|
Review Summary: Fantastic Book |
Date: 2008-04-13 |
|
| |
|
Details: This book is wonderful. Every chapter is perfect for a daily inspirational meditation. The entire book is very uplifting and inspiring. I lent my copy to a friend at church, and she loves it. Another friend ordered it, and she loves it. The message is real, down-to-Earth and easy to understand. Although Jefferts Schori is Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the message is universal. This is a great book for Christians of any denomination. |
| |
|
Review Summary: On a Wing and a Prayer |
Date: 2008-02-25 |
|
|
| |
|
Details: Bishop Schori has her priorities in the right place. It was a pleasure to read her book. |
| |
|
Review Summary: Theology without dogma by the Presiding Episcopal Bishop. |
Date: 2008-02-16 |
|
|
| |
Details: This is a series of short essays based on sermons that Bishop Katharine Schori gave in the years before her election as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Perhaps the most striking feature is the complete absence of Doctrinal Dogma in them. The only two possible exceptions are her explanation of the Trinity as a relationship dance between the various members of the Godhead (which, of course, explains nothing), and of baptism as a connection to God that calls all of us to become, and serve as his ministers. Her statements that the Church is in the business of engendering dependency, and that rules become fences that separate people, may seem unusual coming from the head of the Church, but Bishop Katharine Schori is an unusual person.
Her main thesis is that we have been created to love, and that God loves us all, sinners and saints alike. We are all invited to join him in paradise, even Adolph Hitler. Again and again she exhorts us to take chances, use our God-given gifts and love one another in an effort to bring forth the Reign of God. "For this we have been created," she says, although this seems a little like circular reasoning. Our greatest sin is the desire to be right; we need diversity. "Communion is about learning to live and thrive with the obnoxious people around us," to learn to love them even if we may not like them.
The Bishop's ecumenical thinking is best revealed by a story she relates: "When each of us comes to the Day of Judgment, Moses will ask us if we enjoyed everything God gave us to enjoy." Placing Moses at the judgment table is not something that I have ever encountered before in Christian writings.
This is a wonderful little book. Don't be afraid to underline or highlight the numerous ideas you come across, and then to go back and read them over a couple of times. If you want a nice clean book for your bookcase, buy a second copy.
(The writer is the author of "The Way of the Butterfly: A Scientific Speculation on God and the Hereafter," and of "Christianity Without Fairy Tales: When Science And Religion Merge.")
|
| |
|
Review Summary: a pleasing insight into our new presiding bishop |
Date: 2008-02-08 |
|
| |
|
Details: This book will please Episcopalians who are open to learning about Jefforts-Shori. Her short homilies are good meditations on a variety of subjects and show a woman open to many ways of looking at life. |
| |
|
Review Summary: Episcopal Church |
Date: 2007-10-18 |
|
|
| |
|
Details: This book is a lot of short essays or sermons by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (written before she was elected, I believe). Many are powerful, inspiring and/or thought-provoking. |
| |
|
out of 15 Reviews
