Zizioulas' book sets the doctrine of the Trinity in its historical and theological context. He holds that the doctrine of the trinity brought about a revolution in philosophy- the concept of the person. This is an excellent book for anyone studyng this complex Christian doctrine.

I found this book hard to understand the first time through, but after struggling with it a second time, I am very grateful for the understanding that it gives. The main philosphical/theologiical argument is that nothing exists without communion, not even God. THis book really helped me understand the centrality of the the doctrine of the Trinity.

Bishop Zizioulas presents a very systematic defense of the Eastern Orthodox understanding, and relevance, of Trinitarian theology. He shows how the starting point of the Trinity is not the essence, as is often the case in western theology, but with the persons- Father, Son, Spirit. Commenting on western, essense first approach, he writes:

"This interpretation represents a misinterpretation of the Patristic theology of the Trinity. Among the Greek Fathers the unity of God, teh one God, and the ontological 'principle' or 'cause' of the being and life of God does not consist int eh one substance of God but in the hypostasis, that is, teh person of teh Father. The one God is not the one substance but the Father, who is the cause both of the generation of teh Son and the procession of the Spirit. Consequesntly, the ontological 'principle' of God is traced back, once again, to the person." (page40-41)

This line of thought runs thru the whole text, linking personhood with being in the ontological sense. Moreover, he draws various ecclesiological conclusions about he role of the bishop in the church catholic. He builds a eucharistic ecclesiology around some of his reading of the Greek Patristic tradition that fit well with much of modern eastern orthodox and roman catholic thought.

This book has had a very wide influence among theologians. SOme other books taht may be of related interest are: God For Us, bu LaCugna; The One the Three and the Many, by Gunton; The Tripersonal God, by O'Collins; The Eucharist Makes the Church, by McPartlan; The Sacrament of Salvation by McPartlan; Theology in teh Russian Diaspora, by Nichols;Altogether Gift, by Downey; Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries, by Elert (very thorough); After Our Likeness, by Volf; FLesh of the Church, Flesh of CHrist, by Tillard; God as Communion, by Fox.

THese books all concern themsleves with the ideas of how communion and fellowship are defined and experienced within the life and teachings of the CHurch. Some are very original. I would also recommend the works of Kallistos Ware, Volume ONe and Two of his Collected Works for similar themes. Enjoy!

cooper's book goes into great detail the question people must ask themselves when they read much of Paul's books. Did the body-hating Christians of the first millenium have it right? his answer is very Biblically based, and probably not too surprizing to most who've thought of this question before.

Cooper manages clarity, brevity, and thoroughness all in one fell swoop attempt at progressing a workable solution in the ageless enigma of body, soul, and spirit.

The book defends a functional integration of human life (body and soul are separate but dependent) on earth and in heaven but a disembodied intermediate state wherein the body and soul will be both separate and independent.

Cooper's research, objective and scrupulous, examines the widest spectrum: (1) Traditional Christian anthropology and its modern critics; (2) Old Testament anthropology's holistic emphasis; (3) Old Testament anthropology's dualistic implications; (4) The anthropology of intertestamental eschatology; (5) The monism-dualism debate about New Testament anthropology; (6) Anthropology and personal eschatology in the New Testament's non-Pauline writings; (7) Anthropology and personal eschatology in the New Testament's Pauline epistles; (8) New Testament eschatology and philosophical anthropology; (9) Practical and theological objections against dualism; (10) Holistic dualism, science, and philosophy; (11) And finally, a vindication of holistic dualism.

Great contribution to the debate!

Branch Rickey brought Jackie Robinson into the major league, breaking the color barrier. And that wasn't the only barrier he broke during his 60 years in baseball. A terrible player and unsuccessful major league manager, he excelled in spotting talent and teaching players how to play and live. He single-handedly invented the modern farm system for developing talent. A notorious cheapskate, he inspired tremendous loyalty. This book contains his own words, extracted from over a hundred boxes of his writings that are archived at the Library of Congress. I'm giving it as an end of the season present to my assistant coaches on my little league team.

This book proves why one's words are a window into one's soul. None of the several works I've read about Rickey show his personality so clearly as this, or make him appear as interesting. To read this is to know Rickey the humorist, Rickey the parsimonious paternalist, Rickey the wise man, Rickey the businessman and Rickey the talent. The quotes by him and about him show why Rickey would have been an immense success in whatever field he chose. Thank God it was baseball.

John Bennet is one of a very small group of individuals who actually managed to 'get' some of what Gurdjieff was on about. In Deeper man he combines his insights into The Forth Way Tradition with his explorations of Sufism, Subud, and other Wisdom Traditions to present a number of independently valid systems or models of Cosmology and subtle Corporeity and their inter-relation(s).

Bennet, quite unlike many other commentators, never 'believes' in the models. He understands the functions and limitations of maps and mapmaking. If one comes away from a reading with no more than this one has spent one's money wisely.

Deeper man focuses on the nature of Participating in Reality rather than merely reacting to it.

Dive in!

There is such a vast amount of understanding offered here that one might easily read this book cover-to-cover nearly two dozen times and find fresh insight with each venture. I have. If there is any author that could communicate practical realities of the spiritual search and the work of transformation with Bennett's clarity and focus, I have never heard of him (and should very much like to). The theme of this book is the study of man -- that is, the worlds we inhabit both without and within, the various selves that can open us toward or restrict us from higher worlds or indeed, the higher parts of our own nature, the laws that consciously or unconsciously determine our behaviour, and the possibility of death and resurrection that we need to understand concretely if we are to be genuinely transformed. Permeated with the teaching of Gurdjieff, imbued with the influence of Sufism, this book speaks to that in us that yearns to journey toward a reality that transcends the limits of what our discursive reason can make sense of. It speaks FROM the life-long experience of a man who most certainly had journeyed far on that path himself. I treasure this book, though I recognize that it cannot likely be a popular one.

John Lee, well known in the men's movement and the recovery movement, sets out to share with us his growth through his own troubles based on his prior relationships. His insights are well worth the read, as he shares with us the enlightenment he experiences as he tries to deal with the weight of his parents, his early rejections, and his inability to express the rage he feels in an appropriate way. His story is sometimes almost too personal: we don't really want to be there through ALL of it, somehow. And yet, we are transfixed even on the most basic responses he feels. His progress is steady and we are rewarded by the goals he achieves. Alas, like real life, there is no happy ending with the girl, the horse and the sunset. Still, the changes he feels, the inner pains he quells, these are all worth the pain he still carries, the fights he still has to fight. An enduring volume, and a must for the man still struggling with his father, struggling with his pain, or not sure why he struggles, only that he does.

I found this book helpful, hopeful and comforting for both my own pain from childhood traumas and for understanding the person I love so much who has his own demons from his childhood raised in an alcoholic family. Lee's book is probably most helpful to those who are ready and willing to face their problems and find professional help to guide them in confronting and neutralizing the pain so destructive to successful and meaningful adult relationships. A short read, an inexpensive book, but very useful!

How Brief a Candle establishes the truth of the existence of God the Creator and the immortality of the human soul. Using procedures of systems analysis, the author has drawn from a multiplicity of disciplines including philosophy, theology, physics, psychology, sociology and mathematics. The history of man's though concerning himself and his relationship to God is traced through the ages, beginning with Plato and Aristotle, right up to our present age.

The book demonstrates that a stable society is not possible without a morality based on some theistic system toward which man "stands in awe" (the Hobbesian question). A basis for a sociology of morals - and hence a moral sociology - is formulated. And finally, the author proposes a methodology by which the present decadent world age will be changed, during the next few decades, to bring about a return of the world to a truly human civilization.

The "insistent dialectic" is that interior conflict which has existed in man from the beginning - symbolically in the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. Man is split in his view of himself. He wants to be totally independent of any external restraint - free to "do his own thing." Yet, he realizes that he is in fact constrained by his own limited resources. He does have a master - if not of divine dimensions, then of human dimensions - his own fragility and mortality. He cannot live exclusively in his own image.

The book uses two scenarios to display the insistent dialectic. First is that of Nietzche, who wrote toward the end of the 19th century. An atheistic existentialist, he saw the 20th century as a descent into nihilism - man becoming totally anarchistic, having no values in common. Nietzsche saw emerging in the 21st century a "master race" which would tyrannize the rest of mankind into following along like cattle.

The other scenario is that of the late great British historian Arnold Toynbee, who consigned the twentieth century to technology but saw the 21st characterized by a return to theistic belief and a period of great spiritual growth. The two scenarios are antithetical and well reflect the insistent dialectic in its modern setting. This modern viewpoint has been of relatively short duration, a brief candle in the history of man.

The author believes that while the present situation of the world favors the Nietzsche scenario, there are signs of dissatisfaction with man's view of himself as a "Trousered Ape" or a "Walking Bag of Seawater" - as an intelligen monstrosity in an otherwise fairly satisfactory biolog world. Man is forlorn in his own image - hopelessly flawed in attaining his goals and flawed in his hopelessness of any other.

The author sees the denouement of the two scenarios in the realm of major religiously inspired social movements which will arise during the last decade of this century and during the early stages of the upcoming age. God remains the "Master of History." One way or another, man will serve God - in joy or in anguish. The choice is ours.

Perhps the best overview of the present epistemological crisis of our age and the emerging synthesis of science and metaphysics in response to a) the crisis, and b) the data pouring in at a rapid rate from all the "hard" sciences. This a work that not only offers a critical analysis of the present but also gives us hope for the future.

And it shows with this book. Mindhunter is first rate, and it looks as if his fictional characters will be just as mesmerizing.

Wealthy power broker Mrs. De Vries funds Broken Wings, a unit with broad investigative powers headed by the charismatic Jake Donovan, a brilliant profiler with a very high-resolution rate on the cases he investigates. When an airplane blows up over Washington, killing everyone aboard, FBI Director Ravan asks Jake to investigate.

When Jake arrives at the bureau he is told to go home and he realizes that his old enemy, the Attorney General has yanked him off the case. He is then asked by Mrs. De Vries to find her missing niece who was supposedly having an affair with William Rush, a scientist who had been working on a top research project, but is now dead. Jake and the team learn that Mrs. De Vries' niece has also been murdered. When the Broken Wings start putting the missing pieces together, they have their funding cut off, their investigative credentials destroyed, and the final blow comes when Jake's son Eric is kidnapped. They have to find out how all these events are linked if they hope to rescue Eric.

MAN DOWN is an exciting crime thriller that has so many unexpected twists that readers will make this a one-sitting reading experience because they want to find out who is the mastermind behind all the interconnected incidents. The hero of this novel holds up under adversity in such a stoic manner that the audience will be rooting for him to triumph over all his enemies, known and unknown, though his seeming unconcern is tested with the abduction of Eric. Fans including this reviewer will eagerly await the next Broken Wings thriller.

Harriet Klausner

A thinly veiled exploration of Picasso, The Man Who Painted Women is an involving investigation of misogyny which only a misogynist could write

John Sefton Newton is a genius writer. This is the first of his books I have read and was totally engrossed by the beautiful writing style and magnificent stories apon stories interwoven into this man's life. The story takes us through the mind of the old painter and the problems, trials and tribulations of his colourful life. It was with sadness that I finished the book, wanting to keep it going forever. Each area of this man's life could have been made into another book and it will take a lifetime to mull over what he had skillfully written. 5 STARS!!!!

As a long time Dylan fan, I try to learn about him as much as possible. Rock's greatest poet (w/ apologies to Jim Morrison fans, Dylan gets the title hands down.) is always worth examination. Some of his lyrics rank as fine poetry. This is probably the most important song writer of the second half of the 20th Century. Unfortunately, this collection is out of print but it is worthwhile to seek out. It contains many articles and interviews spanning Dylan's entire career. It includes writing by Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen and Paul McCartney among others. It is a collection of Dylan lore by Dylan's companions and cohorts. It features homages paid by many who were influenced by this great bard. Fans of Dylan would do well to read this book. It is very imformative and lends some insight into the career development of Dylan. The interviews with Ronnie Wood, Roy Orbison and Eric Clapton are revealing. It is amazing when you consider the stature of the people who were influenced and touched by Dylan. Tributes by Johnnie Cash and Bruce Springsteen also highlight the book. It is a compelling look at a man ranked as one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th Century.

Wanted Man is a great song that Dylan wrote for Johnny Cash and an apt title for the book because Mr. Dylan has touched many lives in a deep and profound way. This book is a fun collection of articles, interviews, etc. that's often more fun and illuminating than standard biography writing. I have also looked for the 1st collection in this series, to no avail. If you like this book, also check out Bob Dylan: the Early Years, another fine collection of writings.

Edited by the late John Bauldie (killed in a helicopter crash in England after a soccer match in late 1996), founder of the popular Dylan fan magazine _The Telegraph_, this book offers some insighful comments culled from friends and acquaintances of His Bobness ranging from Bauldie himself to Ray Orbison, Patti Smith and Eric Clapton. Illustrated throughout, this book begins with anecdotes from Dylan's days at the University of Minnesota and follows his career through the early '90's. Includes fascinating "sermons" of Bob's from when he was in his Christian phase in the late '70's and early 1980's. According to Bauldie, this book is the second in a series. The first book is called _All Across The Telegraph_ but I've never been able to find it anywhere

John Gardner does a little something with this James Bond novel, but don't expect too much. Probably good enough for an easy diversion.

Following the very disappointing BROKENCLAW, here Gardner gives us a different Bond story--one with very little action, lots of plot, and yet, a real page turner. This is certainly one of the most political Bond stories, and it is concerned with issues in the headlines at the moment (or from 1991), namely the Gulf War and also the shaky state of the former Soviet Union. The story concerns a free-lance terrorist group--The Scales of Justice--demanding the trial of a former Nazi SS officer largely responsible for a massacre of Russian Jews in Barbarossa during WWII. They claim to have the real man, but meanwhile the French Secret Service have captured another man whom they believe is the criminal. An agent of Mossad--the Israeli Secret Service, a Russian KGB official, James Bond, the French Secret Service, and various other spies all engage in a plot to unravel The Scales of Justice. What they uncover is an ambitious Russian general with plans to sabotage the crisis in the Gulf War by sending a nuclear strike among other things to the United States. There is a lot of plot and very little action--pretty much all in the next to last chapter or so. And yet it is very carefully laid out by Gardner, who doesn't give us an unbelievable love story nor a completely ridiculous ending as he did in the preceding clinker BROKENCLAW. In BARBAROSSA Bond finds himself confused about his role in the mission, and he also finds that a number of the people around him are not who they seem. One of the best elements is the way Gardner weaves an exciting tale involving elements from real-life modern stories and situations in the world--the Gulf crisis and impending war, the state of post-Communist Russia and quests for power. There are a number of intriguing characters and some great scenes, such as M receiving the news that 007 has been killed. Bond is not the central figure all of the time--he finds himself neck-deep in a complicated web of intrigue. The writing is certianly an improvement over BROKENCLAW, as! is Bond's relationships with the opposite sex here. Some may be disappointed by the greater presence of story and by the fact that action takes a backseat, but give BARBAROSSA a chance indeed. It is very well written, tightly plotted, and frankly very exciting. Do not disparage the name Gardner when it comes to Bond. Although this is more of a solid thriller and less of your typical BOND story, it is a welcome addition to the canon.

In this action and intrigue packed adventure Bond works with a Mossad officer, K.G.B. officers, and a sexy French D.G.S.E officer to stop a Communist hardliner from taking power in Moscow and helping Iraq during the Gulf War just before coalition forces are about to move on Iraq.