Book Description
What's working and not working in your congregation? You'll explore the factors that inspired and motivated changes to reverse decline as other congregations wrestled with the same issues you're facing: ministry to current members, ministry to the unchurched, worship, changing neighborhoods, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Change for the church.......1998-01-30
Like the rest of Alban Institute's "Once and Future Church Series," "In Search of the Unchurched" looks at the future of mainline Protestant churches and tries to see what they will have to do to survive. Klaas builds the book around transitions that have taken place in our society that has led the majority of people to being unchurched, even if they state that faith is important to them and that they pray regularly.
Klaas sees most congregations as still focused on a church built in and for a churched society. Then churches were not missionary outposts, but could orgainze to care for their members. But now, with so many unchurched people, the church's world view has to change to build a church that will help people find a relationship with God. He calls this "Great Commission outreach."
This is not a book that gives the reader the steps of how to fix the church. Rather it gives the reader a clear understanding of the changes that have taken place in the church. Before any change can take place within the church, the church must understand its problems and begin with a complete change of attitude about what the church is to be about.
In studying this book with leaders in my congregation, we have begun a process that may allow us to bring rebirth to our congregation.
Amazon.com
Paying his own way, Mark Hertsgaard set out on a world tour in 1991 wondering what people thought of environmental problems. Earth Odyssey is his result, a sweeping and provocative work of travel and serious reporting that covers 19 countries and reveals, with often stark reality and vision, the legacy and prospects for our global environment.
Hertsgaard focuses on and reveals much of his story through the people who guide him and whom he meets along the way. After touring a state-owned paper factory in Chongqing, China, and seeing billowing clouds of chlorine and foaming rivers, Hertsgaard hears his guide and interpreter Zhenbing mourning for his country. In Sudan, Hertsgaard visits areas of extreme famine and poverty, where "the environment is no abstraction" to the people who live there. Through interviews with Vaclav Havel, Jacques Cousteau, and Al Gore, as well as research and philosophy about the roles of industry and technology, the global environmental picture is etched skillfully chapter by chapter. When at Africa's Lake Turkana, Hertsgaard delineates in clarity and detail the evolution of our species and the history of technology to build perspective on our current lifestyles, values, and environmental problems.
Earth Odyssey is not only a good book, but an important one--even essential--grasping the true human predicament as we face a worldwide environmental breakdown.--Byron Ricks
Book Description
Like many of us, Mark Hertsgaard has long worried about the declining health of our environment. But in 1991, he decided to act on his own concern and investigate the escalating crisis for himself. Traveling on his own dime, he embarked on an odyssey lasting most of the decade and spanning nineteen countries. Now, in
Earth Odyssey he reports on our environmental predicament through the eyes of the people who live it.
Earth Odyssey is a vivid, passionate narrative about one man's journey around the world in search of the answer to the essential question of our time: Is the future of the human species at risk? Combining first-rate reportage with irresistible storytelling, Mark Hertsgaard has written an essential--and ultimately hopeful--book about the uncertain fate of humankind.
Customer Reviews:
A good balance between environmental statistics and personal narrative.......2005-10-07
This book does a great job in bringing down to human scale otherwise abstract concepts like global warming, overpopulation and resource management. Anyone who enjoys reading travel stories and learning about the impact our current state of development may have in future generations will enjoy reading Earth Odyssey.
sobering thoughtful book about our planet.......2005-07-28
Excellent review of factors which influence our environmental survival. Very easy to read. Hertsgaard puts a human face on many of these issues by including stories of people he meets on his journey. Good index.
Shows that environmental stories are human stories.......2005-03-21
Journalist Mark Hertsgaard sets out on his own to circumnavigate the globe, recording a broad array of environmental woes along the way.
As much as this book focuses on the environmental problems we face, the writing returns again and again to the people that Hertsgaard meets along the way. His characterization of the individuals that he meets are presented in a narrative style that really brings those people to life. We can understand, after reading the book, why the Chinese government has such an abominable record, and the Chinese people make a compelling argument that environmental concerns must come second to financial concerns. The fact that we can see this is a "long walk off a short pier" doesn't change the fact that China is caught between a rock and a hard place.
Hertsgaard presents many human stories that are, in their way, more interesting than the environmental problems he explores. His on-the-ground visit to a polluted river, for example, is almost exactly what I would expect. The river is dirty, the water ugly. But the interpreter who accompanies him on part of his visit to China provides far more surprising, and interesting, reading.
Hertsgaard also ends on a ray of hope, presenting some of the solutions that have yet to gain widespread acceptance, but which demonstrate that a sustainable future is available, should individuals and governments muster the willpower to implement it.
Overall, I was impressed with the writing and the attention to detail that Hertsgaard displays. I'm not sure if every trip that he made paid off, in terms of providing insight via a ground-level look at some of these issues, but overall, he has given us all something to think about.
An Environmental-Issue Must-Have.......2005-01-07
This is a heart-wrenching and eye-opening tale of our earth's health, yet the book maintains throughout a sense of hope in humanity's abilities. I believe that all priviledged developed-world citizens should read this to understand how the "other half" of the world's inhabitants are forced to live. Hertsgaard created here a smooth and flawless read that never becomes tedious.
Our environmental crisis.......2003-11-16
Investigative reporter Mark Hertsgaard spent six years traveling around the world, gathering material for this book. This is not strictly a scientific treatise (although he conducted extensive research into his topics). Rather, he reports through the eyes of the people who live in the environmentally damaged places he visited. The theme of the book is how technology has both benefitted and harmed the planet and its inhabitants, and how greed continues to threaten our existence. His accounts of wanton destruction of nature in the 19th century make the reader gasp with dismay over the short-sightedness of our predecessors: the damming of a mighty river and its magnificent waterfall; the murder of the largest, oldest sequoia on earth. (Two of the examples which brought me to tears.) The horror is: the destruction, the contamination, and waste are still happening. And not only at the hands of totalitarian regimes or ignorant third-world peasants, but due to the callousness of greedy American corporations and government lobbies. The conclusions of Chapter Three, "The Irrisistable Automobile", will come as no surprise to most American readers, although the images of the perpetually gridlocked traffic-jams of fume-choked Asian cities astonished even this rider of Southern California freeways. Statistics of the predicted explosion in automobile sales world wide are especially ominous. This book was published in 1999 and exposes the hypocrisy of the Clinton administration in paying lip service to environmental issues while simultaneously caving to the demands of the powerful fossil fuel lobby. If Chapter Three is gloomy, Chapter Four, "To the Nuclear Lighthouse", is utterly terrifying. The account of Hertsgaard's visits to the most blighted areas of the former USSR is preceeded by a dismal, just recently uncensored history of the Soviets' worst nuclear disasters. While everyone knows about Chernobyl, few people knew about the radiating of the Siberian region of Chelyabinsk. Few, that is, other than the hapless residents who've been suffering its effects for years. With the aid of his translator, Russian author and photographer Vlad Tamarov, Hertsgaard conducted a relentless expose' of the deliberate coverups of "incidents" at nuke plants and shipping lanes, which irreversibly poisoned crops, fisheries, and even the water table. Even more worrisome than the damage already done are Hertsgaard's reports of poorly inventoried and practically unguarded nuclear stockpiles in volatile republics such as Kazakhstan. The American reader who attributes Soviet environmental crimes to Communist cruelty is in for an ugly shock -- Hertsgaard then documents identical coverups by our own government, of similar "incidents" on our own soil! From Russia, the author journeyed to China and Africa to report on overpopulation and its adverse effects on nature, health, and standards of living. The bleak narrative ends on a hopeful note: "Sustainable Development and the Triumph of Capitalism". Since the publication of "Earth Odyssey", the Bush administration has all but declared war on the environment, so even that fleeting hope now appears elusive.
Amazon.com
The great irony of the high-tech age is that we've become enslaved to devices that were supposed to give us freedom. That's why in High Tech/High Touch, John Naisbitt decided to revisit a chapter from Megatrends, his 1982 bestseller, in which he discussed the split between high tech and what he dubbed "high touch."
We all know what high tech is--these are the technologies that "make us available 24 hours a day, like a convenience store," Naisbitt writes. He says we live in a "technologically intoxicated zone," the symptoms of which include a continual search for quick fixes and lives that are "distanced and distracted." High touch, on the other hand, is the stuff we give up when we're tuned in to the technological world: hope and fear and longing, love and forgiveness, nature and spirituality. To discover where the twain shall meet, Naisbitt takes us on a journey that includes Celebration, Florida, the Disney-created community that was fully wired from the get-go; Martha Stewart, who shows people with complicated lives how to enjoy simple tasks like gardening; extreme sports and adventure travel, in which ordinary people expose themselves to the full fury of nature and gravity. And that's all just the first quarter of the book; Naisbitt goes on to look at how video games desensitize children to violence; the challenges the human genome project presents to religion and spirituality; and, finally, "specimen art," in which artists create disturbing images of life, death and human sexuality.
There's no conclusion, in the traditional sense, only a look at what's happening in our world. But the reader will probably take some sort of action after finishing High Tech/High Touch: switching off the cell phone for a few hours a day; permanently locking away the children's violent Nintendo games; maybe even booking a vacation at the most remote location possible. Anything to get away from the constant buzz of a wired world. --Lou Schuler
Book Description
From John Naisbitt, the preeminent social forecaster of our time and the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller
Megatrends, a remarkable examination of the role technology plays in our accelerated search for meaning.
With American culture now being increasingly broadcast through technology--from TV and movies to music to the Internet and electronic games--we are living in what John Naisbitt calls the Technologically Intoxicated Zone. This zone is a confusing and distracted state where we both fear and worship technology, where we see technologies as toys and quick-fixes, and where we become obsessed with what is "real" and what is "fake"--from the violent games children play to genetically-engineered animals to whether one can claim to have scaled Everest if supplemental oxygen was used.
It is technology's saturation of American society--with its fabulous innovations and its devastating consequences--that John Naisbitt and his coauthors Nana Naisbitt and Douglas Philips explore in this important and timely book. By conciously examining our relationship with technology as consumers of products, media, and emerging genetic technologies, we can learn to become aware of the impact technology will have on our daily lives, our children, our religiosity, our arts, and our humanness.
High Tech/High Touch is a cautionary tale that shows us how to make the most of technology's benefits while minimizing its detrimental effects on our culture.
In a compelling tour of our technological immersion as we work and play and search for a spiritual path, Naisbitt tackles complex questions: Does technology free us from constraints of the physical world, or does it tie us down to our machines? Does it save us time in our day-to-day lives, or does it merely create a void we feel compelled to fill with even more tasks and responsibilities? What about advances in biotechnology? Recent developments in genetic engineering now raise the possibility of a future that will someday be free of the birth defects, disabilities, and diseases that mark our lives today. But in an age where such things are possible, what is natural and what is artificial? And when people can be created in the laboratory as easily as in the womb, what, then, does it truly mean to be human?
Moving from the information and machine technologies of computers, the Internet, and telecommunications to the genetic technologies that are transforming biological science and art,
High Tech/High Touch reveals the emerging power we have over our destinies--and the need for a moral compass to guide us. An ideal book to usher in a century in which these issues will become even more timely,
High Tech/High Touch deftly explores the world we are creating and the world that is to come.
Customer Reviews:
"The railroad rides Mankind" .......2006-01-25
I must agree with a number of other reviewers about this book. It promises a lot more than it gives. It too it seems to me beats a pretty dead horse, when coming down as major point on media violence as major abuse of technology. It is not that this is wrong, but rather that it is such a glaring and commonplace truth that one does not need it to be banged into one's head over and over again.
About the basic idea of a split between the high tech material world and the 'high touch' inner world, this too has a certain feeling of the commonplace. I also do not believe it accurate , if only because the technical obviously works on our feelings, and our feelings transform the world of the technical.
I suppose the main conclusion of this work is that we have to be careful, use technology wisely, not become its slaves. A lot of people for a long time in the Western world have become making this point. Consider Thoreau " The railroad rides mankind" .
There is however information in this book on new developments in various areas of scientific and technical work. This can be valuable.
But on the whole one must look elsewhere for true wisdom on the subject.
Deceptive and Disjointed.......2004-11-16
One of the most misleading titles I have ever read. Although purporting to cover issues regarding society's relationship to technology, the authors present a short and poorly reasoned discussion of media violence, followed up with much fluff regarding gene therapy and genetic manipulation.
I agree that violence in the media has a detrimental effect on society, however, I cannot stomach the idea that "the nihilistic music of a German rock band" contributed to the Littleton Colorado school shootings. Such tripe derails any rational discussion of the subject.
Regardless of the out of date information regarding genetic science, the heart of the book adds nothing to the premise. Had the authors actually spent time developing the idea of the "Technologically Intoxicated Zone" instead of presenting the ideas of religious scholars regarding gene therapy, the book may have had some value.
The original promise of the book is left entirely unfulfilled and the reader is left to fend for themselves regarding their own relationship, and that of their community, to technology.
I feel that the title is deceptive and the irrelevant arguments presented are disjointed.
You could drive a mac truck through the logical gaps.......2004-02-09
Don't read this book. It will confuse you into thinking that the world of technology is dangerous and emotionally painful, without every actually explaining to you how or why. The only reason I don't give it fewer stars is that it's real easy to read. The problem is, it doesn't actually say anything.
I'm doing my master's thesis on how technology effects human experience of meaning, and I was really looking forward to this book as a layman's thought-provoking look at the subject. By the time I was halfway through it, I was ready to bang my head against a wall. There's just no substance, no logical progression of thought-the whole thing is full of semi-neurotic, somewhat morbid emotional appeals (e.g. naming a section about video games "From Pingpong to Murder") and unsupported logical jumps. The author clearly passionately believes that using technology isn't "soul enriching," and that using it so much is driving us into the arms of numb, addictive distractions; he bases the whole book on those assumptions without ever making a case for why they're true.
High Tech, High Touch is constructed more like a repetitious epic poem of lamentation than it is any real discussion of anything. Long laundry lists of statements, both of facts and of melancholy poetic conjecture, which never build to any kind of analysis. Example, on p. 45:
"The most dangerous promise of technology is that it will make our children smarter. President Bill Clinton's 1996 State of the Union address proclaimed 'the Internet in every classroom' to be a noble goal. Access to information will not teach synthesis and analysis. School expenditures in information technology reached [a high number] in 1997, yet at the same time programs for music and the arts were defunded. [sic]" (p. 45)
That sounds pretty bad, right? Sure it does. But what does it actually say? It doesn't actually say that technology won't make children smarter, or what really does make them smarter. It doesn't explain why it's not noble to have the internet in classrooms. It implies that students don't analyze or synthesize information via the net, only access it, but it never supports or explains that idea (Online classes? Educational software? Email discussions with experts? Forums where other people are studying similar subjecs? How is net research different than library research r.e. analysis and synthesis?) It doesn't say how much, or where, the arts were defunded, and it implies that the arts are more "noble" than online networking but doesn't explain why. The entire book is like that.
This book is grounded in a concept that embodies an increasing psychological disconnect between two generations: those who grew up with networked technology, and those who didn't. The concept is: "If an event or interpersonal transaction doesn't take place in the physical world, it can't fundamentally benefit or fulfill you." This book assumes that and restates it dozens and dozens (and dozens) of times, but it never actually provides an argument for why we should believe it. To a lot of people who didn't grow up with technology, that statement is so intuitively, emotionally obvious that it doesn't need to be supported or explained. The problem is that, according to a great volume of current research being done with the "net generation," that concept is -not- intuitively obvious to -them-. They find personal significance, power, community, and existential meaning in the things they do online. These two different experiences of an emerging trend must -both- be acknowledged in any supposed assessment of technology's effects on human psychology or quality of life.
If you want to learn about what technology is doing to our minds, read Smartmobs or Growing Up Digital. If you want to learn about consumerism and overwork and meaning, read Your Money or Your Life. They'll show you more than poetry and fear.
Highly Recommended!.......2001-06-19
Megatrends author John Naisbitt's new book (co-written by daughter Nana Naisbitt and artist Douglas Philips) is a fat book of ideas that touches upon genetics, art, media violence, time sensibilities and even South Park. Unlike most futurists, the authors make judgment calls about future timelines and inclinations. However, they agree with other futurists that full immersion virtual reality is coming, although they add that it's probably not a good thing, especially for your kids. Their compelling discussion of the genetic revolution is wide-ranging and fair-handed. Their interesting take on media violence and video games seems more controversial, evidencing a distaste that echoes the genre's most hostile opponents. Their view of modern art, which touts body part art (i.e. Piss Christ and sliced cows) but ignores the computer-driven fruition of amateur filmmaking, also seems odd. You may find yourself arguing and fighting with this very stylish, well-written book, but we [...] promise you won't be bored.
Enlightening, entertaining, and fascinating.......2001-03-30
Are you a conscious consumer? Or do you passively accept every technology trend that comes your way, believing the promises you hope it delivers? This book covers several areas on how we are rapidly moving ahead with technology without much thought to the consequences it has on our humanity- whether it is violence on screens, quick health "solutions", or stressed out lifestyles with a half dozen different contact numbers.
After reading this book, I don't think I will ever be able to look at the media and technology the same ever again. While I think a few of the issues were oversimplified, this book was also well researched and most importantly- it makes you think. Whether you agree with some of the main points or not, you will be thinking about this book long after you have finished digesting it. Think of it as a bit of balance to your ideas, to counteract with all of those commercials you've been reading and hearing your whole life.
Book Description
A daring examination of the foundational event
of Christianity, and an inspiring vision for
reconciliation between Jews and Christians.
Using approaches from the Hebrew interpretive tradition to discern the actual events surrounding Jesus' death, Bishop Spong questions the historical validity of literal narrative concerned the Resurrection. He asserts that the resurrection story was born in an experience that opened the disciples' eyes to the reality of God and the meaning of Jesus of Nazareth. Spong traces the Christian origins of anti–Semitism to the Church's fabrication of the ultimate Jewish scapegoat, Judas Iscariot. He affirms the inclusiveness of the Christian message and emphasises the necessity of mutual integrity and respect among Christians and Jews.
Customer Reviews:
Essential Reading.......2007-01-04
John Shelby Spong is an Episcopal Bishop and the author of several books, among them Born of a Woman, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, and This Hebrew Lord. In the current book Spong examines the most minute details about the Resurrection in an attempt to re-visit the "Easter" story that is at the core of Christianity. Spong's unique contribution to this analysis is his deep familiarity with Hebrew literature and the midrash tradition, the lens through which the all Jewish people of the first century interpreted the gospels.
Part One (Chapters 1-3) is a 40+ page introduction to the study of the gospels, the use of words, and the midrash method. Part Two (Chapters 4-9) is a detailed study of each of the gospels as well as the epistles of Paul. Part Three examines some of the major images present in the Resurrection story (e.g., the suffering servant, the son of man. In Part Four (Chapters 14-18) Spong provides his own interpretation of what the gospels really say, and in Part Five he provides us with an idea of what the resurrection story means to him on a personal level.
This book is a monumental work of scholarship and it will completely revise your idea about biblical research as well as the story of the resurrection. Literalists beware, this is not the book for you. But anyone with an open mind who has ever questioned the inconsistencies in the gospel accounts (e.g., did Jesus appear to the disciples in Galilee or in Jerusalem? Did one, two,three or more women go to the tomb?) or wondered about the strange and impossible to explain issues (e.g., cursing the fig tree, the cowardly disciple who becomes the Rock upon which the church is founded) will find this book a true eye opener.
The book is well written, but the notes are sketchy and far too few. There is an extensive bibliography and a detailed index of topics. The book will appeal to beginning students as well as the most advanced scholars.
Bottom line - there is no more engaging or provocative book on the resurrection. This book belongs in everyone's library.
RENEWAL OF FAITH: Myth or Reality?.......2006-12-15
When I read this piercingly insightful book I was, for all intents and purposes, a former Christian turned atheist. So, I was both wary and skeptical when I finally read it. Page after page brought idea after idea cascading into my mind. Ideas and insights and facts that I did not know at the time and hence had not considered. After reading Resurrection through several times I came away with a renewed and transformed faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I now know the true nature of the Resurrection experience and how to enter into it. I know what it meant to the first Christians, and that is now what it means to me. I now identify with the Risen Christ, and with him I have been raised. Raised from time into Eternity, into the eternal Fact of the Resurrection, and of Life and Light in the immanental yet transcendent Kingdom of God!
Resurrection, Myth or Reality is a spiritual detetive story, a story that wiil take you deep into the Biblical texts, Christian history, psychology, Mythology, and the Nature of God. Not in any of the shopworn and powerless ways you were taught (and perhaps forced) to believe, but in a new way, an authentic way, a way that is in actual fact the Original Way. I have never read any other book by a so-called "liberal" scholar that exalts the Risen Christ as does Bishop Spong in this remarkable volume.
Are you an intelligent, educated, 21st century person whose faith is in exile? Do you yearn to return to the faith of your fathers, but in a way that enables you to keep your intellectual integrity intact? Yes? So was I. God brought Bishop Spong to my attention and with the Bishops help, my faith was both restored and transformed. CHRISTOS ANESTI! ALITHOS ANESTI! (CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!)
In the Grace of the Eternal Logos of God,
Rev. Nathaniel J. Merritt
You will also enjoy I WAS A TEENAGE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS and JEHOVAH UNMASKED, my first two published books.
VISION OR PHYSICAL RESURRECTION.......2006-09-25
According to John Shelby Spong, Jesus did not literally rise from the dead. Jesus was crucified, died, and was thrown in a common grave. Some time after Jesus' crucifixion, an event occurred that created the Christian movement. The heart of the Christian message is that the "crucified one lives." This alleged truth arose in Peter spontaneously. The moment that convinced the Apostles of this truth occurred in Galilee and Simon was the primary person in whom this truth first dawned. To call that idea (hereafter the resurrection vision) that allegedly popped into the mind of Peter a "truth" is quite a surprise. Spong tells us Peter saw "a realm of God from within which Jesus appeared to Simon. Was it real? Yes...Was it objective? Spong does not think that Peter's vision was objective. Spong's thesis is subject to serious epistemological challenge. Peter did not observe any objective event upon which to conclude that Jesus (the crucified one) was alive. There was no corresponding factual basis upon which Peter could believe that Jesus was alive. On this view, Peter had no justified true belief. Spong's thesis is a subjective and speculative house of cards that cannot stand.
Following Peter' resurrection vision, the need arose to reinterpret the life of Jesus Christ as a faith story. According to Spong this was done by the method of midrash.
Although he acknowledges midrash as a method for interpreting scripture, Spong brings new meaning the conception midrash by positing it as a method by which Scripture writers affirmed events and transcendent experiences into symbolic forms with no concern for linear time or literal events. Spong blames the western mind for insisting that the details of the Gospels were actual, historical events. Early in its history, the Church lost touch with its midrashic origins and claimed too much through literalizing scripture. With the dawn of the enlightenment, Spong suggests that the literal reading of Scripture was proven to be fantasy. Today, evangelical and fundamentalist elements of the Christian church, Catholic and Protestant, cling to the fading possibility of a literal truth being present in the details of their faith story. However, we need not fear, Spong's methodology will restore the original meaning of the midrashic message.
Applying his methodology, we cannot be, in the least bit, certain of the historicity of the Old or the New Testaments. Spong applies his midrashic method to show that whatever events the disciples experienced were set forth in the Gospels as non literal myths or legends. Specifically, since he places the location of Peter's resurrection vision in Galilee, it follows that the entire burial tradition must all be dismissed as not factual, including the female visitors who discovered the empty tomb. Jesus' appearances that purport to be the physical manifestations of the dead body that somehow was enabled to be revivified and to walk out of a tomb are also myths and legends. After disposing of the resurrection narratives as legend, Spong then embarks upon what he calls his speculative reconstruction of the events surrounding the resurrection while admitting that no one "can finally do anything other than speculate!"
Spong's concept of vision is not unique. For Spong, Jesus appeared to Simon from the realm of God. What Peter saw was not objective and yet it was real. Both subjective and objective visions have been refuted by scholars. The objective vision includes the experience of some literal minimal light phenomen with a corresponding mission. Spong speaks of a species of subjective vision also called hallucination. Gary Habermas offers an excellent treatment and refutation of the subjective and objective visions of resurrection. (see, Geivett, R. Douglas, Habermas Gary R. In Defense of Miracles, Downers Grove: Illinois, InterVarsity Press, 1997, pages 262-267) Hallucinations are private events that are not contagious to the masses and are not likely to inspire dying for one's vision. Spong's version of the vision transfer from Peter to the Apostles is ludicrous at best: "He tried to open their eyes. His tortured mind poured out his words in torrents...until light dawned in James, John, and Andrew." (p. 257) Spong wants us to believe that the Apostles faced the threat of certain death on the basis of a subjective vision. However, the New Testament reveals that the early church faced both threats and death for testifying to a literal resurrection.
In stark contrast, the Apostle Paul made the claim of the historical fact of Jesus' resurrection in no uncertain terms. He presented the fact of the resurrection as the litmus test of the Christian faith. The resurrection is the primary basis for Christian faith. Paul stated in no uncertain terms in 1 Cor 15:14-17 that if Christ was not raised, preaching and faith in the bodily resurrection is useless making professing Christians false witnesses for making such declarations. By positing the resurrection to be a legendary invention, he removes the basis upon which Christianity stands: salvation from sin through faith in a literal resurrection of Jesus Christ. Spong's postmodern approach might score high marks in a university literature class, however, rejecting the miracle of the resurrection with this midrashic method would score him low marks with theologians, historians, and philosophers who support the veracity of the New Testament.
I BECAME A CHRISTIAN AGAIN!.......2006-09-16
When I read this piercingly insightful book I was, for all intents and purposes, a former Christian turned atheist. So, I was both wary and skeptical when I finally read it. Page after page brought idea after idea cascading into my mind. Ideas and insights and facts that I did not know at the time and hence had not considered. After reading Resurrection through several times I came away with a renewed and transformed faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I now know the true nature of the Resurrection experience and how to enter into it. I know what it meant to the first Christians, and that is now what it means to me. I now identify with the Risen Christ, and with him I have been raised. Raised from time into Eternity, into the eternal Fact of the Resurrection, and of Life and Light in the immanental yet transcendent Kingdom of God!
Resurrection, Myth or Reality is a spiritual detetive story, a story that wiil take you deep into the Biblical texts, Christian history, psychology, Mythology, and the Nature of God. Not in any of the shopworn and powerless ways you were taught (and perhaps forced) to believe, but in a new way, an authentic way, a way that is in actual fact the Original Way. I have never read any other book by a so-called "liberal" scholar that exalts the Risen Christ as does Bishop Spong in this remarkable volume.
Are you an intelligent, educated, 21st century person whose faith is in exile? Do you yearn to return to the faith of your fathers, but in a way that enables you to keep your intellectual integrity intact? Yes? So was I. God brought Bishop Spong to my attention and with the Bishops help, my faith was both restored and transformed. CHRISTOS ANESTI! ALITHOS ANESTI! (CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!)
In the the Grace of Christ,
Rev. Nathaniel J. Merritt
You will also enjoy I WAS A TEENAGE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS and JEHOVAH UNMASKED, my first two published books.
Verdict: Reality Reduced to Myth.......2006-09-12
Spong inhabits a worldview in which rationality and religion are remotely distant cousins. Through postmodern eyes, Spong sets the mythological stage upon which resurrection should be viewed. For the intellectual, the demise of objective reality and certain historical knowledge are well accepted premises secondary to limitations of language and culture. To Spong, only the "ignorant," those who are left behind in the dungeon of "premodern ignorance," seek pragmatic understanding of actual historical events, or apply literal interpretation to past reality. Only a "weak," "pitiable," and "frantically insecure" Christianity believes in the historical, physical resurrection of Jesus. To Spong, literalizing the stories of Scripture and particularly the resurrection of Christ, only serves to destroy faith (i.e., Spong's kind of faith). In this provocative book, Spong reaches beyond linear time and space to achieve a transcendent, symbolic truth of resurrection, comprehended as a subjective, experiential reality incorporating Jesus' as the ultimate "mythic hero."
Despite his avowed disclaimer against use of literal interpretation of Scripture, he vainly attempts to literally undermine and replace the persons, places, times and events of Easter. Spong grossly prooftexts and misuses scripture throughout the book. He conveniently ignores historic and textual evidences toward early creedal development, pre-Gospel manuscripts, well-established oral tradition, and the presence of contemporaneous sympathetic and non-sympathetic witnesses, while using liberal, late scriptural dating to justify his alternative perspectives. Spong commits the fallacy of special pleading.
Instead of a Jerusalem-based physical resurrection of Jesus on the third day, Spong espouses an actual, initial post-resurrection "experience" by Peter in Galilee. After wrestling with the finality of Jesus' death for approximately six months, Peter suddenly envisioned that life's purpose is to give love and life to others, just as man Christ had done throughout his life and death. Indeed, it is not Jesus' resurrection that was critical, but Peter's "resurrection."
For Spong, Peter personifies the true beginning of Easter and springboard of Christian faith, accomplished through his own self-reflection and realization. Historic conversions from Judiasm to Christianity, as initiated by Peter and spread to the masses, as well as subsequent martyrdom further confirmed the experience of a spiritual resurrection. Such transformation and sacrifice were merely manifestations of a new spiritual outlook on life as inspired by Christ, but were not caused by the literal viewing of a physically resurrected Christ. Offering no evidence himself, Spong feebly attempts to dispose of any physical evidence by placing Christ's body in a common grave with criminals, left unidentifiable. He then ambiguously resurrects the `spirit' of Jesus' life to be both transcendently and immanently discovered later.
And, despite his dogmatic assertion against knowledge of objective reality, he not only proclaims with confident, self-refuting certainty that Jesus actually died in Jerusalem, but that bodily resurrection of Christ, and any literal interpretation of the events surrounding such is a grossly mistaken idea. This begs the question as to how he has accessible, authoritative knowledge, the very thing he seeks to dismiss. His dichotomous views prevail throughout.
One positive insight to be gleaned in these pages is Spong's desire and commission to live life unselfishly, guided by the amazing loving, sacrificial example of Jesus Christ.
This book is true to its postmodern roots, a decided effort directed toward deconstruction of orthodox Christianity and reconstruction of Spong's own brand of mythology. He separates faith and rational thought, yet appeals to logic to substantiate his own religious knowledge. This is indeed `Spong's story,' a creative legend of his own with the blurring of fact and fiction to avoid direct implications of an empty tomb, to avoid the possibility of the supernatural, to avoid his unanswered questions toward life after death, and to futilely escape any arrogant positioning associated with knowledge. Spong's spiritual, linguistic and historical reconstructionism rejects critical historical analysis, whether scriptural, philosophical, cultural or secular.
In his own words, this book promotes Spong's "re-creation," his "speculative interpretation" of resurrection; and, the reader should judiciously approach this book as an inconsistent and self-refuting fiction lacking validity or authority.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent content but sub-standard reading quality on tape.......2000-01-22
Next to Darling's other book 'Zen Physics', this is one of the best books I have ever 'read'. Darling is like a cross between Alan Watts and Carl Sagan. The worldview he presents beautifully unifies science and mysticism. Unfortunately, the reading quality on the audio tape is very sub-standard. The speech is slurred, consonants are dropped, and quite a few words are mispronounced, making the listening experience frustrating and detracting from the great content. I wonder why they didn't hire an actor to read this, like so many other audio tapes I have purchased? I wish I could find this work as a book rather than a tape.
Excellent blend of science and mysticism.......1998-09-13
Darling has a wide grasp of various sciences; astronomy, biology, anthropology, and psychology among them. He blends these with an appreciation for the various mystical traditions, western and eastern. His interesting and sincere style make for stimulating reading. Not as technical as Capra's "Tao of Physics", it is in the same vein.
Book Description
This book explains how future search conferences -- where people with a stake in an organization gather to generate creative strategies -- can be most effective.
Customer Reviews:
A Quick Overview.......2002-05-18
This is a quick read, and for under $10 it's a good book to share with your committee when you're planning a Future Search. It describes the process, the roles that will be played by various actors in the process, what to expect and what not to expect. To dissuade me of telling the committee that this was an Organizational Development technique, for example, the authors described the differences between O.D. and the Future Search. I would go ahead and buy "Future Search: An Action Guide to Finding Common Ground," by the same authors, to get the complete picture with the details.
Very helpful overview of the Future Search Process.......2002-03-14
I found this book easy to follow and easy to understand. If you want to understand Future Search as a large group strategy, this book will be very helpful. By the time I finished the book, and it is a fast read, I felt that I had a strong understanding of Future Search and when it is to be applied.
A Solid Effort!.......2001-03-20
In this book, Marvin R. Weisbord and Sandra Janoff describe a three-day program to help organizations develop a future plan. Their conference is designed to unite groups of people from different areas of an organization so they can create a program together that they all support. Typically, the conference includes 50 to 70 people who review the past, explore the present environment, create future scenarios, identify common ground and make action plans. The program encourages dialogue and working together as peers.
Future Search suggests how you might organize this program yourself, from setting up the agenda to planning the logistics. Because the book is a specific, practical guide for a particular type of conference, it will primarily interest those leaders and managers who want to put on such a program. We at getAbstract recommend Future Search as a good hands-on tool for companies, non-profits, government agencies or other organizations that want to hold a future planning conference.
Search No More.......2000-03-19
No need to go any further. This the THE book to read if you are involved in planning or facilitating a future search. The authors anticipated all my questions and answered them in a clear, concise manner. The book is an excellent manual for anyone responsible for conducting future searches. Don't leave the present without it.
Practical tools in organizational change and action.......1999-05-04
Weisbord and Janoff provide practical tools, advise and many decades of experience in organizational change and action in their "Future Search." As they say, a Future Search Conference is "simple, not easy" and provides a structured means for leaders to bring in the "whole system" into planning and action.
Book Description
As populations continue to increase, society produces more and more waste. Yet it is becoming increasingly difficult to build new landfills, and the existing landfills are causing significant environmental damage. Finding solutions is not simple; the problem is enormous in size, vital in terms of its impact on the environment, and complex in scope. This book provides a vast look at solid waste management in North America and seeks solutions to the waste crisis. It describes the magnitude and complexity of the problem, focusing on municipal wastes and placing them in the perspective of other wastes such as hazardous, biochemical, and radioactive debris. It describes the components of an integrated waste management program, including recycling, composting, landfills, and waste incinerators, and it presents in detail the scientific and engineering principles underlying these technologies. To illustrate both the problems and solutions of waste management programs, the authors provide seven case histories, among them the Fresh Kills (Staten Island, New York), the East Carbon Landfill (Utah), and the Lancaster County Municipal Waste Incinerator (Pennsylvania). The Waste Crisis is unique in its attempt to analyze waste management in a broader societal context and to propose solutions based on basic principles. And by doing so, it encourages readers to challenge commonly held perceptions and to seek new and better ways of dealing with waste. As such, this book deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone who deals with or feels the need to confront the growing problems of waste management.
Customer Reviews:
Sustainable Future is in our hands.......2001-03-15
This book is just as fascinating as its title, that attracts much attention especially for the people dealing with waste management. To read it, one needs to be patient enough until find the most interesting chapters, which are the half last chapters. The several first chapters describe one by one facts why "monstrous" landfills are not suitable anymore for waste disposal alternatives, depicting the wide experience and knowledge of the author. It is written based on his experience in waste management activities in North America. In the end of every chapter, there topic discussions and assignments that make the readers actively involved in tracing the problems and seek for the solutions. The interactive style of each sentence also lets the reader think and try to argue or agree with the opinion of the author. For people that familiar with waste problems, introduction chapters seem queit boring, but the systematical explanantion makes it still worth to surf.
The beginning of the interesting parts of this book is the 8th chapter, "Are there better disposal methods?" The most creative ways ever are suggested, from the "make sense" one like deep underground disposal and landfill mining accompanying by incinerator and recycling program, until "exotic solutions" that includes "shooting out the waste into outer space". It seems funny, but, who knows it could be alternative that no one ever thought before. The deep comprehensive experience is shown once again in chapter"NIMBY" (Not in My Back Yard), describes the reason behind lack of communication between private and government with local people whose their settlement is to be a waste treatment or disposal area. Some useful suggestions concerning the waste management hierarchy are the new things that cannot be found in other books. The author tells what the practical managament hierarchy now (in North America), starting from disposal in landfill, recycling, reduction at soruce, and incinerator. His suggestion is the first one is reduction at source (of course), recycling and incinerator, and phase out of the near-surface landfills (other landfill methods like landfill mining and deep underground one are still tolerated, at least in the next 30 years)
Just like the author said, theory is fine, but practical experience is the heart of real learning, this book also provides case studies, ranging from Canada, New York, until success story in Sweden. The verz last part, shows the vision not only of the author, I think, but of all human race wanting desparately for better future, with green, clean, organized environment. --- Martha Maulidia
Book Description
Beginning with the achievements of Mahatma Gandhi, and following the legacy of nonviolence through the struggles against Nazism in Europe, racism in America, oppression in China and Latin America, and ethnic conflicts in Africa and Bosnia, Michael Nagler unveils a hidden history. Nonviolence, he proposes, has proven its power against arms and social injustice wherever it has been correctly understood and applied.
Nagler's approach is not only historical but also spiritual, drawing on the experience of Gandhi and other activists and teachers. Individual chapters include A Way Out of Hell, The Sweet Sound of Order, and A Clear Picture of Peace. The last chapter includes a five-point blueprint for change and "study circle" guide. The foreword by Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, is new to this edition.
Customer Reviews:
For a different point of view........2007-05-13
If you interested in understanding where the "peace activist" are "coming from" read this book. I found it idealistic, but now have a new respect for the forward thinking of the nonviolent movement. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and others like them are truly great people with bravery equal to many war heroes. I was somewhat alienated by the rants against popular culture (TV - to his credit violence on TV) and capitalism, which arguably, should get some credit for the education of developing nations. If you think war is the only answer - read this book, but don't expect to get a solution, expect to expand your thinking.
Nagler Continues as Current Authority on Nonviolent Force.......2005-05-19
I approached this new book after having read Nagler's "Is There No Other Way?", which was excellent. Predictably, there are some similarities between this book and the last, which is fine because both cover the same topics. We do have the added benefit of Arun Gandhi having contributed to this new text, Arun being the grandson of Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Nagler is brave to publish such a book, not because nonviolence is controversial in the same way that, say, same-sex marriage is, but because the efficacy of nonviolent force is always ignored or dismissed by lazy leaders who'd rather resort to the simple destructiveness of violence. He risks being mocked for being naive or ideal, and not widely read in a country that seems to think nonviolence died with Marting Luther King, Jr. or earlier with Gandhi. He clearly writes not for profits but because he believes so strongly in these philosophies, which is admirable and rare today.
This book does carry with it a weight of spirituality, but not in an overtly preachy tone.
The spirituality is not so much religious but instead an examination of human emotions, family strength and social unity. To include such a personal and human quality is appropriate, especially because those who mindlessly advocate war after war typically speak in cold, detached terms, unaware how the institution of war directly and indirectly affect real people and animals.
This book is available at a good price, it's easy to read and very valuable. I think more college students should focus on these types of nonfiction books before deciding what to do in life. Most of high school is spent teaching students to feel patriotic toward the "victories" of conquering, slavery and warfare. It's time to undo some of that one-sided curriculum of ignorance.
In fact, if you have a little extra money, I'd suggest buying a copy of Nagler's books for your city or high school library, because we have plenty of books that praise Sun Tzu's "Art of War" and Winston Churchill and books that examine Hitler and Lenin and Stalin with a strange fascination. It would be nice to have a nonviolence section in the history aisles of the library, right next to the war books.
I rate this book at 4.5 stars.
Proves that nonviolence is the best response to violence.......2004-10-23
This is an excellent book for anyone who is trying to figure out the best way to respond to violence in a community. The author is an expert who has studied instances of violence in the United States and around the world, and whenever a group of people respond in a nonviolent way, they always succeed at stopping the violence.
Highly recommended, especially in these times of terrorism, war, and crime.
Book Description
This the first book on the distinguished past, hazardous present, and uncertain future of an organization whose roots extend back nearly 200 years. Each year, the Coast Guard's powerful motorized lifeboats and other small water craft respond to over 37,000 calls for assistance and help in saving more than 4,000 people in imminent danger. Despite the fact that the small boat stations are the very symbol of rescue upon the water, the public knows little about what takes place in them and about the professionals who put their own lives at risk in this way every day.
A retired member of the Coast Guard, Dennis Noble traveled from unit to unit capturing the stories of their brave crews, riding the waves with the lifeboat sailors who accepted him as one of their own. Movingly he tells of witnessing the tragic deaths of three Coast Guardsmen on a rescue mission - deaths he believes did not have to occur. Lifeboat Sailors bears witness to the courage of a unique breed of seaman and sounds an alarm for the rescue of a cherished American institution.
Customer Reviews:
Life savers, how is was, how it is and how is should be........2007-03-05
Lifeboat Sailors by Dennis Noble, a retired Coast Guard Senior Chief, is reading life as it is in the Coast Guard's world of Search and Rescue. I was stationed in Port Angeles for over 10 years and visited the Small boat Stations he talks about. As an Enlisted man with over 15 years, I have many friends at those stations and Dr. Noble tells it like it is. Of course this book was written pre-911 but still with all the growth for the Coast Guard and larger focus on Homeland Security, the Small Boat stations have had little change or given any more assets, but definitely have more patrol requirements. Dr. Noble's ideas and problems still remain. Search and Rescue has again taken back seat, this time to Homeland Security instead of Law Enforcement of the 80's. His prologue and epilogue tell the story of the tragic events of February 12 of 1997, when the 44 foot Motor Life Boat 44363 rolled and lost 3 of its four person crew. Dr. Noble happened to be a Station Quillayute River that night and provides us a first hand account of the events. It is a sobering tale surrounding his plight of the Lifeboat sailors in this excellent book. A must for Coasties new and old.
Been there done that.................2004-06-29
I was stationed at Station Willapa Bay , Washington from 1974 to 1977. The first time out on a 44ft MLB we had 25ft breakers to play with. What a ride. Spent time at the MLB School at Cape Disappoinment. Had the time of my life with the small boats.
Great book. A must read if you what to know about the Coast Guard search and rescue. All of Dennis books are great..........
A Rare Insight to a Mysterious World.......2003-08-06
This book offered a rare and informative insight into the world of US Coast Guard lifeboat stations and the sailors that man them. It gave great first hand insights into the day to day operations of a lifeboat station and a very informative history of the stations from the early days of the lifesaving service to the modern lifeboat station. A great read and a must for anyone in or wanting to be in the US Coast Guard!!!!!!
Easy-reading, but very eye-opening and inspiring.......2002-03-13
Although the book was a nice, easy read, I was involved to the point where I couldn't put it down and wanted to know more about the Coast Guard. These men and women of the small lifeboat stations are true heroes. Thanks to Dennis Noble for telling their history and story. I was inspired so much by the desire to become a part of such an amazing tradition and responsibility that I visited my Coast Guard recruiter to join.
Lifeboat Sailors.......2001-09-04
I was very impressed at this very well written book. Mr. Noble is retired from the Coast Guard and is very knowledgeable about the traditions and history of the finest life saving service in the world.
Mr. Noble is able to show both sides, good and bad, of the Coast Guard small boat stations.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Coast Guard history as well as someone wanting to join the Coast Guard.
Book Description
This book brings together cases from around the world on a breakthrough approach to strategic planning, empowerment, consensus building, and whole systems improvement. Hundreds of organization and interest groups in business, government, and the nonprofit sector have used this approach to create shared vision, innovation, commitment, and collaborative action that exceed what people thought possible. Includes contributions by 35 international authors.
Books:
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials)
- Information Systems Management in Practice (7th Edition)
- Integrity Selling for the 21st Century: How to Sell the Way People Want to Buy
- Interest Rate Models - Theory and Practice: With Smile, Inflation and Credit (Springer Finance)
- International Economics: Theory and Policy (6th Edition)
- Introduction to Materials Management (5th Edition)
- Managing for Dummies, Second Edition
- Managing Innovation, Design and Creativity
- Marketing Management (12th Edition) (Marketing Management)
- Marketing Management (12th Edition) (Marketing Management)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Secret
- Raw Food/Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow
- History: Fiction or Science
- Living In, Living Out: African American Domestics and the Great Migration
- MCSE Training Kit, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server : Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Implementation an
- Telling Ain't Training
- Longman Dictionary of American English with Thesaurus and CD-ROM
- MONEY Adviser 2000
- Globalizing International Political Economy
- Queen & Country, Vol. 1: Operation Broken Ground
Faith
| Christian Living
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Can Our Church Live?
Flexible, Missional Constitution/Bylaws: In One Day, Not Two Years
The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church
Small Groups in the Church: A Handbook for Creating Community (An Alban Institute Publication)
Transforming Congregations for the Future (Once and Future Church Series)
