrold did a good job, despite its length, the story felt complete.
As a time travel story, Gerrold makes a number of predictions about the future. Since this book was first published in 1973, we have had time to see how some of Gerrold's predictions have turned out, and in several cases, Gerrold was quite accurate.
But ultimately, this story is not about whether or not this prediction or that one has come true. This story is not even really about time travel. Gerrold effectively uses time travel as a device to make a statement about the human condition. No matter who we are or where we hail from, no matter our upbringing, people need other people to...for lack of a better way of putting it...make us not feel lonely. This is what Gerrold emphasizes...at times, in ways that are not so subtle.
The only book I have ever read that has made me feel this way after turning the last page was Ken Grimwood's Replay. Both stories use time travel as a device to make it plain that not only do we need other people like us to keep us sane, but those people are out there, and they are often found in the most unusual of circumstances.
Overall, despite Gerrold's brevity with the written word, I certainly recommend this tale to anyone who is interested in a story of time travel that is done in a most thoughtful manner.
Straight shot...(perhaps spoilers).......2007-01-27
The book is more of a philosophical treatise than a science fiction story. If you read the story as the story of a guy who comes unglued because his life is no longer linear, then it may have more meaning than a ripping sci-fi yarn, which it isn't. The story is the effect of being disengaged from a linear reality (which is pretty much an operant definition of insanity), not a Star Wars adventure. There's no baddies being done in by the goodies, no space monsters dripping venom, just a guy coming undone and pulling it back together as best he can.
It may have more resonance as you get older, and you struggle with the decline of your dreams, yet still sketching and idealizing some future, handle bouts of nostalgic melancholy and dream about resurrecting the past in the present, only to be reminded it is really gone. If you don't have a good grasp on the present and are willing to make the best of what you're in, you're going to go a little off your rocker too.
Perhaps a reach, but accepting that life tumbles slowly and linearly into the future is really all we have, and what we're designed for. In a sense this story is a caution against wishing anything else.
a boring novel.......2006-07-10
I really dont want to write negative reviews --but I bought this book recently at the TorontoTrek sf con this last weekend (Jul 7,8,9 2006) in Toronto Canada where Gerrold came to talk (he managed to put his foot in his mouth more than once). After making disparaging comments about a whole race of people up here in Canada (the french canadians) he got into his pitch about this book-- apparently one of his best books. Okay I should have taken his obnoxious self-congratulatory attitude as a heads up that 'what you see is what you get'--in other words he didn't impress me as a person so I should have suspected his writing wouldn't be much better. This book is about a man who travels back and forth in time to meet himself in various situations. Honestly there really isn't much more to it than that and it's easily apparent if you are a well read science fiction reader. Oh there are sooo many better time travel stories out there, in this readers opinion, (I've been reading sf for 30 years now! I read at least 10 sf novels a month). This is just not worth wasting your time on. You want a really good time travel novel? Get THE TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger. Now THAT is a time travel novel worth reading. I'm ordering my copy from Amazon.com.
Product Description
Time travel fiction.
Customer Reviews:
THE MAN WHO LOVED HIMSELF JUST A LITTLE TOO MUCH..........2006-10-10
I love books that have a time travel theme and looked forward to reading this book, as it had come highly recommended. This book is more like a long short story or a very brief novella, which is a mercy, considering how disappointed I was by it. It was merely ok. In fact, there was very little about it that I found to be engaging, though I do not affirmatively dislike the book.
The book is about a young man, Daniel Eakins, who inherits a belt that allows him to travel in time. The book itself is like a diary that the main character keeps of his journeys in time. He writes mostly about meeting other versions of himself, both male and female, and making love to those versions. His presence at some of the greatest moments in history, which he does go to see, consist of nothing more than a laundry list to indicate that he had been there. There are also journal entries by some of his other various incarnations, which is a moderately interesting contrivance.
Still, there is little substance to the book in terms of plot, as well as little character development. The time spent in other eras are glossed over quickly, as if too much time would be wasted in doing otherwise. Daniel does try to change some historic moments, with some interesting consequences, but that, too, is glossed over. The book almost reads as if it were a stream of consciousness narration, which is, perhaps, congruent with keeping a diary or journal. The exploration of sexuality in which the author engages is certainly novel, though slightly creepy.
This book, which feels more as if it were an outline for a book, would probably be of interest only to die hard, time travel fans. If you are not such an individual, deduct one star from my rating and avoid this book. As is its central character, the book is in a state of arrested development.
Average customer rating:
- THE MAN WHO LOVED HIMSELF JUST A LITTLE TOO MUCH...
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The Man Who Folded Himself
Manufacturer: Popular Library New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000F3R45Q |
Product Description
Like to take a trip through time? It would be a great knick, not to mention the loot to be made when you returned. That's what Don thought when he inherited the timebelt from his uncle. What happened - to human history and personal identity, to sex and to sanity - was something else...
Customer Reviews:
THE MAN WHO LOVED HIMSELF JUST A LITTLE TOO MUCH..........2006-06-16
I love books that have a time travel theme and looked forward to reading this book, as it had come highly recommended. This book is more like a long short story or a very brief novella, which is a mercy, considering how disappointed I was by it. It was merely ok. In fact, there was very little about it that I found to be engaging, though I do not affirmatively dislike the book.
The book is about a young man, Daniel Eakins, who inherits a belt that allows him to travel in time. The book itself is like a diary that the main character keeps of his journeys in time. He writes mostly about meeting other versions of himself, both male and female, and making love to those versions. His presence at some of the greatest moments in history, which he does go to see, consist of nothing more than a laundry list to indicate that he had been there. There are also journal entries by some of his other various incarnations, which is a moderately interesting contrivance.
Still, there is little substance to the book in terms of plot, as well as little character development. The time spent in other eras are glossed over quickly, as if too much time would be wasted in doing otherwise. Daniel does try to change some historic moments, with some interesting consequences, but that, too, is glossed over. The book almost reads as if it were a stream of consciousness narration, which is, perhaps, congruent with keeping a diary or journal. The exploration of sexuality in which the author engages is certainly novel, though slightly creepy.
This book, which feels more as if it were an outline for a book, would probably be of interest only to die hard, time travel fans. If you are not such an individual, deduct one star from my rating and avoid this book. As is its central character, the book is in a state of arrested development.
Book Description
Most often, the dialogue between religion and science is initiated by the discoveries of modern science—big bang cosmology, evolution, or quantum theory, for example. In this book, scientist-theologian John Polkinghorne changes the discussion. He approaches the dialogue from a little-explored perspective in which theology shapes the argument and sets the agenda of questions to be considered.
The author begins with a review of approaches to science and religion in which the classification focuses on theological content rather than on methodological technique. He then proceeds with chapters discussing the role of Scripture, a theology of nature, the doctrine of God, sacramental theology, and eschatology. Throughout, Polkinghorne takes the perspective of Trinitarian thinking while arguing in a style that reflects the influence of his career as a theoretical physicist. In the final chapter, the author defends the appropriateness of addressing issues of science and religion from the specific standpoint of his Christian belief. His book provides an important model for theologians and scientists alike, showing how their two fields can inform one another in significant ways.
Customer Reviews:
Intellectual bridge between science and faith.......2006-12-12
John Polkinghorne is a fine author; the combination of his faith, his deep understanding of physics and his ability to explain the most complex ideas in terms that are relatively easy to follow (sometimes requiring a second read!) make him uniquely qualified for the challenge of showing how it can be intellectually sound to embrace the Christian faith. His willingness to quote sources with whom he clearly disagrees and to do so with integrity towards the opposing view adds tremendously to the depth of his reasoning.
His comment on page 63 is typical: "The universe has proved to be astonishingly rationally transparent, and the human mind remarkably apt to the comprehension of its structure. We can penetrate the secrets of the subatomic realm of quarks and gluons, and we can make maps of cosmic curved spacetime, both regimes that have no practical impact upon us, and both exhibiting properties that are counterintuitive in relation to our ordinary habits of thought. Our understanding of the workings of the world greatly exceed (sic) anything that could simply be required for human survival."
When I reflect on insights such as this (and the book is full of them) I find them so much more valuable than the confrontational approach of the materialists on one side and the Intelligent Design zealots on the other.
Three and a half stars, dissapointing.......2005-12-25
Polkinghorne is just not at his best in this volume. It starts out good, but just goes downhill. If he could just stay on the topic of the relationship between science and theology he would be great. No one but Stanley Jaki is as good when it comes to that subject, and that was what I wanted in this book. Unfortunately, Polkinghorne soon leaves this behind to talk about theology (mostly) apart from science, and some of his theological views are just wacko. For example, when discussing God and time, he concluded that God is bound by time (in His temporal pole at least), but of course time is relative, so we have to decide what "time-zone" God is on. Polkinghorne concludes that he is probably on the same time-zone as the cosmic background radiation, since that is the most common time zone! And I assure you he is not joking when he comes to this conclusion, he is quite serious. Also, on the way to this conclusion, he passes through a discussion on the bipolarity of God, sounds dangerously like a process theist. In fact, after reading this book, I am fairly convinced that Polkinghorne is either a process theist or something very close to it, certainly not a traditional Christian theist, and I am certain that he goes far beyond the bounds of even open theism. This was a very dissapointing discovery, but the book is still good in parts. If only he would stay on subject, for he discusses the main subject better than any other but one!
Theology and science.......2005-09-02
The task of theology and the task of science have many things in common, and many differences. In some sense, both seek the truth (albeit most often different in context and meaning), and while both make an appeal to reason as a methodology, they vary in their application of this.
Author John Polkinghorne has a combined profession of cleric and theoretical physicist. Physics and theology are both often caterogised as 'big picture' enterprises - I recall the time that I got better grades from in a biblical studies course after talking with the professor Marti Steussy; once she realised that I had had science training in physics, and I realised she'd had science training in biochemistry, we understood each other much better with regard to biblical studies (big picture vs. constitutent parts/small things approaches). Polkinghorne also approaches things from a big picture perspective, albeit involving small things (the smallest of things, in fact, that science can discern).
This book is derivative of lectures given at Princeton Theological Seminary in 2003. Polkinghorne's intention was to draw together science and religion in a dialogue, letting theological issues provide the framework. He covers different key areas in systematic theology (scripture, sacraments, doctrine of God, eschatology), and does so through an expressly trinitarian paradigm. 'I believe that a discussion of this kind has to be undertaken from the standpoint of a particular faith tradition,' Polkinghorne states, and starts with many assumptions of the Christian faith - of course, his audience at Princeton was also primarily Christian, as will be most of the readers of this volume. Polkinghorne admits that this particularist stance is somewhat at odds with the aims of science: 'Scientists love generality, and they are often wary of particularity.' But for theological reasoning, one must be inside the circle, rather than outside; however, the scandal of particularity must be admitted.
This is not an 'in-depth' book in terms of attempting to provide a deep exposition of modern physics (many concepts are assumed to be familiar to the reader, if not completely understood). However, Polkinghorne avoids complex mathematical and technical terminology and constructions for the most part, so that the general non-scientist reader can follow the text readily. Polkinghorne does draw in elements of the history of science and theology and their often-troubled relationship, and shows something of the development of the way theological thinking since the Enlightenment.
This is an interesting book for those who are interested in the ongoing science/religion debate. It does not address the more-hot-button issue of evolution as a primary theme, although it does come up in several of the essays; this is a more general coverage of science and theology, the way they relate to each other.
A bold New Theological Synthesis.......2005-08-29
This may well be one of Polkinghorne's best. He assumes a knowledge of recent discoveries in phyiscs and doesn't really explain them. He does that elsewhere in books like Quarks, Chaos and Christianity, but he does refer to those facts in a determined attempt to develop a theology that is consonant with the physical facts known to scientists. He describes a new theology that sees God as both temporal and atemporal, a God who has created a developing universe in which He is active but which is also independent from Him. His view may not be satisfying to some but it is the grandest attempt I have read by a theologian to answer the questions that physics ask about the nature of the universe. He calls himself a "bottoms=up thinker"-- one who develops theory based on evidence. He does not claim to "prove" the existence of God only to show that it is the most satsifying explanation for the facts shown. His goal here really is not to persuade the unpersuaded to believe in God, rather is is addressed to those who, like him, are believers who nevertheless have many questions that have been undresolved for centuries-- Does God exist only outside of time? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people. And so on. A great, but as usual, difficult, read for people of faith seeking greater understanding.
Fails to deliver.......2005-02-22
There isn't much Trinity and there isn't much science in this disappointing volume. Chapter 2, "The Role of Scripture" discusses neither and treats us to this gem: "[Peacocke] describes the Bible as being a 'unique and irreplaceable resource'. I agree very strongly with that assessment." Gee whiz, who wouldn't? Not worth the $24 I paid. The book is written in the rambling style you'd expect from a speaker at Club night at the Lizzie. Goes well with port, but not much else.
A more stimulating treatment of the same subject can be had by reading Kevin Sharpe's Sleuthing the Divine. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Commonweal, published by Thomson Gale on March 11, 2005. The length of the article is 1050 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Christian scientists.(Science and the Trinity: The Christian Encounter with Reality)(Book Review)
Author: Michael H. Barnes
Publication:
Commonweal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 11, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 132
Issue: 5
Page: 36(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Commonweal, published by Thomson Gale on December 1, 2006. The length of the article is 860 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Robert E. Proctor.(Trinity: The Christian Encounter with Reality)(Pattern of Redemption: The Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar)(The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth)(Last Plays: Separating Art from Autobiography)(Book review)
Author: Robert E. Proctor
Publication:
Commonweal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 133
Issue: 21
Page: 20(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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