Book Description
The Secrets to Finding, Nurturing–or Being–an Irresistible Man.
Never before has the search for real connection between the sexes been more important–or more confusing. Single women want to know what they should ask for–not settle for–in a mate, while married women wonder how they can nurture godly character traits in their husbands. Men, both single and married, wonder what women really want. Both genders are long on questions and short on answers.
Where Can Men and Women Go for Help?
In Proverbs 31, Scripture presents a powerful composite of a virtuous woman. But what about the virtuous man–what does the Bible say about him? Popular Bible teacher Michelle McKinney Hammond tackles this timely and important question, digging into Scripture to study key men–from Adam to Christ himself, the ultimate bridegroom–to learn what God requires of husbands and men, and to lay out a trustworthy model of how men and women can live in healthy, fulfilling relationship.
Find out what you can do to identify, nurture–or become–a truly godly man and mate in In Search of the Proverbs 31 Man.
“This is not a man bashing book, but one that champions the original design for their lives. Women need real men.” –Michelle McKinney Hammond
Customer Reviews:
A MUST HAVE for singles and couple ministries.......2007-10-05
I've ordered a total of 20 of this book to share with friends, family and members of my church. It definately enhances the kingdom.
What a great find.......2007-05-13
Reading this book has given me a new understanding of active listening to what men say, verbally, nonverbally and spiritually. I have had many "light-bulb" moments as a result, and will probably read it again and again for reinforcement. I recommend it for both men and women, as both sexes are skillfully instructed on how to achieve what we want by first examining ourselves, understanding our roles, and recognizing our true priorities.
I wish I had known then what I know now...........2007-05-02
I wish I had known then what I know now.....
"No man skips the process of transformation except by his own choosing. All must first be broken before becoming a worthy vessel that can please God and gain honor in the eyes of a woman." Michelle McKinney Hammond
This book is truly off the hook and has helped me severely in becoming the apple of God's eye, not to mention hindering my sabotagemental attempts in jacking my chances of an everlasting and anointed love affair.
Hammond lays the cards out on the table and they are stacked in favor of any Christian man or woman in search of their P31 counterparts. The author spells out in detail what a man, whether he eats meat or quiche, is like in living color.
At first I thought that I could not measure up to this supergodly guy, but as I read on, I had realized that I possessed the requirements all along; a deep love for Jesus, a desire to be loved and to love, and a healthy prayer connection to the Heavens.
This may seem like I am boasting but I am not. This book has simply opened my eyes to the qualities deep within my bosom, of which God has planted... (hint), while re-adjusting my rudder and exposing the tremendous love the Lord has for me AND for YOU!!
You'd think this would be a book that would try to rattle the cages of men and say "shape up or ship out gentleman!!" NO, she doesn't. She is wonderfully fair and constantly reminds women that men are human as well. On the other hand she clearly states that men must have a purpose here on earth before they can meet the chosen vessel God has planned for them.
A must read for ALL...
Wish I'd Read This Earlier in Life!!.......2006-11-14
In Search of the Proverbs 31 Man is a wonderful book to have in your library. It contains a wealth of wisdom that can be applied to your life whether you're single or married. Words of wisdom such as: a man should know his purpose before he marries, there are pitfalls to striving to be/become an independent woman, and the powerful influence women have to bring about positive growth in the lives of men. I've already recommended it to women in my Virtuous Woman/Proverbs 31 Woman class and would recommend it to (1) any man struggling to figure out what God intends a good man to be; (2) any woman in her quest to prepare herself for and discover the type of man God wants to place in her life; (3) and any married couple wanting to edify their marriage!!
Another helpful book by Michelle.......2005-07-13
If you want to prepare yourself for the godly man the Lord will send you (or has sent you) read this book. To be a single woman Michelle has an outstanding view of relationships from a woman of God view. Well worth reading.
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- A very personal story within the Cultural Revolution
- beautiful, accomplished work
- Isolated In a Crowd
- Engrossing
- Cultural Drift
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One Man's Bible
Gao Xingjian
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ASIN: 0066211328
Release Date: 2002-09-03 |
Amazon.com
In the same circling, ruminative vein as his Nobel Prize-winning debut novel Soul Mountain, Chinese expatriate Gao Xingjian's fictionalized memoir of his youth, One Man's Bible, is an attempt to capture the Kafkaesque anxieties of the Cultural Revolution. As a budding writer, and the son of a white-collar worker, the unnamed narrator soon realizes that, no matter what useful friends he makes at school, he is vulnerable to investigation by the restless, politically unstable Red Guard: "Enemies had to be found; without enemies, how could the political authorities sustain their dictatorship?" Punishment for real or imagined "mistakes" of thought and behavior would have been death, imprisonment, or banishment to a labor farm. The only answer, he came to believe, was to blend in with the masses and to construct a mask of bland agreement with whoever appeared to be in charge at the time.
The bulk of Xingjian's absorbing narrative takes place in this bleak world of exposure, hysteria, and reprisals, and from an appropriately distant third-person point of view. But the act of recollection is spurred by a four-day-long affair with a near-stranger in the mid-1990s. The narrator, long exiled from China, has been brought to Hong Kong to help stage one of his plays. Here he runs into a German-Jewish woman, Margarethe, whom he knew slightly from his final years in China. For Margarethe, survival hinges on memory. It is she who persuades the narrator to let his painful, rigorously suppressed memories begin to thaw, and if not to drop his mask, at least to remember that he is wearing one. --Regina Marler
Book Description
One Man's Bible is the second novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Gao Xingjian to appear in English. Following on the heels of his highly praised Soul Mountain, this later work is as candid as the first, and written with the same grace and beauty.In a Hong Kong hotel room in 1996, Gao Xingjian's lover, Marguerite, stirs up his memories of childhood and early adult life under the shadow of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. Gao has been living in self-imposed exile in France and has traveled to this Western-influenced Chinese city-state, so close to his homeland, for the staging of one of his plays.What follows is a fictionalized account of Gao Xingjian's life under the Communist regime. Whether in "beehive" offices in Beijing or in isolated rural towns, daily life is riddled with paranoia and fear, as revolutionaries, counterrevolutionaries, reactionaries, counterreactionaries, and government propaganda turn citizens against one another. It is a place where a single sentence spoken ten years earlier can make one an enemy of the state. Gao evokes the spiritual torture of political and intellectual repression in graphic detail, including the heartbreaking betrayals he suffers in his relationships with women and men alike.One Man's Bible is a profound meditation on the essence of writing, on exile, on the effects of political oppression on the human spirit, and on how the human spirit can triumph.
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"PerfectBound e-book extras: "No-isms": A Conversation with Gao Xingjian and Translating Gao: Mabel Lee on Gao Xingjian In a Hong Kong hotel room, in 1996, Gao Xingjian's lover, Marguerite, stirs up his memories of childhood and early adult life under the shadow of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution. Gao has been living in self imposed exile in France and has traveled to this Western influenced Chinese city-state, so close to his homeland, for the staging of one his own plays. What follows is a fictionalized account of Gao Xingjian's life under the communist regime: whether in the `beehive' offices in Beijing or in isolated rural towns, everywhere daily life is riddled with paranoia and fear, as revolutionaries, counter-revolutionaries, reactionaries, counter-reactionaries and government propaganda turn citizens against one another, where a single sentence spoken ten years earlier can make one an enemy of the state. Gao evokes the spiritual torture of political and intellectual repression in graphic detail, including the heartbreaking betrayals he suffers in his relationships with women and men alike. ONE MAN'S BIBLE is a profound meditation on the essence of writing, on exile and on the effects of political oppression on the human spirit, and how the human spirit can triumph."
Customer Reviews:
A very personal story within the Cultural Revolution.......2006-12-26
One Man's Bible conveys the life and death choices the narrator had to make every day during a period of extreme social turbulence.This book excels in communicating the tension between the desire to survive and thrive in society and a personal desire (in this case to keep writing)that is forbidden by "society". The narrator is certainly not a hero and does not judge what his happening around him.
I also found the book very good in being able to paint a picture of daily life, at the collective and individual level, in the period where the book is set.
beautiful, accomplished work.......2006-11-01
Gao Xingjian's second novel, "One Man's Bible" contains partially autobiographical life story of a Chinese writer, who tries to find his own place, peace of mind and right to writing and publishing in the Communist China.
The writer, living in permanent exile from China, goes to Hong Kong to attend a premiere of one of his theater plays. There, he meets Margarethe, one of the women who had an impact on his life. Margarethe, a German Jew, who stayed in Germant despite many doubts and reservations, is enquiring about the writer's past and this triggers and avalanche of memories. In fact, it is not a novel compositional trick, but because of Gao's dream-like style, similar to "The Soul Mountain", it seems still fresh and original here.
The chapters, which describe the Chinese past of the main character during the Cultural Revolution are separated by the ones closer to the present. The difference is stressed by the changes in narration between second and third person.
Among enemies and friends, career wolves and people desperately trying to preserve their individuality and self-respect, the young writer tries to figure out his own place, which requires a lot of time and effort, many schemes and being always a step ahead of the others. To write and publish in the capital, one must escape the Party purges, must have a job, a right to lodging in a tiny room in the communal apartment, an impeccable past and a perspective of a career within the Party.
Initially, the protagonist manages quite well. He becomes a leader of young rebels in yet another uprising, labeling the former previous party officials as "The Snake Spirits" (name given to all enemies of the system). He is also a lover of one of the Party leader's wife. Thanks to her warning (apparently the proofs of his disloyalty have been found (in the form of the information that in the remote past, just after the war with Japan, his father was in the illegal possession of weapons), the writer finally realizes that he will never be able to find for himself a safe place in the communist structures, allowing him creative freedom. Only then he decides to escape, initially hiding n the far away, mountain village, under the pretenses of rehabilitation through physical labor. After a long period of creative hibernation and waiting, he manages to leave China and stay abroad permanently, getting the status of the political refugee.
This seemingly realistic plot is spiked with the descriptions of events from emigrant times, the weird dreams pestering the protagonist and the masterful portraits of people who he met in China (the whole gallery of human types, from small cheaters, through people using their professional positions to the good and bad purpose, to intellectuals broken by the system) and outside (especially interesting are the female characters - already mentioned Margarethe and Sylvie, a person whose personal experience separates her like a chasm from the protagonist; it is interesting to notice, how her character is the opposite to the writer's). Various motivations and life attitudes are shown very clearly and convincingly, so that the reader can rest assured, that in each regime everyone has their own free will and our life choices depend on our will only.
The parallels to Gao's life come to mind automatically during reading. The protagonist is not from the working class (his father, like Gao's, works in a bank), he is educated, writes and then destroys his writings, afraid that they can be discovered and used against him (Gao had burned all his manuscripts before leaving China), during his years in exile he cannot visit China... It is hard not to wonder whether "One Man's Bible" is a kind of the catharsis, as the writer is shown as a person who to reach his goal - to write and publish - does not hesitate to become an opportunist. Although he is trying to live in agreement with his conscience, he makes mistakes, which he later regrets and which affect other people's lives. If Gao writes here about himself, he definitely does not try to excuse his actions or to show himself in the best light...
The autobiographical style makes "One Man's Bible" less contemplative and looking more like a "traditional" novel than "The Soul Mountain", but here again comes back the motif of integration with the rural people and respect for the antique Chinese traditions - for example, the scene of conversation with the old doctor and description of his handbook are beautiful).
This novel is worth recommendation, especially, because the access to the Chinese writers who describe the country's reality well and at the same time their books present the high level of artistic achievement, is limited, and Gao's works are banned in China (apparently, they are available on the black market, but not published officially), therefore it is very likely that they contain accurate observations (like the Polish, Soviet or other emigrant writers, to which I can relate).
Isolated In a Crowd.......2006-09-06
Part of why Gao Xingjian's book "One Man's Bible" has such an impact for the Western audience is that many of us who have heard of the Cultural Revolution in China still have no adequate experience that helps us understand it or its impact on the Chinese people. Xingjian's detached style may be the only way to deal with this and not go crazy. So many of the details are startling. When he relates how his father's ownership of a gun some 30 years previously is held against him so that he's threatened by the dreaded "reactionary" & "counter-revolutionary" labels is amazing to the Western mind. To hear of families split apart as educated parents are sent for 8 years of "re-education" in rural labor camps is shocking. When those in political disfavor become ill, the hospital becomes the ideal method for assassination. I believe it's because of this subject matter that the book has such an impact.
There is also another underlying theme of human isolation. Surrounded by people, the main character cannot let anyone get close to his heart and emotion. He interprets freedom as an absence of love; and this is perhaps the saddest aspect of the book. Xingjian's series of lovers from the German Marguerite to his first love Lin and the many other casual affairs reflect the satisfaction of the basic hormonal drives, but leave an emotional detachment that precludes real intimacy. On a purely human level, this clinical self-examination is put under a harsh light.
The novel's construction uses some of the techniques that made "Soul Mountain" also seem fresh & "un-Western." The alternation of time periods, flashing back and forth from past eras in China to the present detachment works to produce a tension in the novel. Use of various persons (e.g. I, he/she) including second person (you) narration adds a variety; whereas more accepted Western standards would look for consistency. People may react negatively to the book because we're used to a plot line where a story is told. Xingjian's story is told here, but it's in more of a travelogue format than the traditional structure that builds to a climax. Xingjian's tale seems to travel to anti-climax, much as life often can seem mundane or routine.
Some of the philosophical chapters near the end did not connect with me as well. The book does seem to end simply because the author put down the pen. But all in all, this is an important book. My family watched the film "Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress" the other night. I found myself using Xingjian's book to fill in many of the details about the re-education camps for my family. Translated works may lose some of the original nuance and impact, but Mabel Lee did a good job with the translation. I often would ponder an unusual image. This is an excellent mind-stretching book. Enjoy!
Engrossing.......2006-06-04
This is a fantastic autobiographical novel about the author's experiences under Mao's China and how it affected him and others. The subject matter itself is enough to reccomend this book because we rarely get insights into this closed world and must strive to understand it as it emerges as a world economic power.
The author uses an interesting techinque of detachment where the main character is also the narrator who speeks most often in the third person. Irme Kertesz in his novel "fatelessness" beautifully dscribes how people can survive even the worst suffering, such as the holocaust, by detachment of soul from body. In "Fatelessness", the protagonist survives the concentration camps by escaping outside himself and comes to not only view his suffering and surroundings in the third person but becomes so detached that the physical pain, wounds, illness and suffering of his own body are described and experienced as a thiid person. This mode of escape was subconcious and persisted after the war, leaving a permanent scar of detachment that leaves the reader wondering how the protagonist will relate in peacetime.
Gao has evidently experienced a similar form of coping mechanism that is evident in the sections of the novel that take place in the present, during his expatriat years. It becomes manifest by his casual serial sexual encounters with women who also have similar problems of forming lasting bonds and attachments because of trauma (rape etc). Gao's inability to form a lasting personal bond extends to his lack of attachment to China, his people and his new home, career and friends. Though his insights are [rofound, Gao's emotions and actions are superficial and dream-like.
The most brilliant technique is his use of the word "you." The detached narrator (Gao)uses this word to refer to the subject (Gao)as if he is writing for and talking to himself. I have only seen this technique used in Gao's other novel translated into English "Soul Moutain." Later in the novel, when describing the past he uses "him" to describe the subject "Gao" living in Mao's China. The Narrator uses "you" to refer to the Gao in the present, expatriat state.
The use of "you" and "him" has a multilevel effect on the text and the reader. "Him" Gao of the past becomes "You" Gao of the present - a different level of detachment. "Him" Gao is the Gao of the present describing the Gao of the past as if from a distance, as if that person no longer exists and is dead or lost. The "You" Gao is more familiar, closer, intimate yet detached, a different, mature Gao of the present who is having these relationships, having his plays performed and struggling with the present novel and his past. If a man is the sum of his experiences we are left still wondering who the real Gao is and if he knows himself. It is as much a discovery of Mao's oppressive China as an effort of self descovery -- both painful.
The other effect of the use of "You" used by the narrator to describe Gao in the present is the author subtly drawing in the reader, to place him or herself in Gao's place, to become Gao. "You" also refers to the reader. We are invited to become Gao in our imagination as we read the text. The simplicity of one word creating so many layers of meaning and effect on the text and reader is on par with Jose Saramago's penchant for a lack of puntuation in many of his works.
This book is indeed something special, ingenious, and genuine. You may walk away haunted and disoriented, angry, frustrated, helpless and questioning your security. But as Gao makes clear at the begining, the experience of a Chinese mind under Mao can only be compared to the Holocaust under Hitler. Here East and West share a commonality of humanity at its best and worst, a common suffering and experience and a place to begin a dialog of understanding. Evil takes on many forms but it's effects on the human soul are universal.
Cultural Drift.......2006-05-16
To this day, the bizarre, cult-like events of the Cultural Revolution remain a prime focal point for Chinese novelists and, especially, memoirists. Writers from Adeline Yen-Mah, Jung Chang, Jan Wong, and Anchee Min to Yu Hua, Mo Yan, Dai Sijie, and Yan Geling have plumbed the depths of political capriciousness, human debasement, and the sheer will to survive in their own lives or in those of their fictional characters. Yet few if any Chinese writers have dared examine the effects of the Cultural Revolution on their later, post-Tiananmen Square massacre (1989) lives. Gao Xingjian's semi-autobiographical novel, ONE MAN'S BIBLE, is the first I have encountered, and the results are hauntingly devastating.
The story opens in a Hong Kong hotel in 1996 with the unnamed Chinese narrator (an internationally successful playwright) and his temporary paramour, a white Jewish woman of German descent named Margarethe. Theirs is an affair of mutual convenience and simple animal lust, but it is also a continuation of two largely hopeless searches for human closeness and warmth even as both characters deny that they seek such a thing. Margarethe works insistently to draw out the narrator's past, asking him to tell his life's story and suggesting that he turn it into a book. The narrator for his part insists that such a thing is not possible, that "things in China can not be explained by language alone," yet the book of his life unfolds before us in chapters that alternate (for the first half of the book) between his present-day encounter with Margarethe and his autobiography.
What emerges from this approach is a haunting tale of a rational, intelligent man trying desperately to cope with the utter irrationality of the Cultural Revolution. At first a nonpolitical citizen of Beijing, the narrator decides that he can best survive by becoming a faction leader. Having established his revolutionary bona fides, he then lays low and chooses his moves carefully, ultimately realizing that his next move is to the countryside, to keep his head down as a peasant farmer and teacher for perhaps the rest of his life. To maintain his sanity, he secretly writes about his feelings and experiences, keeping his papers well-hidden from nosy neighbors. Over time, he discovers that survival under Mao requires repeated acts of selfishness and disregard for the feelings of others, particularly the women who pass through his life, offering sexual temptation coupled with the threat of personal ruin. Ultimately, Margarethe returns to Europe and disappears from the alternating scenes, leaving Gao to examine ever more intensely his own past, his failings and regrets and lost relationships. He never shares with us the manner in which he "escapes" from China, partly because it doesn't really matter and partly because, in a psychological sense, he will never escape.
By using the alternating chapters, the author establishes a clear divide between history and the present while simultaneously illustrating how that history impinges on the narrator's current life. Gao takes this structure even further by bifurcating the narrator himself, referring to his present-day self in the second person (you) and to his pre-escape self in the third person (he). Yet they are clearly just variations of the same person; the narrator's past is an inescapable part of his present. He is scarred for life by the Cultural Revolution, and the lonely, distant, untrusting person he has become is a direct reflection of the persona he was forced to adopt in order to survive those times. He has learned to be a soulless user of others, and little else.
This is a dark and haunting examination of life and survival during the unimaginable events of the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath. Timed and placed in 1996 Hong Kong just before the British turnover over that island to the Communist government in Beijing, it is also a fascinating metaphorical contemplation of modern China, a nation of soulless users lusting after money the same way his narrator lusts after women. Gao Xingjian emerged from relative obscurity (at least outside of China) to become his country's surprise first Nobel Prize winner for Literature. In ONE MAN'S BIBLE, Western readers can get a sense of why he was chosen. Deservedly so, it would seem.
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CCEL Classics CD: works by Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Donne, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, Martin Luther, Saint Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, John Wesley, and more!
Dr. W. Harry Plantinga
Manufacturer: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
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Release Date: 2006-12-15 |
Product Description
The most important spiritual writings of Christian history are available on this Classics CD by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) at Calvin College. It contains 118 Christian classics, including three versions of the Bible, several commentaries, Bible dictionaries, readings, spiritual guides, sermons, poems and journals -- all in a convenient, searchable form. Books are available in HTML and PDF formats. The easy-to-use CCEL Desktop software powering the CD enables users to browse and print books and install additional books from the Web. The top-of-class search engine can search for words or phrases in books, in authors works or in the whole library. In addition, it can search for dictionary definitions of words and commentary or references to scripture passages. The interface is a Web browser. The CD is compatible with Windows 2000+, Macintosh 10.3+, and most Linux versions.
Book Description
Exile. Persecution. Torture. The riveting story of one man's escape from the Sudan. By the muddy banks of the Kulo-jobi River, a young Sudanese boy is faced with a decision that will shape the rest of his life. William Levi was born in southern Sudan as part of a Messianic Hebrew tribal group and spent the majority of his growing up years as a refugee running from Islamic persecution. He was eventually taken captive for refusing to convert to Islam and suffered greatly at the hands of his captors.After escaping Islamic forces, William eventually came to the United States where he attended college. Since that time, he has been sharing his story nationwide and petitioning members of congress to take action to end the violence in Sudan. His story of deliverance will touch the hearts of believers and raise their awareness to the plight of our Sudanese brothers and sisters in Christ.
Customer Reviews:
Aqua-Africa.......2007-01-05
Wow... great story. Have a new appreciation for the religious freedom we have in America.
An Inspiring Story.......2005-11-07
Exile, persecution and tortue. Jesus told His followers that they should expect this type of treatment from the world. Those of us who live in the Western world often lose sight of the difficulties that Christians face in other parts of the globe. It is books like The Bible or the Axe, the biography of William Levi, than tend to shake us up a little bit, reminding us of the inestimable blessing of having freedom of worship.
William Levi is a Messianic believer from an African Hebrew tribal group in Sudan. When only a child his family was forced to flee religious persecution and they settled as refugees in the wilderness of Uganda. They lived there happily as subsistence farmers, growing all they needed for their survival. When the time of persecution seemed to come to a close they returned to Sudan, but after only a short respite the Muslim leadership began a new program of systemic persecution against Christians. Levi, when only a teenager, was arrested and tortured as his captors sought to convert him to Islam. He refused, trusting that the promises of God were worth far more than his life. While being taken to his place of execution he made a miraculous escape and eventually made his way out of the country and to the United States of America.
In the years since coming to America, Levi founded Operation Nehemiah Missions International and has told his story to millions. He continues to bring awareness to the persecution faced by believers in Sudan and elsewhere.
The Bible or the Axe is quite an interesting book. It is well-written and is sure to bring attention to a group of believers that desperately need our prayers. There were one or two places where I had small concerns about the author's theology, especially in his understanding of the differences between Protestant and Roman Catholic theology, but this did little to detract from the impact of this stirring story. I have no trouble recommending it.
This Book Will Touch Your Soul.......2005-10-04
The Bible or the Axe is the testimony of William Levi. It tells the story of his struggle against oppression and religious persecution in Sudan. It tells a story of hope, family, responsibility, and dependence on God. It tells the story of one man's calling. If you have a heart for the persecuted church, this book will touch you in ways you can't imagine.
What struck me even more than the gut wrenching opening, or even the torture this man endured, was the unmistakable message of God. I repeatedly had to stop and mark passages in the book to come back to. They were passages that touched me deeply and conveyed profound spiritual lessons.
The wisdom that flows from William Levi throughout this book is a gift from God. His understanding of scripture will touch you and change you. His struggle will give you strength and make you think. It will cause you to question the very fabric of your convictions and ask yourself where you stand. You will also ask yourself - will it be the Bible or the axe?
In a time of war and distress between nations and religious groups, this book could not have come at a better time. It is one thing to know what the Bible says and quite another to see it firmly in practice. William Levi met the call to love his enemies with service and strength of conviction.
To tell you that I enjoyed The Bible or the Axe would be to understate my real feelings. This book is profoundly touching. If you can put it down without feeling changed, without seeing the message God is sending through the words of William Levi, then you haven't opened your heart and paid attention. This book is a must read.
Review of "The Bible or the Axe".......2005-10-03
William Levi has an amazing story to tell. Mr. Levi was born a Messianic Christian in the Sudan, exiled to Uganda, returned to the Sudan as persecution and bloodshed began again, and was miraculously brought out of the Sudan by God in order to help his country rebuild.
I know I am sheltered. I am a white, Christian American, and I have not experienced suffering like Christians in other parts of the world. I forget, sometimes, that our freedom to worship is something other believers do not enjoy.
I did not realize that there is a Christian presence in Africa that dates back to the early church. My ideas of Africa have been shaped by our Western culture and media. Africa is somewhere we send missionaries to, not somewhere I expect to see Christianity as old as the church. And yet Africans have been worshiping God the Father as Jews for thousands of years. The same African Jews were brought the good news of Jesus Christ and believed. And they have suffered for their belief.
This book has a message that needs to be read and shared. It is too easy for us to turn a blind eye to the suffering endured by our sisters and brothers in Christ. Stories like Mr. Levi's make it personal.
God brought William Levi out of the Sudan to receive an education and to help his nation in ways he never could have if he had remained. And he is helping and giving back, not only through this book, but through his ministry, Operation Nehemiah.
The Bible and the Axe does more than tell Mr. Levi's story. It explains the history of the religious war in the Sudan in a way that I had never understood before. Anyone whose heart break's over what's happened in the Sudan, and is still happening in the Darfur region, needs to read this book. It will renew your desire to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world, and prompt you to help in any way you can.
Inspiring book but disappointing finish.......2005-09-26
This is a very interesting and powerful autobiography which tells the story of William Levi's childhood in South Sudan, and his subsequent escape from religious persecution there and ultimate journey to America.
I found the early parts of this book fascinating, particularly where Levi talks about the history of the Sudan and the long Jewish and Christian heritage of that part of the world. I must confess my relative ignorance about the history and current events this country, and Africa in general, and this book has inspired me to learn more. For quite a while now I've had it on my heart to visit and perhaps do some work in Africa one day, and this book has further kindled that flame.
In some ways this book is reminscent of 'Hotel Rwanda' (one of my favourite movies) however in that setting it was Christians of different tribes fighting each other. In this story it is Islamic persecution of Christians, and their imposition of Shari'a law, that is the problem. Despite the injustices he faced, Levi manages to convey a sense of understanding and love towards Muslims - in this he is truly living up to Jesus' command to love your enemies. Levi's respectful religious discussions with a Turkish Muslim, and the attempts by some Egyptian Muslims to convert him (in a 'good cop, bad cop' kind of way) are some of the compelling episodes in this book.
The biggest disappointment I had with this book is that the story ends quite abruptly. There is very little written about what happened with Levi's 'Operation Nehemiah' ministry for the Sudanese which he started after a few years in America. And even more of a let down was that he didn't tell us what happened to his family in Sudan - did he ever get reunited with them? Did he ever return to the country himself? And the story of meeting his wife and having children in America would have been interesting to hear also. So although this was a great book, there were too many loose ends for me to be completely satisfied with it. The narrative just didn't go the full circle.
Even so, this book has further kindled my interest in Africa in general, and specifically to find out more about the Sudan, and Operation Nehemiah.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Reuven Doron's "One New Man".......2001-04-15
There are rare jewels of personal prophetic insight in this book. I recommend it for anyone seeking to understand the mystery of Israel and the Church. Beginning from a non-believing Jewish background, the author takes us through his wartime experiences in the Israeli army to his conversion at the feet of his Messiah. Don't miss this prophetic gem fired in the crucible of personal experience and suffering. There are few such books available which touch on the prophetic mystery of Israel and the Church at the end of the age.
Book Description
These first four study guides in a 16-volume set from noted Bible scholar John MacArthur take readers on a journey through biblical texts to discover what lies beneath the surface, focusing on meaning and context, and then reflecting on the explored passage or concept. With probing questions that guide the reader toward application, as well as ample space for journaling, The MacArthur Bible Studies are an invaluable tool for Bible students of all ages.
Product Description
Profoundly important new revelations about man's mysterious ancestors... and the enigmatic inheritances they bequeathed.
Product Description
Originally published in 26 books of two lessons and a supplement in each book. Over 1,000 pages of Bible truths backed by a profusion of scripture texts. Thousands of questions on all Bible subjects and prophecy answered with scripture. In Four Parts: The Origin of all Things (lessons 1-8), God's Historical Dealings with Man (lessons 9-18), God's Present Dealings with Man (lessons 19-36), God's Future Dealings with Man (lessons 37-52).
Amazon.com
The Significant Seven, September 2007: Make no mistake: A.J. Jacobs is not a religious man. He describes himself as Jewish "in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant." Yet his latest work, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, is an insightful and hilarious journey for readers of all faiths. Though no fatted calves were harmed in the making of this book, Jacobs chronicles 12 months living a remarkably strict Biblical life full of charity, chastity, and facial hair as impressive as anything found in The Lord of the Rings. Through it all, he manages to brilliantly keep things light, while avoiding the sinful eye of judgment. --Dave Callanan
Product Description
From the bestselling author of The Know-It-All comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible.
Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also to obey the hundreds of less publicized rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers; to play a ten-string harp; to stone adulterers.
The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes.
Jacobs's quest transforms his life even more radically than the year spent reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica for The Know-It-All. His beard grows so unruly that he is regularly mistaken for a member of ZZ Top. He immerses himself in prayer, tends sheep in the Israeli desert, battles idolatry, and tells the absolute truth in all situations - much to his wife's chagrin.
Throughout the book, Jacobs also embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally. He tours a Kentucky-based creationist museum and sings hymns with Pennsylvania Amish. He dances with Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn and does Scripture study with Jehovah's Witnesses. He discovers ancient biblical wisdom of startling relevance. And he wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the twenty-first-century brain.
Jacobs's extraordinary undertaking yields unexpected epiphanies and challenges. A book that will charm readers both secular and religious, The Year of Living Biblically is part Cliff Notes to the Bible, part memoir, and part look into worlds unimaginable. Thou shalt not be able to put it down.
Customer Reviews:
A great spiritual/religious memoir.......2007-10-10
What happens when the editor at large of Esquire magazine and New York Times best-selling author decides to live according to the Bible for a year? A. J. Jacobs, author of "The Know It All," shares with us his journey in his new book, "The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally As Possible," to be released in bookstores October 9th. This book is categorized as "Humor" but it could just as easily be categorized as a Spiritual/Religious Memoir. Jacobs, who self-identifies as an agnostic at the beginning of the book (while having Jewish roots), decides to devote a year of his life to following the Bible as literally as possible - he follows the Hebrew Scriptures for around 8 months, and then focuses on the New Testament for the remainder of his year.
Jacobs, Editor at Large for Esquire Magazine, husband and father of now three boys and resident of thoroughly secular NYC found that at times it was quite difficult to follow the Bible's commandments. What happens when you have to interview an off-the-charts gorgeous movie star? Or you're invited to a sexy fashion show? What happens when you decide to be painfully honest about everything you're thinking with your wife and her friends? Jacobs makes it very clear that if one decides to follow as many Biblical laws as possible, it will disrupt and uproot all areas of your life.
Many Christians, specifically those of the Evangelical brand, believe that one must first make mental assent to certain truths and dogmas, and that once they give their life to Jesus and accept him as their personal Lord and Savior - then their lives will change: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Cor 5.17). However, there are others that believe that behavior and practices may be able to come before beliefs.
Though this was probably not his initial reason for beginning the project, Jacobs sets out to experience religion in just such a way. An agnostic at the beginning, he gives regular spiritual updates about his progress. He prays, observes Sabbath, worships and follows as many Biblical rules as one probably could. I don't want to give away the end, but I think - and Jacobs would agree, I'm sure - that there is definitely a spiritual transformation that takes place in his life. Does he end up as an evangelical Christian or Orthodox Jew? No - but it does cause him to become much more mindful about his life, more rooted and connected with nature, with others, with his family and more tolerant and understanding about the variety of religious experiences available.
I can't recommend this book any more highly - it is hilarious and thought-provoking. Have you ever wondered how difficult it might be to not wear clothes that have mixed fibers? Or how awkward/dangerous it might be to try and stone someone in today's culture? Jacobs shares candidly about how all of these experiences change his outlook on life, interactions with others and his own spirituality.
Great reading!.......2007-10-09
Am reading this book now and I am almost finished. I can hardly put it down! Jacobs does a masterful job of deciphering the intricacies of the Old Testament. He makes sense of those laws that can seem nonsensical: Hmm, never thought of that way. Everyone should read this.
Warm hearted and winning.......2007-10-08
Very entertaining and insightful. It's interesting to see the laws and rules of the Bible laid out and see the attempts of someone to follow them today. A book to learn from.
Exceptional Writing.......2007-10-08
Mr. Jacobs' writing takes the reader on a fun, entertaining and enlightening journey and is a recommended read for all.
A.J. Almighty.......2007-10-08
I think A.J. Jacobs, after years behind the scenes at ESQUIRE, yearns to be regarded as a celebrity and has written this book as a way of pushing forth a "persona" for himself. In many ways, this tome is styled to be a movie or perhaps a sitcom. I just watched him on the TODAY show and he repeated some of the one liners verbatim, albeit it in a whiny, nasal tone that doesn't portend that being in front of the camera is his destiny. I hope he doesn't read the book on CD. Anyway, there are some decent laughs but not much insight. All in all, this feels like a gimmick more than a sincere exploration. The silly cover, depicting Jacobs' grandstanding by growing a beard and wearing flowing robes, should tell you something about this particular disciple's intentions: THOU SHALL TRY & PROMOTE THYSELF.
Books:
- In the Company of Crows and Ravens
- Into the Wilderness
- J.R.R. Tolkien Boxed Set (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings)
- JLA Vol. 7: Tower of Babel
- Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children
- Living Water: Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy
- Magic Item Compendium (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)
- Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog
- MY FORBIDDEN FACE: GROWING UP UNDER THE TALIBAN: A YOUNG WOMAN'S STORY
- Night Watch
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