Amazon.com
A novel about the Alamo promises as much suspense as a movie about the Titanic: we already know how it's going to end. The bloody siege of the Alamo was, of course, not only the defining crisis in the Texan struggle for independence from Mexico but also an event that secured martyrdom for the 200 or so men who died there and transformed a dusty Franciscan mission into a national shrine, an American Troy. As with all mythologized chronicles, however, the Battle of the Alamo ultimately resolves into mundane fact, a catalog of human error, ego, and heroism. And it is these details that Stephen Harrigan regards in his broad and powerful third novel, The Gates of the Alamo.
Passing lightly over the oft-profiled Alamo stalwarts--Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, and the young commander William Travis--Harrigan focuses on fictional secondaries, primarily botanist Edmund McGowan and mother and son Mary and Terrell Mott. Rigidly devoted to his work, Edmund straddles the fence in the dispute over Texas, even as war murmurs grow. But when he meets widowed Mary, who maintains her small inn with a steady, gentle resourcefulness, his good nature pulls him steadily into the inevitable conflict. Mary herself is forced to quarter Mexican soldiers; and then, as she watches incredulously, her young son seeks to test himself in the erupting skirmishes. Eventually the trio find themselves inside the Alamo during the nearly two-week battle, their various conciliations frustrated by the surrounding mayhem.
Harrigan's Texas is an uncertain, dangerous jostling of peoples, a place where disaster threatens too frequently, where practical knowledge is paramount and political ambivalence untenable, and where a primal beauty appears often as if by magic: "Hundreds and hundreds of lush gray cranes ... spanned the sky almost from horizon to horizon, and the whole procession moved with the quiet, ordained manner in which events unfold in a dream." However, the emblematic significance of the Alamo itself remains inscrutable. As Mary tends to the dying, watching hope turn to hopelessness, she can only respond to Travis's rallying orations with disillusionment: "She had heard enough of these empty patriotic effusions by now to feel that the Alamo was nothing but a sinking island of rhetoric." The Gates of the Alamo nonetheless sweeps us into the many and variegated smaller stories that compose the larger one. It's a book to remember. --Ben Guterson
Book Description
Read by Henry Leyva
Four cassettes, 6 hours
The Gates of the Alamo tells the tale of an American naturalist of towering intellect and ambition, powerfully but warily attracted to strong-minded, frontier-savvy widow with a 16-year-old son. These three characters bring us deeply into the life of Texas in the year leading up to independence, and ultimately into the harrowing moments of the battle itself.
Crowded with dramatic and exciting scenes and with both fictional dn historical personalities--among them, Jim Bowie, Santa Anna, and Davie Crockett--The Gates of the Alamo allows us to participate in an American legend.
Download Description
This full-scale novel about the siege and fall of the Alamo weaves in a love story between an American naturalist and a widow innkeeper who, along with her 16-year-old son, get swept up in the harrowing events of the heroic battle.
Customer Reviews:
A Different Viewpoint.......2007-09-27
I read this book about a year ago and just came across this link, so I can't be too detailed.
What I remember liking a lot about this book was that it told the very familiar Alamo story from the point of view of the not-famous characters. I thought that gave it a more accessible feel and the experiences (although fictional) of the characters added depth to the historical event. I enjoyed it.
I look at the Alamo in a whole new way now........2007-08-17
I've lived in and around San Antonio my whole life, and nothing has brought the battle of the Alamo and the Texian's saga to life the way that this book has. Yes, you know what the ultimate historical end must be, but Harrigan gives a wide variety of characters that bring a personal perspective on the twists and turns in between. We meet personally with true historical characters like Travis, Crockett, Bowie, Houston, Santa Anna, and Travis' slave Joe, but also spend time seeing things through the eyes of more common people: men, women, and children within the Alamo, Mexican officers and soldiers, Texians, Mexicans, and Americans all living in the the area -- some much more willing participants in the revolution than others. I also greatly appreciate Herrigan's refusal to bow to the myths and legends of the Alamo that have no true basis in fact. I wish I had read his end notes before beginning the book to see how carefully he researched things, and why certian eternal staples of so-so Alamo movies were missing from his tale. I'd call this a must read for fans of historically accurate fiction, especially those interested in Texas, Mexico, the settling of the Americas, or various wars and battles. It would be an excellent choice to read before visiting South Texas and the cities of San Antonio, Goliad, or San Jacinto where buildings and artifacts from this period still exist. I'd recommend having a Spanish-English dictionary on hand if you want to not miss anything... though Harrigan writes in such a way that this wouldn't be a necessity if you aren't such a perfectionist as I seem to be.
Great Read.......2006-11-08
I now know why someone with very little free time like President Bush chooses to read Stephan Harrigan, he writes very well. I really enjoyed his book and look forward to read more of his titles.
Sorry it ended.......2006-07-18
I judge a good read based on how much I miss the characters after I'm finished. I just finished THE GATES OF THE ALAMO and for the past couple of days, I've been struck by how much I miss having them all around me. An excellent historical novel, made more personal by a recent trip to San Antonio. I only wish I had read this before I visited. Wonderfully rich.
An Excellent and Riveting book.......2006-01-13
The Gates of the Alamo is a great historical fiction novel about the Alamo. The book has historical characters like Jim Bowie, David Crockett and William Travis. It also has fictional characters like Terrell and Mary Mott and Edmund McGowan that are affected by the war. Mary who is the mother of Terrell who is only 16, ends up in the Alamo when she went after her son after he runs away and joins the army. Edmund is a botanist who doesn't believe in the war for Texas. However, helping Mary find Terrell Edmund finds himself fighting for the Alamo. The book isn't just about the Americans fighting at the Alamo, it is also about what the Mexicans went through. The book explains what the Mexicans went through during their march to the Alamo. Stephen Harrigan writes with detail and imagination. This book is great for anybody who wants to read a great book not just about the battle at the Alamo but how it affected the people and the families in Texas and Mexico.
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The Gates of the Alamo
Manufacturer: Penguin USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GRO6NE |
Average customer rating:
- A wonderful wrap-up to the "Light" series
- Highly enjoyable!
- quite disappointed
- Horrible!
- Skip this one.
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Heartlight
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers
Contemporary | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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General | Bradley, Marion Zimmer | ( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Hardcover | Bradley, Marion Zimmer | ( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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Gravelight ("Light")
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The Inheritor ("Light")
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Witch Hill
ASIN: 0312865082 |
Book Description
In her novels of parapsychology and the occult, New York Times bestselling author Marion Zimmer Bradley revealed the psychic realm that lies beneath the surface of what we usually term reality and the eternal struggle between good and evil.For fifty years, Colin MacLaren has carried the banner for Light against the forces of Darkness, but Bradley has told readers little about this great champion of Good.Heartlight opens with Colin's return from post-WWII Europe to a changed America. The great evil of Nazism is gone, but Colin finds that occult forces continue to assault the American psyche. And from the 1950s to the present day, Colin MacLaren works to defeat the men and women who are conspiring to control the rest of mankind and facing them in physical and occult battles.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful wrap-up to the "Light" series.......2007-07-03
I really enjoyed this book which covered the rest of the series from the one person who was involved on the periphery of the characters in the previous "Light" books. It was interesting to follow Colin McLaren through his life. However, I highly recommed that the other "Light" books, as well as the Claire Moffatt books (Dark Satanic, The Inheritor, and Witch Hill), be read before this book.
Highly enjoyable!.......2005-03-07
This story was a pleasantly long, absorbing, and highly entertaining look into the life's work of lightworker Colin McLaren who serves his cause via the occult tools available to him. MZB has a thorough understanding of ceremonial magic and her occult background is well represented in this book.
Colin battles against evil, searches for his mystical heir and struggles against his failing strength as he becomes an old man in service of the light. As a character study, it's wonderful - depicting the orbit and work of one man and the effects that he has on all those whom he meets. Read it as a fictional occult autobiography and it won't disappoint.
quite disappointed.......2004-03-07
I bought this book because I have read and much liked other books written by MZB. This one was such a drag to read - literally- in dragged on and on. The characters are one dimensional and seem stagnant in their development. There were times when I wanted to scream at Colin McLaren, not to make the same mistakes over and over and over again.
I was actually glad when I finished with this book.
Horrible!.......2004-01-28
I bought this book despite the seriously cheesy cover (my paperback edition had romance novel type cover art with a blond woman being bent over backwards by a studly man - although here of course the man had evil in mind) because I had read The Inheritor a long time ago and recalled enjoying it. But unfortunately, this book was nothing like The Inheritor. Many of the same events are rehashed from a different point of view, but this book really overdid the "telling, not showing" problem authors can sometimes have. Usually, MZB doesn't have that problem, so I'm not sure what happened here. I haven't read any of the other "Light" books, so don't know if they suffer from the same problem. Basically, there is absolutely no suspense built up at any point, and you never feel at all invested in anything that's happening, because everything is seen from a distance and matter of factly described. The characters are absolutely cardboard in this book (again, don't know if these same characters were better-written in others of her books), dialogue is flat, the random historical happenings thrown in to mark Colin passing through the 20th century seem forced in sometimes, the villains are 2-dimensional and never seem threatening...very disappointing book, I forced myself to finish it but was sad I had wasted money buying it. Won't buy any others in this series (e.g., Gravelight, etc.). Will go back to rereading all the Darkovan novels...and maybe The Inheritor.
Skip this one........2002-12-18
I'm an avid fan of MZB, but this book just didn't make the cut. It's attempts to link book events to real life and other books are just tedious. And it follows a relatively stable character across decades in which he just doesn't change. Pick up a different MZB book -- you'll be happier.
Average customer rating:
- Great for all ages!
- A wonderful book
- Butterfly to the Stars
- Not Spectacular.
- umm...a title for this review
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Heartlight
T. A. Barron
Manufacturer: Ace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Barron, T.A. | ( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Epic | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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Barron, T.A. | ( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Teens | Subjects | Books
General | Literature | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books | Brooks, Terry
Epic | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Teens | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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The Ancient One
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Tree Girl (DIGEST)
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The Great Tree of Avalon 1: Child of the Dark Prophecy (The Great Tree of Avalon)
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The Mirror of Merlin (Lost Years of Merlin, Book 4)
ASIN: 0441010369
Release Date: 2003-02-25 |
Book Description
A "splendid" stand-alone novel "in the tradition of Madeleine L'Engle and C.S. Lewis." (Philadelphia Inquirer)
A young girl must find her missing grandfather-and uncover the secret he harbors that could save Earth and the entire solar system from annihilation.
Customer Reviews:
Great for all ages!.......2007-02-17
I read this book as a child and absolutely feel in love with it. Space travel, riding butterflies, and talking snowflakes were more my world than that I lived in. Somehow my original copy disappeared and after remembering the book from time to time I decided it was time to read it again. I was just as pleased with it the second read through as I was the first, and I found more layers and depth to the story from an adult perspective. I highly recommend this book!
A wonderful book.......2006-07-11
I read this book when I was twelve years old, and I loved it. T.A. Barron is one of the greatest authors to come along since Madeleine L'Engle and Lloyd Alexander. His books sit alongside the greats.
Butterfly to the Stars.......2004-06-24
If you long for the days of the Heinlein juveniles or the Time series of Madline L'Engle, then this book is for you.
The Earth's sun is dying and has been given just three years to live. A young girl and her grandfather travel to the most spectacular sun in the galaxy to try and find a cure. They travel using butterflies and sillyscience (I mean superscience). Girl and grandfather find themselves on a planet of intelligent polygons in the middle of a battle with a great star eating evil.
A very fun book involving strange aliens, amazing stars and moral lessons for all.
Not Spectacular........2004-05-22
If you look up a list for the top ten worst science fiction books ever, chances are you will see this book on that list.
Somehow, I don't see a great plot here. I almost had to force myself to finish this book. It seems almost directed to little kids in the way that it's about this young girl who's grandfather is this great scientist. When he suddenly disappears, she has to find out where he is and how to save him. Big deal. Compared to other works by T.A. Barron, I'd say that this one is very disappointing. Books by Garth Nix and "A Wrinkle in Time" prove to be much more entertaining than this book.
umm...a title for this review.......2003-10-30
This book was great. It captivates you and you won't want to but it down.
I don't think this should be age level 9-12, it seems to me to fit more under young adult.
Average customer rating:
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Heartlights
Terri Hoyland
Manufacturer: Innersources
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Quotations | Reference | Subjects | Books
Inspirational | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 188379417X |
Book Description
Heartlights contains colorful images and inspirational thoughts, this exquisite book touches you deeply. Heartlights is filled with quotes and affirmations, and presents the reader with thought-provoking ideas about loving others and caring for our world. Heartlights explores loving ourselves and others more fully. Hearlights is part of a trilogy of books which also include: Voyages and Connections. This 8" x 8" hardcover books features original watercolor art and blank pages to create your own affirmations. Printed on recycled paper with soy ink.
Average customer rating:
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Heartlights
Terri Hoyland
Manufacturer: Private, 1993
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FSJY3G |
Average customer rating:
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Neil Diamond: Heartlight
Milton Okun
Manufacturer: Cherry Lane Music Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0895241773 |
Average customer rating:
- A must for Hogan fans
- Great Idea, but Washed Away
- Another Brilliant Philosophical Allegory
- Another Interesting Work by Hogan
- Good...but not great
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Code of the Lifemaker
James P. Hogan
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Hogan, James P.
| ( H )
| Authors, A-Z
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Adventure
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
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High Tech
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
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General
| Series
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| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
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ASIN: 0743435265 |
Book Description
Once, long ago, a robot factory-ship flew too near a star unexpectedly gone nova. After suffering extensive damage, it continued blindly for millennia.
A million years passed...
Then, in the twenty-first century, a colony ship destined for Mars was surreptitiously rerouted to Titan...and only the leaders of the military industrial complex knew why.
In addition to its flight crew, the interplanetary transport carried parapsycholoy researchers, linguists, psychologists, representatives of industry, an ambassador...and elite military units from several Western nations. Clearly something was up.
But no one was talking!
Customer Reviews:
A must for Hogan fans.......2006-02-21
I have read practically every one of Hogan's 20+ books and this one one of his best works in my opinion. It is chock-full of amusing gem's that keeps the story intriguing and thought-provoking, such as one character's astonishment when hearing that there is a planet that is so hot that it is covered with "liquid ice". If you like Hogan, you'll love this book.
Great Idea, but Washed Away.......2005-06-13
As stated in other comments, the Prologue is great, it sets the basis for this alien machine life form. Hogan excels at what's considered `hard core' science fiction, the problem is that he strays from that in this book. The idea of machine life occurring via natural selection through software genomes was written very believably. In the book though, this lifeform becomes in almost every way the machine equivalent to humans and thus strains the credibility of the story. Hogan does this purposely though because the story is obviously a political allegory. The machines are in the midst's of their own Renaissance, but the big bad humans oligarchs are there to exploit them. It's ironic, in the book Hogan complains, in what sounds personally, about young engineers who have opinions on how they can change the world for the better in one swoop, yet Hogan does that himself in the novel. That's what drives this book from a great idea with potential to a somewhat preachy, so-so political commentary. I'd give it 2-1/2 stars. However Hogan's Inherit The Stars is a superb book which I would highly recommend.
Another Brilliant Philosophical Allegory.......2005-02-07
This is a very intriguing book that follows the formula of all Hogan's other novels. The plot is used as a tool to examine what ails our society. "The Legend That Was Earth" and "Thrice Upon a Time" are good examples of this technique. The characters are for the most part very interesting. Zambendorf is in constant conflict with Massey, until they realize that their real goals coincide(i.e., preventing corporate greed from exploiting and destroying an alien race). The book was entirely enjoyable, although the periphery characters were a bit one dimensional. All in all, a great read.
Another Interesting Work by Hogan.......2003-04-17
James Hogan's usually blends solid scientific ideas with action paced stories and "Code of the Lifemaker" is one of his most succesfull achievements. The central character, Karl Zambedorf is highly ingenious and likely to be liked by readers. Around him and his travel to Titan, Hogan builds an attractive plot, using ideas from the evolution theory which he seems to address on a basis of strong conviction. Paradoxically enough, in more recent articles, Hogan has revised his ideas on the topic, revealing a reflective man capable of going back some steps and reconsidering his positions.
Of course, there are some things that are less convincing in the novel. The trilled (and recurrent in Hogan's work) theme of a confrontation between science and religion is handled quite superficially and some characters in the "wrong" side are defintively cartoonish.
All in all, an entertaining ride well worth reading. Watch out for the superb prologue and yes...there is a sequel ("The Inmortality Option").
Rating=3.5
Good...but not great.......2003-04-10
I liked Mr. Hogan's prologue. Interesting primise with the alien creators. I felt the characters come alive through the book and this made it a nice read. I would have liked to seen the author go into more detail on the theological and philosophical points. I think the other readers who gave this book really low ratings missed the whole idea of the book which was about the crimes committed in the name of religion. This point was made clear on the back cover. That being said the book was a nice but simple diversion.
Average customer rating:
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Code of the Lifemaker
James P. Hogan
Manufacturer: Ballantine Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Hogan, James P.
| ( H )
| Authors, A-Z
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B000FIE97C |
Average customer rating:
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Code of the Lifemaker
James P. Hogan
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Hogan, James P.
| ( H )
| Authors, A-Z
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B000M6CKMI |
Average customer rating:
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Code of the Lifemaker
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000I189IQ |
Customer Reviews:
A New Age of Worship.......2001-09-17
Tex Sample is a student of modern culture and media. His grasp of the history, scope, and influence of our electronic culture provide a great resource for understanding our day and age. Coupled with Sample's heart for worship among the gathered people of God, he sets forth a challenge for the church to connect with today's culture.
For the church to connect with modern culture Sample asserts that it must become involved with and participate in the indigenous practices of its people (19). Samples spends much time expounding modern electronic culture trends in terms of engaging the world through images, sound as beat, and visualization.
While much of his analysis of electronic culture was insightful, I found much of it to be unhelpful rhetoric. Sample's sample worship service closing his book, instead of convincing me of the validity of his suggestions throughout the book, were more absurd than useful - Singing Frank Sinatra's My Way as lead into confession? Come on.
The most challenging section of the book dealt with the church being and incarnational presence among the people. As Christ became flesh and pitched tent among us, so too should we enter into the world and culture around us and dwell among the people. What better way to understand the needs and cultural nuances of the society and age in which we live. Furthermore, Sample's reminder that incarnation is more than just God becoming a part of our world, in reality it is a "disclosure that the world is part of God's story" (106). The church is still a distinctive culture with a distinctive message that needs to be communicated through modern means in an electronic culture.
Understanding Cultural Worship.......2001-09-13
Tex Sample, in his book "The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World," addresses the cultural divisions between the postmodern generation and the moderns (those born before 1945), and how that division plays out in the worship of the church. The basic elements of the electronic culture (postmodern) are images, sound as beat, and visualization. Sample blends scholasticism and humorous anecdotes to demonstrate how much of the postmodern cultural elements (images, sound as beat, and visualization) are already present in worship. Rather than fight against these elements, Sample argues for their understanding and intentional use in worship.
Sample continues to argue against the use of the word "relevant," but chooses the word "Incarnational." When churches are "out of touch with the people who live around them, the problem is not that they are irrelevant, but that they (are) not Incarnational" (1998:105). The book concludes with an illustrated worship service designed with the electronic culture in mind (a worship service using images, sound as beat, and visualization).
Syncretism to the Wired World.......2001-09-04
Tex Sample in The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World, wanted to provoke the Church to "get with it" by pitching its tent where masses of unbelievers are congregating. Sample deliberately engaged the electronic culture to demonstrate that it was not to be discounted or feared, but could be utilized, embraced and directed for God's purpose. Music, movies, and dance can provide major source materials for evoking the presence of God.
Wired World is explosive. It is rich in the use of contemporary imagery, personal experience, commentary, and creative illustrations. Wired World recognized that the electronic revolution is a fact of twentieth (twentieth-first) century being and that it exerts an unprecedented influence on our predominantly secular consumer society. In the cacophonous intensity of deafening electronic sound the appearance of reality becomes its own reality. Art and reality obscure each other. One possible implication of this aspect to reality is that meaning in being has become lost. The Church, Sample argued, offers hope to this wired world. The Church needs to drop its "holier than thou" posturing and infiltrate.
Sample, a grandfather, and an astute observer of our times, expressed worry at the Church's inability to convey its values to his and our children and grandchildren. Sample deliberately set on a course of self-education and invited the reader to journey with him. The church in its apparent irrelevance to the North American electronic culture, Sample argues, may have a metaphoric `window of vulnerability' to counteract this illusion. Engagement, not dismissal, is essential if the church is going to be at all relevant to this wired world.
Sample quoted Emile Durkheim, the French sociologist, two times! This is a sure sign to pay attention. Sample wrote: "[Durkheim] observed that when you get people in close physical proximity to one another, focus their attention on a common object, and engage them in exercises that arouse emotion, bonding occurs" (57, 84). The type of bonding that occurs in massive electronic musical rally experiences is not the specific type of bonding the Church advocates. The question is: "How can the Church use Durkheim's observation, the fact of an electronic culture, and its own desire to fulfill the Great Commission?" The answer seems to fall under the adage: "If you cannot beat them, join them." In this case, "join" does not mean become as "they are." Join means to be with "them" in their environment, learn their language, use their imaging, and interpret the message of Christ using their own ways and means to "speak" to their condition.
Sample's conclusion is precise: "The call here is for a church that will `imitate' Christ to pitch tent, to embody itself, to take form in the indigenous practices of our time, not for the purpose of accommodation to the world but rather to be God's people. It is a twofold effort: To join the practices of an electronic culture, on the one hand, and to keep faith with the story of Christ on the other. In worship this will mean taking up the practices of spectacle and faithfulness to the biblical narrative and to the integrity of Christian liturgy" (122).
The Cross of Christ may represent the intersection of the Eternal Christ with the Principalities and Powers of the World. In the case of the wired world Christ and culture meet anew to discover old truths. Christ is accessible to culture. Christ is able to meet culture. Christ is both in and above culture available to all cultures. Sample opened the thought that Christ and the wired world need to engage for mutual enrichment. The Christian Church simply needs to apply the principles of syncretism to the culture of the wired world as it has to other cultures in other times.
Understanding the Worship Wars.......2001-08-08
The Spectacle of Worship in A Wired World is highly useful for those who are attempting to comprehend the worship wars that are taking place across the church. Sample, a scholar and keen observer of culture, particularly of entertainment spectacles, explores the worship ramifications of the cultural gap that separates those born before 1945 and those born after. Developing a historically grounded argument that is both scholarly and anecdotal, Sample focuses upon the effects of electronic media upon the manner in which younger people experience and know their world. He persuasively demonstrates that electronic culture is profoundly shaping the worship needs and expectations of these younger believers. Postmodern persons increasingly comprehend the world through images, sound as beat and visualization. Moderns perceive meaning in words, utilizing rational and analytical discourse whereas postmodern persons perceive meaning more subjectively, emotively, and experientially. These differences have extraordinary ramifications for creating worship services. Postmodern persons are sometimes accused of being intellectually bankrupt but Sample demonstrates how powerfully electronic media can critique culture. Sample closes his helpful book with an illustrative worship service utilizing electronic media and designed to impact electronic culture.
Communicating Faith in the 21st Century.......2000-05-20
This is an important book, not only because the author has such a firm grip on his subject, but also because of the timely need. The church today must retool its communication systems if it is to have an audience in the under 40 crowd. Dr. Sample makes the case that if an older generation of church goers is so comfortable with the status quo, especially in worship, and sees no need to change, its children and grandchildren will soon be strangers to the church.
The author says that those born after 1960 are simply wired differently than their seniors, and require another approach to communicating through worship. Sight and sound, lively music, multi-image video, drama, dance must replace reliance on a twenty minute sermon as the chief means of telling the story of faith. The electronic culture that has swamped our globe must not be ignored by the church. This revolution is as significant as that of the print revolution in the middle ages. And just as Martin Luther used that new medium to proclaim the faith, so church leaders today must claim the new media as the means of conveying the story.
Dr. Sample explores the meanings of this new way of looking at life and reality and then applies it to the church, especially at worship.
I not only highly recommend the book; I think its message is crucial for the church's ability to reach this electronic generation.
Books:
- The History of Gutta-Percha Willie
- The Innocence of the Devil (Literature of the Middle East)
- The Lazarus Rumba: A Novel
- The NinJew
- The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto
- The Once and Future Spy
- The Promise Box
- The Sorcerer's Academy
- THE STRANGE CASE OF MISS ANNIE SPRAGG
- The Tenants of Moonbloom (New York Review Books Classics)
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- Industrial Organization In The Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries
- Weiss Ratings' Guide to Bond and Money Market Mutual Funds: Spring 2002
Challenger Park: A Novel
Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation
A Time to Stand
Three Roads to the Alamo: The Lives and Fortunes of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis
Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians
