This allegory of the life and death of Jesus Christ has several pages of illustrious and thought provoking poetry. Unfortunately, the majority of its content falls short of brilliance. I think that it is a nice book for devotional reflections, but aside from that, it has no real artistic value. My rating is 2.7.

This has to be a book which will live through history as one of the best of the best. It's not your usual book. Not your usual Christian book. Not your usual poetry book. Not your usual story.

It's all of those, and still a look at the creation of manking through Jeaus' life and death. Not like anything i've ever read. Give it a try. I don't think you will regret it.

This book is beautiful. Gods love for us pours off the pages. A book you will surely reread over and over.

I have found this book to be very insightful to the problems and challenges for not only those who travel but for the families of those travel. It gave me a new insight to BOTH sides. I am ordering more books to give to my co-workers!

I've always had pains of guilt when I would travel to some great place and have room service and maid service..... and leave my family behind. The cover of the book says more to the truth of trying to stay connected to our families than any human resource manual from work. When you take a job that travels... h/r doesn't tell you the effect on your marriage!

This book had such great insight to the biz traveler and the effects on their marriage! We BizTravelers think we have it hard while on the road but the family you leave behind is in a hard spot too! This book helps address the biz traveler's concerns as well as the family left behind.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to a new biz traveler. This book could save your patience and marriage! The author tells it like it is.

As I read this book, I kept thinking, how does this guy know all this? It's right on the money page after page! I gave 20 copies to friends who travel, and they all loved it!

I LIKE THIS BOOK ALOT.I JUST WISH TODD WOULD OPEN HIS HEART FOR HER. SHE WISHED ALL OF HER SEVENTEEN WISHES AND ALL OF THEM STARTED WITH TODD, I THINK HE SHOULD.AT CAMP IT WAS REALLY FUN. I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE CHRISTY AND TODD SERIES.

I love this Christy book! The summary focuses on Christy's summer camp adventures, but there is actually a bit of a different plot at the beginning. Christy and Katie go to visit Todd, Doug, and Rick at college and to stay for a meeting of God Lovers. They take a trip to the zoo, which proves quite eventful. Her adventures at summer camp are also funny...and touching, with a bit of a romance with Jaeson (a fellow counselor). The story ends on a good, and funny, note. It ends with Seventeen Wishes...

Christy goes 2 summer camp. It is like a romance there becauseit turned out she was a counselor instead of a camper and it is prettystressing. Then jaeson(yes, that is how his name is spelled)is another counselor and the girls in her cabin are trying to fix then up. Christy learned alot of things that week of camp. This was the first book in the serries I read. I got it at a garage sale. When I finished, I went to the library and read all the other books. They are sooo good. I can't put them down!I just finished the college years book and I love the whole christy miller and sierra jenson serries. Good work Robin!

...so Brueggemann begins the 5th chapter of "Deep Memory..." This is the third book in a series focussed on using Old Testament scriptures to illuminate problems in our post-modern society. As in the previous two books, each chapter will appeal to different readers in diverse ways. Some are of mostly theological interest; some are more visceral. The theme explored in all of them is the similarity between the culture of Isreal in Exile (ca.587BCE)and our own shattered society 26 centuries later.both they and we can no longer trust the institutions or the God that defined and dominated our communities until very recently. Brueggemann says that "...denial and despair are powerfully at work to prevent any serious engagement of the crisis of dislocation into which we are now plunged." These lead to self-preoccupation and self indulgence, words that aptly describe the "winner-take-all" world I see around us today. The author asks us to return to the Exilic scriptures (Samuel, the Psalms and Isaiah are used as examples) to see what help we can draw from the Hebrew relationship with Yahweh. In the past we have often set aside some of these verses because they cause conflict and pain to our post-enlightenment sensabilities. Brueggemann argues that we need to wrestle with these also; there is much to be learned from exploring why they wound us so deeply. These texts would not have been passed on unless they were of importance to the identity of both Isreal and the Christian community. This testimony by a people in exile about their relationship with their God can give us language with which to confront the narcissistic, neighbor-sacrificing culture that surrounds us.

A fair amount of attention is devoted to describing how our relationship with Yahweh has devolved since the Reformation (and later the Enlightenment), but the blame is spread evenly and not dwelled upon. Instead it provides a map with which to get back to the words and relationship we have lost and are desperate to recover. An alternative community, living in communion with God's steadfast-love, is the kingdom that all believers are called to. Dr. Brueggemann's final thoughts urge us to use Old Testament theology to turn away from the brutality of our self-centered society long enough to examine the possibilities of a deeper relationship with God.

I found that reading the noted scripture texts in my own Bible greatly enhanced the meaning of each chapter and made this good devotional as well as educational reading.

After classes with the Master Teacher of Old Testament, I felt a need to dig around in his more recent essays: "The Role of Old Testament Theology in Old Testament Interpretation" ; "Preaching As Sub-version" ; Both his last and first essays!

In his current lectures in Old Testament Theology, Bruegge has progressed from Reformation and Enlightenment through Barth, Eichrodt and von Rad bringing up his issues of historical criticism and post modernism...landing squarely on page 115 with his repeated description of Theo-ology is "speech about God." Then as he does often conclude lectures: It may be from another source can come an alternative to this dominant construal of reality, "perhaps from what Robert Bellah terms the 'republican' tradition... If we work from the ground-up it is entirely possible that lived reality reimagined from this Character (God) who lives on the lips of these witness could offer a wholesale and compelling alternative."

This alternative world is clearly marked out in the first essay "Preaching as Sub-version"..."We say these things to one another because...the utterances mediate the Easter option" as possible, in our practice, imagined in public policy, stated again on pages 17, 25 and 49.

My favorite essays land on the first, "Preaching as Sub-version" and the final two out of nine Jewels of distilled Brueggemann!
One comment about Essay 8, "Crisis-Evoked, Crisis-Resolving Speech." "It is clear that OT Theology cannot effectively advance by focusing on conventional conceptual content in the text." In pointing out the "regresses" of Israel in times of crisis, YHWH both discloses and acknowledges the ways in which God fulfills, but also fails in his relationship to Israel. Here again as in most books and lectures, Bruegge gives the Hebrew words used in Exodus 34:6-7a ; Hosea 2:19-20 ; Isaiah 54:10: As
hesed, rahum, hanun, and 'emeth. I always thank him for using the English spellings.

Sincerely for both Bruce Day and Professor Bruegge.
Retired Chaplain Fred W Hood

Don Miller and Richard Flory provide a nice assessment of the faith practiced by many gen x'ers. The reviews of various faith communities are done well and Miller's introduction and Flory's conclusion are excellent.

this book rocks.

i've read alot of books about gen x and religion. this is among the best. i'd place it beside strauss and howe's "13th generation" as a seminal gen x work.

unlike many books by postmodern guru types, that offer anecdotal (and often inaccurate) quips about gen x, this book was written by serious scholars of religion and sociology. they actually went to real, authenitc gen x started and gen x led religious communities and studied them, in a more than superficial way... and documented how they actually lived out their faith and service to god, as postmodern believers.

the conclusions drawn at the end of the book are dead on and very helpful. if you really want to learn about authentic gen x religion, as it is actually being practiced by xers, read this book.

This book lifted my spirits, challenged my complacency, fueled my imagination, and gave me a fresh perspective on my pursuit of Christ. Perhaps it was just the right book at the right time, but I believe it was more than this.

I picked up the book because of the recommendations by Eugene Peterson and Richard Foster on the back cover. Rarely has Peterson let me down and thus I took his word on this book--and he was right. Miller masterfully and imaginatively paints a picture of the Christian life that is both ancient and fresh.

He begins by demonstrating that Christians are characterized by their hunger to know God and to plunge into deeper depths of love and obedience. However, this takes discipline. "We would like to appear to be like Jesus without the discipline of really being like him" (13). He thus calls us to a heavenly and inward life. "Life in Christ is the only life built from heaven earthward and from the inside outward" (224). This is not a one-time act, but a life-long pilgrimage. "We cannot give our entire lives to God at one time and have it done with for all time. We must surrender second by second" (47). It will take sacrifice as well. "Sacrifice that insists on 'time off' from its own requirements is little more than indulgence with a small religious habit" (149).

Miller's chapters on materialism and the tyranny of time are challenging and eye-opening. His chapter on the place of mystery in the Christian life is much needed in the church today. So much worship is lost because all mystery is explained away! Miller ends his book with a great section on the place of confession of sin and the role of guilt in the Christian life. For example, Miller writes, "Are Christians never to feel guilty? Is guilt never good? Yes, when it has the effect of bringing us to God, but it can also have the effect of obscuring God. Guilt is most worthless when we become so self preoccupied that we can't see anything but our own selfish needs" (198).

In short, this book is full of unique and fresh insights that will make you long to live for God. The book both arouses spiritual hunger and simultaneously satisfies our hunger--thus accomplishing its objective.

Miller is an author who definitely has a way with words. He has stretched my vocabulary in exploring the depths of life in Christ. His words stick to me, making me want more of Him, and want to share that hunger with others. Many times, only a chapter or just a few pages would be all I could read at one time - not because of time restraints, but because I needed digestion time. Go deep... then go deeper.

Fr. Miller gives a thorough explanation and demonstration showing St. Therese's spiritual growth based on the teachings of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. Only two things I would want a purchaser to be aware of.

One - From time to time it reads a little like a collage thesis. It isn't difficult to understand but you could feel like you are in a lecture.

Two - This turned out to be a big plus for me. About 1/3 into the book I realized that I needed to have a better understanding of the teachings of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. I had previously stayed away from their writing. What a mistake! I would recommend an introductory book on their teachings. For me this was Fr. DuBay's Fire Within. Fr. Miller quotes him late in his book so it's safe to say it has his recommendation too.

If you are a serious student of Carmelite spirituality or St. Therese, you want to read this book.

To commemorate the centennial of the Little Flower's death in 1997, Fr. Miller has given lectures on St. Theres's "Little Way of Spiritual Childhood at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook where he teaches systematic theology and spirituality. His book is not a popularization but a scholarly work of spiritual theology, the result of his painstaking research into a controverted question about Therese's spiritual life.

Despite her exceptional training in faith and virtue at home and her precocious mastery of Carmelite spirituality, St. Therese underwent a terrifying trail of faith during the months of her terminal illness. She was tempted to doubt the existence of an afterlife, of heaven, the possibility of ever seeing her Lord, to whom she had consecrated her life. Several spiritual authors have interpreted her trial of faith as a "passive purgation" - as the suffering of an imperfect soul in the refiner's fire of God's love.

Fr. Miller however argues that Therese had passed through that stage of spiritual development earlier, possibly while she was waiting to enter the convent. His book defends the thesis that the Little Flower experienced the "Mystical Marriage" during her earthly life, and that her final trial was in fact an expression of her mystical union with Christ and a sharing in his sufferings for the sake of his body, the Church.

This book sheds a quiet light on the Christian mystery of salvific suffering.

(From Homiletic and Pastoral Review Reviewed by Michael J. Miller, Glenside, PA.)

If you are looking for a self-help book that doesn't require a particular religious view point -- DON'T BUY THIS BOOK. Certainly, don't be fooled by the fact that the author/publisher go out of their way to obscure the fact this entire book is premised on a relationship with the Christian God. No doubt this manipulation is meant for our own good -- maybe we will 'accidently' be saved. That is if you are willing to be saved by people who would misrepresent themselves. You'll have to look carefully on the back cover to find any reference to the religious beliefs which dominate this book. I for one do not appreciate being mislead, and I resent having paid for this book!

Don't let the silly cover fool you, underneath, this is a well-written and informative book about perfectionism.

Kathy has done her research into the problem of perfectionism, and writes with heart because she knows its highs and lows. Those who are frustrated about people who don't meet their expectations and with the high standards they set for themselves, but can't reach, will find counsel and warning here. Kathy's personal stories are real and ones that many will identify with. Her appendix section on living with a perfectionist will help those who find themselves on the other side of the fence.

I have just today located a copy of this book. I was wondering if anyone knows if Keith Miller, the author is/was a Branch Davidian? The book comes from "Word Books", Waco, Tx.

I read this book over 30 years ago, but it opened my eyes to the "free gift" I was offered in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Miller showed me the impact of grace and how to be a happy Christian.

In answer to the question posted above Keith Miller is definitely not a Branch Davidian. This book was written at least 35-45 years ago. Although dated this book clearly illustrates what it means to have the love of Christ for others and what it means to be in love with Him personally. This is just a great book that any Christian educator would benefit from!

Carlo Ginzburg, author of CLUES, MYTHS, AND THE HISTORICAL METHOD (1989), THE ENIGMA OF PIERO: PIERODELLA FRANCESCA-THE BAPTISM, THE AREZZO CYCLE, THE FLAGELLATION (1988), and THE NIGHT BATTLES: WITCHCRAFT AND AGRARIAN CULTS IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES (1983), is professor of history at the University of Bologna and the University of California, Los Angeles. In his work The Cheese and the Worms, Ginzburg relates the story of a medieval miller of Friuli, Domenico Scandella, called Menocchio, who is put on trial for heresy during the Italian Inquisition. Ginzburg nicely recreates the experience of a medieval trial-something monotonous, seemingly endless, and without apparent utility-at least to moderns who generally suffer from a culture infused with impatient pragmatism. This relentless prodding of the inquisitors for answers to their hairsplitting questions, of Menocchio for meaning to his contemptible existence, and of Ginzburg for threads of connection between the trial proceedings and possible sources is laborious. Contemporary readers, except for specialists in cosmology, derivative theology, evolutionary anthropology, and late medieval history, likely will have little tolerance for such esoteric musings. As stated, Menocchio, an obscure miller who is nevertheless important to his local village, is on trial by Inquisition authorities for heresies which are numerous, fluid, and conflicting. Ginzburg's main objective, however, is to get at the sources for Menocchio's thinking, especially his bizarre cosmological view involving cheese and worms that are born in the cheese. Like a relentless detective, Ginzburg takes the reader into excursions, asides, and digressions. He explores written sources such as the Bible in the vernacular, the Koran, Sir John Mandeville's Travels, Dominican Albert da Castello's Il Lucidario della Madonna, and many others. He postulates an eclectic medieval oral tradition from which Menocchio might have gleaned his ideas. But all this chasing of sources makes the reader feel like the proverbial rat trapped in the maze. There are many variations of possibilities for escape, but there is no resolve. The discussion of oral versus written sources goes on and on. Yet one thing is certain. All oral tradition unless codified is unpredictable and not easily discernable. While a valid hypothesis concerning source material for Menocchio's religious ideas, oral tradition remains unverifiable. After all, the written codification of the oral tradition of Menocchio's trials is what Ginzburg found in the Archivio della Curia Arcivescovile of Udine, and this discovery sparked his writing The Cheese and the Worms. Furthermore, Menocchio's suggestion that he is a tabula rasa who simply creates these things in his own mind seems incredulous. That Ginzburg would take this seriously is all the more unbelievable. Menocchio is not unaffected by his environment which includes written sources, as Ginzburg so ably points out. With the question of the origin of Menocchio's ideas about origins aside, what is left to discuss? A Religionsgeschichtlich approach falls quick prey to quaint anthropological inquiries. This is what Ginzburg offers and little more. Perhaps more development of the Church hierarchy and the consternation of the peasant against his elite accusers by way of a sociological reading of religion in sixteenth century Italy would prove useful. But Ginzburg does little to develop this. His real concern is prodding the interaction of inquisitor, miller, and Menocchio's acquaintances in order to find out about "Cheese." When this is attributed to an ancient Indian myth in the Vedas, derived from residual medieval oral tradition, Ginzburg's work is done. No more is left to ascertain from Menocchio. There is no complete characterization of Menocchio-his family, his work, his accomplishments as mayor, his business dealings. These things are not explored, but these are what would make Menocchio come alive and would give contextual meaning to his religious ideas. Why Ginzburg does not broaden his research is unclear, but the failure to do so leaves Menocchio as a religious oddity, a heretic without significance, another faceless victim of an oppressive religious hierarchy. Perhaps Ginzburg is unable to draw a more complete likeness of Menocchio from the trial proceedings. Although the specialist might prefer to study the complete text of these trials, as exegete of Menocchio's hearings, Ginzburg is superb. As phenomenologist on this Friulian miller's religious thought, Ginzburg is without peer. But THE CHEESE AND THE WORMS can hardly be dubbed a serious Quellenforschung or traditionsgeschichte except for a very narrow slice of sixteenth century Italian history. Michael Hunter notes, "Few will be able to accept Ginzburg's general thesis, his argument that Menocchio gives expression to a lively and homogeneous peasant culture" (HISTORY 1981 66:296). Further, Bennett Hill suggests, "The general reader will find the style opaque and the results unexciting. [The book is] for research libraries" (LIBRARY JOURNAL 1980 105:1512). At best, Menocchio provides an illustration of "the ingenuity and determination of the human spirit in face of adverse circumstance" (see J. H. Elliott, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS 1980 27:38). At worst, Menocchio is just another heretic that follows a typical pattern with nothing exceptional, so Ginzburg (p. 112). To adapt an old cliche, when you've seen one heretic, you've seen them all.

Having read the reviews already listed here, I believe the one major facet of this book has been downplayed. Dr. Ginzburg's approach is to utilize and interesting story scraped from the otherwise monotonous and one-sides Inquisitorial records from the Roman Inquisition. What is most important about this book, is that it demonstrates a separation of culture, call it "high" culture and "low" or "peasant" culture. We follow the great thinkers of the past two millenia from grade school through graduate studies, never fully attempt to delve into a concurrently extant peasant "history of ideas." What Dr. Ginzburg has displayed through this fascinating yet sad tale is that the great thinkers we know of, i.e., Augustine, Aquinas, Occam, Galileo, etc., are a representation of a literate educated class which by no means excludes a secondary ideology which flourished mostly thorugh an oral culture. Dr. Ginzburg seeks merely to bring our attention to this fact and more or less demonstrate the wealth of knowledge and study that has yet to be done in light of the fact. Menochio merely highlights the existance of long standing ideas which otherwise would have been lost to history were it not for "high" society's interest in synchretism. This book is therefore an eye-opener to anyone who believes that the great thinkers speak for everyone and that only they should be reserved for study.

This is a spectacular application of the clue-based evidentiary paradigm, in which Ginzburg pursues lead after lead in an effort to reconstruct the world view of an outspoken miller dragged in front of Roman inquisitors in 16th-century Italy -- and then to reconstruct the origins of this world view in, simultaneously, peasant oral culture, secular philosophy, and Reformationist thought. One might, of course, quibble with particularities, and Ginzburg seems a little too sure of many of his speculations, a confidence which he attempts to slip by his readers with words like "clearly" and "undoubtedly." But for anyone interested in the way in which big pictures are inferred from small clues, this is exquisite reading.