Come Back to Sorrento

Book Description

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED as The Tenth Moon, Come Back to Sorrento is the second of Powell’s "Ohio novels" to be re-issued in paperback. Here Powell turns her attention to those certain rare souls who have the secret of finding their lives glamorous and themselves magnificent under the most humble conditions. Connie Benjamin, the village shoemaker’s wife, always wanted an operatic career. Blaine Decker, the new high school music teacher, once spent time abroad studying piano. The two are drawn together into a powerful friendship of dependence, each sustaining the other and translating the surface monotony of their lives into drama richer than reality.

Customer Reviews:

Dawn Powell at her best.......2003-01-14

Dawn Powell's "Come Back to Sorrento", was published in 1932 under the title "The Tenth Moon" to little notice from critics or from the public. But this poignant, mostly understated novel set in a drab midwestern town called Dell River is a gem.

The two main characters in the book are Connie Benjamin and Blaine Decker. When we meet Connie as a housewife in her mid-thirties, she is leading a life she finds sterile and barren with her husband Gus, a cobbler, and her two adolescent daughters. As a young woman, Connie had visions of a career as an opera singer, even though this ambition seemed to be based on little more than a commendation of her voice by a famous teacher. Connie also has a past in which she ran off with a young man named Tony who did acrobatics with a circus. Tony aboandoned her, and Connie lives with dreams of a singing career that perhaps could have been and with faded memories of Tony.

Blaine Decker comes to Dell River as the high school music teacher. He rents a small apartment above Gus Decker's shoe repair shop. Decker is a pianist by training (with small hands) who likewise has never had the artistic success of which he dreams. He spent his early years in Europe during which time he was a friend of a writer, Starr Donnell, who had written, as far as Decker knows, one novel. Powell hints throughout the novel at Decker's repressed homosexuality.

The novel explores the relationship that develops between Connie and Blaine. With their shared love of music and their broken, and probably illusory dreams, they feel stifled by the small town of Dell River. They share confidences with each other and at the same time quarrel severely with each other over their respective failures to pursue their dreams. The relationship is at bottom frustrating and unconsummated. It never becomes sexual.

There are wonderful pictures in this book of music and its capacity to bring meaning to life. The seriousness with which Powell discusses the pursuit of classical music in this work contrasts markedly with her picture of frivolous people and activities in her subsequent satirical New York novels. Powell also shows how music can be a means by which people evade their own selves and their own reality. There are also good depictions in the book of life in a small town, particularly those people who teach in High Schools, and of many secondary characters.

As do Powell's latter works, this book contrasts life in a small town with life in the cosmopolitian city, here represented by Paris more than by New York. But there is a certain inward focus to this book which is not shared by her latter satirical pictures of New York. The characters here are limited by Dell River and its environs, but their problems and discontents lie within themselves, in their lack of self-knowledge, and in their failed dreams. The book lacks the sharp cynicism of the latter novels but features instead reflectiveness and sadness.

Powell's writing style in this novel is rather flatter than in her subsequent works but it fits the atmosphere of Dell River that she conveys. There are several moments in the novel or lyricism and intensity.

This probably is not a novel that will ever enjoy wide readership. But it is rare and a treasure.

The Highest Art is Life.......2002-05-23

What a haiku evokes beyond the language, a few words summon a large panorama, Dawn Powell did in this novella. With artful simplicity, the author relates a somewhat comic and somewhat cosmic fable of two lost souls that blend unrealized dreams into reality. Powell writes with the sensitivity of an empath. In the bearly visible twitch, the eye that cannot contact, the unconscious hesitations belie the character's pretense so that the secret is just between Powell and her reader. In the far less precise language of psychiatry, this is termed the "as if" self. This deceptively simple story succeeds as myth for within the doubling up of solitary dreams, their souls sweep the cosmos.

Shards of memories, are picked from the realities that defeated them and together they build a palace of dignity that not only holds at bay, their individual sufferings, but becomes wide enough to bring a muted sort of redemption to others, afflicted with similar destinies.
Through music and desire, (platonic, alone) a middle aged housewife, and a odd and tattered music teacher shake off fate and taste, if briefly, what they had been denied. Woven in the tale, is the past of childhood trauma and rejection, abandonment and 'making do,' that the odd duo become nothing less than extraordinary people who choose happiness and get it. In this it is a morality tale, par excellance.
Anyone who has ever reached out of despair with a rebound of delight, who has taken an old piece of cloth and thrown it in some transforming wrap over their head, or around their waist, as Connie does, remembers that triumph, so rare, but perfect brilliant touch. Suddenly, an old dress, has color and shape, bohemians, they are beyond the ordinary in fashion and finance.

There are no authorial statements here, Powell has her own transformative power, whereby sentences do indeed show, voluminously what she composed sparingly. Her genious for showing human instincts is beyond any of her peers. Perhaps the most stunning is her instinct for understanding that ancient animal survival rule whereby we must hide our wounds and primal sufferings or risk in discovery- annihilation. There is none of the confessional self-absorption that was the legacy of the psychoanalytic fever, that was in its American childhood at the time she wrote the novel.

Anyone who has suffered and not hurt others, is rare indeed. The sublime experience between the two does not rely on inflicting pain upon others, a far more common means of elevating conditions of esteem.
The message, if I may, is in the true artistic gift that they benefitted from, but if spoken, would have broken the spell. They saw the Touilleries in an unweeded garden, the Volga in a brown shallow river, and in the unattractive, uncultured, midwestern town, they found a quaint village to delight in.

The physical conditions of life bore down upon their paradise and yet Connie and Blaine, prevailed, looking we are told through colored pains of glass, bringing the grey, unsympathetic world into prismmatic shimmering color.

It is a love poem to the artistic process that is a gift for life as much as technique with a brush or an instrument or a sentence. This contrasts effectively with her more cynical tales of the corrupted artist and the exploited audience.

A glorious book.

Simply gorgeous........1999-10-15

Only Dawn Powell could create such an intimate, sorrowful portrayal of two thwarted artists in a smug little town that doesn't recognize their intelligence. Very sad, yet gently funny as well. Dawn Powell apparently didn't think this was one of her more successful books. It always amazes me how poorly some artists judge their work for this is one of her best novels. Read it and weep.

An unforgettable read.......1999-02-02

This book has been well-summarized by the other reviewers. I can only second their recommendations and say that this book is spellbindingly written and contains two extended passages (I will leave it to other readers to find their own favorite parts)that are among the most brilliant writing I have ever encountered. Just be warned that it will break your heart. Now if only Steerforth would reissue her "Story of a Country Boy" which I just found an ancient copy of and which is just as good...

Excellent Book.......1999-01-26

This is an extremely well written book. It is the story of a housewife and the local high school Music teacher. Both of whom live in their pasts, which they have embellished to the point of unrecognition. This is what binds them together as they create their "salon". I love Dawn Powell and her real forte is creating these amazing character studies that are both hilarious and pathetic. I would highly recommend this book and any other of Dawn Powell's works

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Come Back to Sorrento
David Greenfield
Manufacturer: Dorrance Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 080594821X

Book Description

Young Giovanni was an orphan. His skills were few, but as a young man alone in the town of Sorrento, he knew he had to find work. His goal was to become an apprentice, to learn a trade, and then he would be able to become his own man and create a life with his beloved Viola.

Orlando D'Ancona, sculptor in marble and bronze and sympathetic to the homeless lad, took Giovanni under his wing into his studio as an apprentice. He undertook to teach sculpture to the deserving orphan.

But young Gio soon gained more than the knowledge taught to him by his master: he had the God-given skills held by so very few others. A fateful confrontations with D'Ancona is interrupted by an eruption from Mount Vesuvius, and the interruption lasts the next ten years, taking Gio away from everything he has ever known and holds dear. What will happen to the lost orphan? Will he and Viola ever meet again? And what will come of Gio's final breathtaking work?

David Greenfield has masterfully created a tale of destiny and heroics in Come Back to Sorrento. The characters will haunt your memory and reside within your soul, staying with you long after the last page of this dynamic, awesome story is completed. Come Back to Sorrento is a timeless classic, sure to bring you back time and again.

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Come Back to Sorrento
Alan Howard
Manufacturer: Authorhouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0759653216

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Come back to Sorrento
Joseph Petracca
Manufacturer: Little, Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007DXQJ2

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Come Back to Sorrento - Sheet Music Score
Ernesto De Curtis
Manufacturer: Hansen Music
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J34U2C

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Come Back To Sorrento

Manufacturer: Warner Bros. Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GQOBEO

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Come Back to Sorrento
Dawn Powell
Manufacturer: Zoland Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J31V0G

Book Description

Scion of Cyador continues the story begun in Magii of Cyador. Exploring the rich depths of the history of Recluce, Magii of Cyador introduced Lorn, a talented boy born into a family of Magii. A fastidious student mage who lacked blind devotion, Lorn was made into a lancer officer and shipped off to the frontier. Having survived an extended stint fighting both barbarian raiders and the giant beasts of the Accursed Forest, Lorn has proven himself to be a fine officer perhaps too fine an officer. As his prowess has grown, so has the number of his enemies and rivals. Too much success has made him a marked man. When he returns to his home, both he and his young family become targets while all of Cyad is in upheaval over the death of the Emperor.

Download Description

This book is a direct sequel to last year's Magi'i of Cyador, and tells the second half of Lorn's story. Modesitt's Recluce books are his trademark fantasy series, reliable sellers for a decade.

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

This time, the book is a direct sequel to the one that came before. Lorn is growing in power and ability, both in a military and political sense. His wife's mercantile influence is also increasing, which is definitely helpful to his cause.

Because of this, and how their society works, lots of people want to kill him. If you have read some of the other books you will know where this is going, too.

Understanding of the Beginning of Cyador.......2005-08-29

At last, the true beginning is made clear. The character development used in this series is second to none. My hat's off to L. E. Modesitt in his continuing development of this world view. Both the Black Magicians and the White Wizards are given fair due in the plot development throughout the series. Recommended highly to anyone who appreciates good fantasy, and excellent plot development.

How this book compares to other fantasy series.......2005-06-02

The first thing you need to know is that I have not finished this book. I only read the first five or so chapters. I haven't picked it up in awhile. I CAN'T STAND the use of the present tense.

Lorn walks down the road with Ryalth, while he thinks about how power-hungry Bluoyal's regime is. He looks upon the city of light, as it shines glamorously, the palatial gables and grand entry collumns glistening with a pure, genuine brilliance...

I just made that up, but that's basically the kind of stuff you'll see in this book, at least to the point I've read. It's very annoying to slog through the present tense, maybe because I'm just so used to reading books in the past tense like everybodye lse on the planet. That's how books are writen. maybe he's ahead of his time, but this is just too great of a leap, too drastic an innovation for me to feel comfortable with.

The other problem I have with this series and other fantasy series is the characters' names. Now i understand that naming characers John, Bill, Scott, Chris, David, Mark, and such is very bland and realistic, not fantastic at all. But AT LEAST MAKE THEM PRONONCEABLE! Please, I beg you, L.E.Modessit, if you're goin to give your characters fantastic names, don't make me have a fantastic time solving your linguistic riddles. This is a big pet peeve that I have with fantasy novels. Robert Jordan does this in the Wheel of Time, but at least he gives a glosary in the back which explains how the names should be pronounced. See, when I read fantasy books like this, I try to make it as interesting as possile by visualizing the characters actually doin the actions they take in the book, and it's REALLY HARD when I don't know how names are pronounced, just as it would be hard not knowing what a character looks like or sounds like, which is often enough.

If you want to read a good fantasy novel, read A Wizard of Earthsea. This is probably the best fantasy novel I have ever read, it's not as stereotyped as the Wheel of Time series, it's not as insanely complicated, and mere words anddescription don't do it justice. Like many series, the Earthsea cycle tails off at the end, as I have learned from reading Amazon reviews, but the first book is FANTASTIC. It blows this book into one of the shimmering gables of Cyador, city of light, award-winning fantasy land that never was, or never should have been, I don't know and I don't care, but I'm done with this series unless there's abslutely no other good fantasy books, which will probably never happen.

Great story and characters, too much repetition.......2004-09-16

I really enjoyed reading this book and its really on a 5-star caliber, but I just can't help being a little frustrated at how repeptitive Modesitt is, not only throughout the series, but also within this one book. I mean, how many times do you have to describe how much Lorn loves the Pearapple tarts and does he really need to read the same five poems over and over again?? Even still, I'd give this one 4.5 stars because this really is a great story that was a lot of fun to read. Lorn and the other characters are really great and the whole land of Cyador with all of its political factions, secrecy, and plotting makes up to a very believable and exciting world. I'd reccomend this one but remember to read the Magi'i of Cyador first (you don't need to read the rest of the series though and actually these two would be a pretty good place to begin).

another book, the same old story.......2003-08-27

Book 11 of the Saga of Recluse

This eleventh Recluse novel is a direct sequel to Magi'i of Cyador and is more a continuation of that story than a sequel. The book continues to follow Lorn, an officer in Cyador's Mirror Lancers. Chronologically, this is the second book in the Recluse series and is still a good 400 years before the events in Fall of Angels. Lorn begins the story as Over-Captain of a port city. As with all of his postings, Lorn is assigned it so that he may fail and be killed. Lorn has been given the most difficult assignments that exist in Cyador. He was a student Magus, but his aptitude led him to be assigned to the Lancers. Those in power in Cyador find Lorn to be a potential threat, but Lorn keeps surviving by being smarter, luckier, and more ruthless than those who oppose him, and so he works his way up the chain of command of the Mirror Lancers.

If Magi'i was more of an action/adventure book with some intrigue, Scion is the opposite. Sure, there is action, and battles, but this book deals more with political intrigue and moral decisions (and ambivalence) and political infighting. Lorn has to play the game in order to survive, all the while he only wants to stay alive and be with his merchanter consort, Ryalth. As Lorn's fortunes rise in the Mirror Lancers, so does Ryalth's success with the Ryalor trading house. Because she is a lady trader, she is also not completely accepted by the current powers in Cyador. Lorn would, and does do everything he can protect himself, his family and especially Ryalth. This does not exclude murder...he views it more as pre-emptive self defense rather than cold blooded murder, but Lorn does what he feels he has to do. He isn't quite as much of a sympathetic protagonist as is Lerris or Creslin, but he is still in their mold.

As the novel progresses, the stakes keep raising as Lorn gains military rank and as the current emperor is closer to dying. His battles get tougher, larger, and carry much greater risk to his life, his career, and to Cyador. The novel follows the logical progression of Lorn's career and everything that happens feels like that is the logical next step. Part of the reason for that is probably because of the nature of the Recluse series. Each protagonist is put in very similar circumstances to other protagonists in the series. They do exactly what needs to be done to survive, are called Cold-Blooded because the do so, and end up doing similar actions in their quest to survive and have a quiet life. Lerris, Creslin, Justin, and Nylan are all very similar to Lorn in this way. Modesitt's novels are very formulaic in that manner. If you try to read them all in a row, they become very tiresome because you are really reading the same exact story being told over and over again. However, if you read a book or two and take a break for several months before continuing with the series, you may find Recluse easier to digest. Recluse remains one of my favorite series (Though not the best), but I have come to understand that it is best to read the books in small chunks rather than in one big piece.

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Scion of Cyador: The New Novel in the Saga of Recluce
L. E. Modesitt
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKNOV8

Book Description

Kurt Vonnegut cites Theodore Sturgeon as the inspiration for his character Kilgore Trout. This volume includes 12 stories from 1953, considered Sturgeon's golden era. Among them are such favorites as the title story, "The Silken-Swift," "A Way of Thinking," "The Dark Room," "The Clinic," and "The World Well Lost," very ahead of its time in advocating gay rights.

Customer Reviews:

A little slice of perfection.......2004-09-27

It is hard to believe that this is the SEVENTH volume of Ted Sturgeon's collected stories and they are only up to 1953. Why would you want to own such a voluminous set? And why this particular one?

Simply: Sturgeon is one of the most provocative, innovative and beautiful writers in the English language and the title story of this volume alone is worth the price of the book. But once you're beyond one of the arguably greatest stories of the last 51 years, you'll find that Sturgeon has many more wonders in every volume of this series. For example, "Mr Cosell, Hero" is the most thorough demolition of the 1950's Red Scare (and it is set in outer space!). "The Clinic" predates classics like Flowers for Algernon, and gives us an alien perspective to boot.

Sturgeon's writing, as noted in many places, is about love as much as it is about anything. With each new volume, he inspires his readers to share that feeling. You may not end up with the full shelf of his work, but "A Saucer of Loneliness" is one you'll certainly want, need, desire and lust after.

If ANYTHING deserves 5 stars, this is it........2004-09-27

"A Saucer of Loneliness" is one of two stories most important in making SF considered a "serious" field (the other being RAH's "Stranger"). Of the two, this certainly isn't the better, but it had more of an effect on me, personally. The end notes in this book note that it talked Spider Robinson, one current major SF writer, out of suicide, and it has more of an emotional effect that that could explain.
The rest of the book is still amazing. The second story has an interesting idea, but sloppy execution. The following, "The World Well Lost," literally made me fall out of my chair laughing, and includes the RS drive, which might be the most creative invention I've seen in years. Much farther on, with "The Clinic," you see the same type of emotional depth as you did in "Saucer," presented almost as well. Any one of those stories alone is worth the price of the novel.
For continuing fun after you've read it two or three times, I occasionally repeat parts of the "Koala" conversation out of "Wages of Synergy" without context. It makes my day to break up a serious revelation with "Koala..." "What does that mean?" "It means a great deal..."

Pure Sturgeon!.......2000-12-05

I first read Saucer of Loneliness in Sturgeon's E. Pleribus Unicorn. It instantly became my favorite and still is in this new book. Its always a pleasure to read his works.

Book Description

Furthering his contribution to the science and religion debate, David Ray Griffin draws upon the cosmology of Alfred North Whitehead and proposes a radical synthesis between two worldviews sometimes thought wholly incompatible. He argues that the traditions designated by the names "scientific naturalism" and "Christian faith" both embody a great truth-a truth of universal validity and importance-but that both of these truths have been distorted, fueling the conflict between the visions of the scientific and Christian communities. Griffin contends, however, that there is no inherent conflict between science, or even the kind of naturalism that it properly presupposes, and the Christian faith, understood in terms of the primary doctrines of the Christian good news.

Customer Reviews:

Truths about truths.......2007-08-24

This book tries to reconcile what the author calls Scientific Naturalism and Christian Faith.
It includes interesting developments on theology and cosmology, with a critical overview of the idea of "creation out of nothing". Griffin shows how this idea has damaging implications regarding the perfect goodness of God and the free-will of man.
In his analysis of Christian doctrines, Griffin makes a distinction between primary doctrines constituting a great truth, and subsequent secondary and tertiary doctrines which distract our attention from them and even end up contradicting them. Some of those later doctrines which turn out to be false are the result of distortions accumulated with the passing of time.
Another source of misinterpretations comes from the confusion of languages. A mythological narrative for instance may express a deep truth, which will become false if taken literally. It needs first to be translated into our common or scientific language in order to be properly understood. The problem then, is that such a translation will result in a loss of meaning, and a narrower scope of interpretation.
Truths may also be different because they answer different questions. They can be different, but not necessarily conflicting at a fundamental level. All this is interesting but not really new.
So the real contribution of this book seems to be found at the more general level of considerations about the concept of truth itself.
In my view, things would have been easier if the author had not used the word faith, especially in his title, when he actually means creed or conviction. It seems appropriate when speaking about truth, to use words in their true meaning. Even, as is the case here, if their true meaning is not their more usual one.
Griffin spends some time implicitly trying to make up for that mistake. He wants to convince us that people are right when they have faith in Jesus-Christ, but are wrong when they believe everything that is commonly referred to as Christian doctrine.
Indeed, originally Christian faith refers to the fact that someone trusts the person of Jesus-Christ and believes in him.
Christian creed or doctrine on the other hand, refers to the fact that someone is convinced that all of Christianity's teachings over the centuries are actually true.
And from what we have just seen, it seems wise to try and sort out the various levels of truth within the various layers of Christian doctrine.
Modern liberal theology, by doing away with the method of authority in order to decide what is true and what is not, invites us to take our own responsibility, and to reason on the basis of experience. That, in the author's view, is a good thing, but inasmuch as physicists deal only with the way things affect other things and not with what they are fundamentally, their experience remains limited. They do not go beyond the extrinsic reality of things, they ignore their intrinsic reality. Therefore their reasoning is based on an impoverished notion of experience and puts limitations on the quality of truths they discover.
The conclusion could perhaps be that the more truth there is in each of these truths, the easier it should be to reconcile them.

Two Truths for All People of Faith.......2005-02-22

Given that today real harm that can be done by the traditional teachings of many faith communities it is refreshing to find a book that allows thoughtful and compassionate people to affirm both what they know about the world and the possibility of that world being an environment of peace and caring for everyone. In a small book, Two Great Truths, David Ray Griffin, shares the richness of a lifetime spent in contemplating and writing about how we understand God. And most importantly he offers an affirming vision of both reality (science) and the Christian faith.

Dr. Griffin's work is based on a view of the world that sees all things as interconnected and interrelated in the way in which quantum physics' sub-atomic basis of reality operates. Everything participates in an ongoing process of creativity. God is "what makes things make themselves". There is therefor no need to see God as supernatural. Griffin argues that this idea was a distortion in the early church when God was seen as creating out of nothing and as determining everything that happened in the world. He says that it is good news that we do literally, live and move and have our being in God and that we are free to make our own response to life.

However that means that the responsibility for the kind of world in which we live is ours. God provides the best possibilities for any given situation. It is our choice whether what happens is for good or for evil. God's aim for the world is goodness, beauty, harmony and peace. We are never out of the presence of God because the creating Spirit of the Universe animates all of life.

For 2000 years the church has operated with an inadequate image of God as a sovereign ruler whereas the God about whom Jesus of Nazareth taught was a God who used persuasion not coercion. Griffin asks us to take seriously what we know about the world through science; the truth of which he points out has also been distorted. Science does not need to be materialistic or embrace mechanical causation. He asks us to give up the idea of supernaturalism and see this world and the universe as the only reality there is. His ideas are applicable to any of the world's religions.

Every Christian especially should read chapter 2. It asks us to look at the implications of some traditional doctrines. Many people in the church today know that Christianity must change. Griffin offers a very positive possibility for that change and that because of such a change, history could be changed too. Griffin can also in the light of his understanding of reality affirm a continuing existence after death. For anyone who has or is near to giving up on any faith system today this book could be life changing.

Dr. Helen Goggin
Professor Emeritus
Toronto School of Theology

An Important Book on an Important Subject.......2004-12-25

David Griffin is one of the most advanced thinkers alive today. His work in harmonizing science and religion is unsurpassed, even in a field where many great books have already been written. The present book provides a good summary of his analysis of the distorted truths of science, but this subject is treated more thoroughly in Griffin's previous book: "Religion and Scientific Naturalism, Overcoming the Conflicts (SUNY 2000)."

This "Two Great Truths" book, however, is most significant in its treatment of Christianity. Our postmodern civilization is still fully engaged in the political and cultural struggle to free itself from the fetters of Christianity's premodern legacy; but the farther we move away from our past, the more we will be able to recognize the aspects of Jesus' teachings that transcend the Christian religion. Just as teenagers come to recognize the wisdom of their parents when they become adults, Western civilization will inevitably come to see anew the sublime spiritual truths of Jesus' gospel. That is, when we finally move far enough away from the worn out shell of premodern Christianity, we will be better able to discern those aspects of Jesus' teaching that will continue to produce cultural and spiritual evolution well into the future. This book thus begins the important process of pruning away the dead aspects of Christian doctrine (the premodern myths that have been transcended) from the living truths of Jesus' teaching that remain spiritually potent today.

However, although Griffin identifies many objectionable aspects of Christianity that have become appended to the original teachings of Jesus, he fails to discuss the most problematic Christian dogma -- the so-called "atonement doctrine," which says that God required the sacrifice of an innocent in order to appease his wrath. The atonement doctrine was originally conceived by Paul as a way of making Jesus' religion more appealing to his fellow Jews. And while Paul was successful at building the early Christian church, his legacy has left many problematic distortions that must now be jettisoned. This idea that God required Jesus' death as a ransom to pay for his affection flies in the face of everything Jesus taught about his loving Father in Heaven. But even though Griffin fails to identify the atonement doctrine as an aspect of Christian truth that got distorted, he does a good job of describing many other problematic aspects of Christian dogma, while simultaneously identifying the core teachings of Jesus. The rediscovery of the enduring truths of Jesus teaching is a process that will undoubtedly engage our civilization throughout the 21st century. But this book is an excellent start to this process and I thus highly recommend it.

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