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Defeat Into Victory
Published in Hardcover by D. McKay (1961)
List price:
Used price: $50.00
Average review score: 
Defeat into Victory
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-21
Review Date: 2007-11-21
A comprehensive story of a less well known battlefield of World War II. Some confusion over the repetition of numerical regiments,
but all-in-all good reading.
Honest, insightful, respectful
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-06-16
Review Date: 2005-06-16
Field Marshall Slim was ordered from Iraq to Burma to take command of the front in the upcoming Burma debacle. Under Wavell
first, and Auchinlek later, he retreated with the Commonwealth armies into India, and later on led the allied armies into
victory against the Japanese forces.
His writing is clear, concise, and he does not spare himself from criticism, Often after describing an order he gave, or wished he had given, he will go on to explain how his plan was a mistake, and how he should have done it instead. This is precious insight on the mind of the commander. In many first person war stories, we are told what happened, but not why, and when errors are committed, there is always a lot of blame sharing. Here it is different. Slim tells you what he did wrong, when, and why. This is refreshing.
He shows great respect for his enemy, and describes the enemy's gallant attacks and heroic defenses with respect and appreciation for the heroism of the Japanese soldier. He does not fail to condemm the Japanese war crimes.
He exhibits great wit in describing the different attitudes of the Indian, Sikh and Gurkha soldiers. In one instance, after a Japanese attack in Inphal, some Gurkhas had been ordered to bury the enemy bodies. One of these wasn't dead yet, so the Gurkha trooper gets ready to cut the enemy's head off with his Kukri knife; a British officer tells him "Don't kill him!", and the Gurkha answers "But sir, we can't bury him alive!" Episodes like this give a great sense of realism and "being there" to the whole story.
The best book I've read to date on the Burma front.
His writing is clear, concise, and he does not spare himself from criticism, Often after describing an order he gave, or wished he had given, he will go on to explain how his plan was a mistake, and how he should have done it instead. This is precious insight on the mind of the commander. In many first person war stories, we are told what happened, but not why, and when errors are committed, there is always a lot of blame sharing. Here it is different. Slim tells you what he did wrong, when, and why. This is refreshing.
He shows great respect for his enemy, and describes the enemy's gallant attacks and heroic defenses with respect and appreciation for the heroism of the Japanese soldier. He does not fail to condemm the Japanese war crimes.
He exhibits great wit in describing the different attitudes of the Indian, Sikh and Gurkha soldiers. In one instance, after a Japanese attack in Inphal, some Gurkhas had been ordered to bury the enemy bodies. One of these wasn't dead yet, so the Gurkha trooper gets ready to cut the enemy's head off with his Kukri knife; a British officer tells him "Don't kill him!", and the Gurkha answers "But sir, we can't bury him alive!" Episodes like this give a great sense of realism and "being there" to the whole story.
The best book I've read to date on the Burma front.
INSIGHTFUL MEMIOR FOR HISTORIANS AND FOR FUTURISTS
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-19
Review Date: 2006-04-19
I have always heard that Defeat into Victory - Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945 by William Slim was an excellent
book for military leaders and planners. Despite this, I was resistant to reading this book for several years. Field-Marshal
Slim, after all, was a failure. He failed to stop the Japanese advance in Burma and took a shockingly long time to retake
Burma.
After finally reading this book, I must admit I was wrong. This book is useful on at least four levels. First, it is a good read on a little known part of World War II. Even if one is knowledgeable about General Stilwell's experience in the China Burma India (CBI) Theater, this highly focused work will provides new and interesting insights on that theater of war. Second, Field-Marshal Slim was forced by circumstances to be very creative is his tactics, techniques, and procedures. It is useful to see how many of these ideas were adopted in modern militaries and how many still might have value. Third, Field-Marshal Slim has some very specific and interesting "lessons learned" spelled out in the last section of his book. Fourth, leadership as applied in combat, in a bizarre multi-cultural environment, and in the disease ridden tropics might be useful for both current military folks and those in business.
It was a surprise to learn about the relatively large number of troops involved in the Burma campaign. Like most Americans, my image is of a few aviation and engineering units and that the bulk of the fighting, to the extent there was any, was done by Chinese units and a handful of "special forces/commando" units. It was insightful to read about the difficulties in mixing the militaries of different nations. The British attempt, largely successful, at outsourcing the fighting to Indian and West African units was meaningful as well.
The use of helicopters and air mobile brigades was one of the many innovations that Field Marshal Slim implemented. The development of riverine forces was also interesting and potentially worth study since the U S Navy has decided to reintroduce such forces based on lessons learned from Iraq.
From page 535 - 551, Field Marshal Slim offers some specific lessons learned based on the Burma campaign. The only area where I think he is less than intellectually honest is his discussion on "Special Forces". Field Marshal Slim rejects the usefulness of special forces, but if one reviews his actual campaign, he seems to be inclined to argue the usefulness of small groups of elite forces that act as enablers of larger amounts of indigenous troops. Likewise, he is adamantly against commando and amphibious troops as "special". His argument is that all troops should be trained to do these types of things though perhaps not to the level that so called special forces are trained to.
Finally, Field Marshal Slim managed to survive in a complex and bizarre multinational environment. It seems as if the United States might be in such situations in the future. Indeed, NATO forces in Afghanistan and Multi-National Forces in Iraq are - while different in detail - much the same in terms of the diplomatic and relationship building that is required of senior military officers.
This is a solid book for a variety of reasons. I highly recommend it.
After finally reading this book, I must admit I was wrong. This book is useful on at least four levels. First, it is a good read on a little known part of World War II. Even if one is knowledgeable about General Stilwell's experience in the China Burma India (CBI) Theater, this highly focused work will provides new and interesting insights on that theater of war. Second, Field-Marshal Slim was forced by circumstances to be very creative is his tactics, techniques, and procedures. It is useful to see how many of these ideas were adopted in modern militaries and how many still might have value. Third, Field-Marshal Slim has some very specific and interesting "lessons learned" spelled out in the last section of his book. Fourth, leadership as applied in combat, in a bizarre multi-cultural environment, and in the disease ridden tropics might be useful for both current military folks and those in business.
It was a surprise to learn about the relatively large number of troops involved in the Burma campaign. Like most Americans, my image is of a few aviation and engineering units and that the bulk of the fighting, to the extent there was any, was done by Chinese units and a handful of "special forces/commando" units. It was insightful to read about the difficulties in mixing the militaries of different nations. The British attempt, largely successful, at outsourcing the fighting to Indian and West African units was meaningful as well.
The use of helicopters and air mobile brigades was one of the many innovations that Field Marshal Slim implemented. The development of riverine forces was also interesting and potentially worth study since the U S Navy has decided to reintroduce such forces based on lessons learned from Iraq.
From page 535 - 551, Field Marshal Slim offers some specific lessons learned based on the Burma campaign. The only area where I think he is less than intellectually honest is his discussion on "Special Forces". Field Marshal Slim rejects the usefulness of special forces, but if one reviews his actual campaign, he seems to be inclined to argue the usefulness of small groups of elite forces that act as enablers of larger amounts of indigenous troops. Likewise, he is adamantly against commando and amphibious troops as "special". His argument is that all troops should be trained to do these types of things though perhaps not to the level that so called special forces are trained to.
Finally, Field Marshal Slim managed to survive in a complex and bizarre multinational environment. It seems as if the United States might be in such situations in the future. Indeed, NATO forces in Afghanistan and Multi-National Forces in Iraq are - while different in detail - much the same in terms of the diplomatic and relationship building that is required of senior military officers.
This is a solid book for a variety of reasons. I highly recommend it.
A tribute to the common soldier by an uncommon general
Helpful Votes: 16 out of 17 total.
Review Date: 2005-04-24
Review Date: 2005-04-24
Field Marshall Slim, Viscount of Burma, never lets us forget that it is the soldiers in the field that win battles: not politicians
in their ivory towers, or generals in their bunkers far behind the action. Slim's theory is that politicians give guidelines
for the campaign, and generals provide the training and backup so that the soldiers can get on with their business. He should,
when possible, not get in the soldiers way.
This is a marvellous account of how the Commonwealth managed to stem the Japanese tide in South-East Asia. The main part of the book describes how he managed to restore morale and discipline in the army that was so humiliatingly defeated in 1943. That part should be compulsory reading at any management school. His solution was simple: he accepted that the defeat was due to faulty planning of the general staff. He then set out to provide training and equipment to the front-line troops. Since he commanded a multi-ethnic international army, he saw that every unit was supplied according to its own special needs. He even put his own staff on half-rations if any field unit lacked provisions - which usually quickly solved the problem!
As few generals and politicians he understood that war is about individuals and small units - they just add up to something bigger.
Slim could really write, the book is full of small anecdotes and self-ironic humour. When he writes about the actions it is af we were really there in the midst of it.
Finally, and most importantly: the book is totally devoid of any racism or demeaning of the enemy, it is incredibly respectful of his own native soldiers and of the Japanese enemy.
This is a marvellous account of how the Commonwealth managed to stem the Japanese tide in South-East Asia. The main part of the book describes how he managed to restore morale and discipline in the army that was so humiliatingly defeated in 1943. That part should be compulsory reading at any management school. His solution was simple: he accepted that the defeat was due to faulty planning of the general staff. He then set out to provide training and equipment to the front-line troops. Since he commanded a multi-ethnic international army, he saw that every unit was supplied according to its own special needs. He even put his own staff on half-rations if any field unit lacked provisions - which usually quickly solved the problem!
As few generals and politicians he understood that war is about individuals and small units - they just add up to something bigger.
Slim could really write, the book is full of small anecdotes and self-ironic humour. When he writes about the actions it is af we were really there in the midst of it.
Finally, and most importantly: the book is totally devoid of any racism or demeaning of the enemy, it is incredibly respectful of his own native soldiers and of the Japanese enemy.
Defeating the Japanese Army in Burma
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-10-08
Review Date: 2006-10-08
Field Marshal Slim's excellent memoire of the fighting against the Japanese in Burma and India during 1942-1945 is remarkable
on at least two counts. First, the Allied armies were badly beaten and hustled unceremoniously out of Burma in 1942, yet reorganized
in time to defend India and went on to liberate Burma in 1945. This feat was all the more remarkable for being fought over
some of the most rugged jungle and mountain terrain in the world, under often horrendous weather conditions, at the distant
end of the Allied supply lines. Second, Slim's account is exceptionally candid with respect to his leadership, to include
mistakes made (his and others), to his opinions of his allies and opponents, and to the political wrangling that goes on in
any coalition military effort.
The China-Burma-India Theater of World War II did not include large numbers of American ground forces, and has therefore been left largely in the shadows of the fighting in Europe and the Pacific theater. However, the Allied forces inflicted a massive military defeat on the Japanese Army under extraordinarily difficult conditions; there is much to learn from the common sense, improvisational approach employed by Slim in planning and organizing his campaigns.
Slim arrived in the theater as a brand new corps commander just at the start of the Japanese invasion. His efforts to cobble together a defense were repeatedly overturned by the relentless Japanese attack and by the scarcity of resources. Slim managed to extract his forces and in successive positions as corps and army commander, rebuilt them into the force that went back into Burma. Slim's account is comprehensive, even exhaustive, describing both the operational-level planning and administrative support and much of the tactical level fighting in the jungles. His high regard for his multi-national army, composed of British, Gurkha, Indian, Chinese, and American forces, and his care for their morale is evident throughout his account.
"Defeat Into Victory" is a long read at over 550 pages; the casual reader may be overwhelmed by the length and level of detail. The student of military art without prior background in the China-Burma-India theater may have some challenge putting Slim's account into proper context. The limited selection of maps are a bit difficult to read but enable the reader to follow the course of the campaigns.
This book is very highly recommended to the student of the military art looking for a very readable account of the Allied campaigns in Burma. Those who persist to the end will be rewarded by Slim's retrospective on the fighting in Burma and the surprisingly modern conclusions he draws from the experience.
The China-Burma-India Theater of World War II did not include large numbers of American ground forces, and has therefore been left largely in the shadows of the fighting in Europe and the Pacific theater. However, the Allied forces inflicted a massive military defeat on the Japanese Army under extraordinarily difficult conditions; there is much to learn from the common sense, improvisational approach employed by Slim in planning and organizing his campaigns.
Slim arrived in the theater as a brand new corps commander just at the start of the Japanese invasion. His efforts to cobble together a defense were repeatedly overturned by the relentless Japanese attack and by the scarcity of resources. Slim managed to extract his forces and in successive positions as corps and army commander, rebuilt them into the force that went back into Burma. Slim's account is comprehensive, even exhaustive, describing both the operational-level planning and administrative support and much of the tactical level fighting in the jungles. His high regard for his multi-national army, composed of British, Gurkha, Indian, Chinese, and American forces, and his care for their morale is evident throughout his account.
"Defeat Into Victory" is a long read at over 550 pages; the casual reader may be overwhelmed by the length and level of detail. The student of military art without prior background in the China-Burma-India theater may have some challenge putting Slim's account into proper context. The limited selection of maps are a bit difficult to read but enable the reader to follow the course of the campaigns.
This book is very highly recommended to the student of the military art looking for a very readable account of the Allied campaigns in Burma. Those who persist to the end will be rewarded by Slim's retrospective on the fighting in Burma and the surprisingly modern conclusions he draws from the experience.
Laramie Project
Published in Paperback by Dramatist's Play Service (2001-09)
List price: $7.50
New price: $2.00
Used price: $1.58
Used price: $1.58
Average review score:
"Go home, give your kids a hug, and don't let a day go by without telling them that you love them."
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-12-15
Review Date: 2008-12-15
About 10 years ago. Matthew Shepard was tortured and killed outside of Laramie, Wyoming. His killers, motivated by greed
and hate, tied him to a fence on the lonely prairie, beat him, stole his shoes and wallet, and left him to die.
Shepard was found by a bicyclist the next day, but died shortly after in a hospital. In announcing his death, his parents stated ""Go home, give your kids a hug, and don't let a day go by without telling them that you love them."
Four weeks after the death of Matthew Shepard, nine members of the Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and started collecting interviews with members of the community. They collected over 200 interviews in a 18 month period. The result? The Laramie Project, a powerful play on hate, tolerance, forgiveness, and religion.
This book is the screenplay. I've seen the play performed twice, once in Honolulu and once in Utah. Reading the screenplay wasn't as powerful as experiencing the performance, but it was powerful nonetheless. You are numbed as you "hear", in their own words, people point fingers, make accusations, and try to find meaning in this event.
"I did hear from Matthew about forty-eight hours before his attack. And he told me that he had joined the gay and lesbian group on campus, and that he said he was enjoying it, you know, he was getting ready for Pride Week and whatnot. I mean, he was totally stoked about school - yeah, he was really happy about being there" (p. 20).
"There is a proclamation that came out on the family. A family is defined as one woman and one man and children. That's a family. That's about as clear as you can state it. There's no sexual deviation in the Mormon Church. No - no leniency. We just think it's out-of-bounds" (p. 25).
"If you had a hundred customers like him it'd be the - the most perfect bar I've ever been in. Okay? And nothing to do with sexual orientation. Um, absolute mannerisms. Manners. Politeness, intelligence" (p. 29).
So now it is 2008, not 1998. What has changed? Could this type of crime still happen today? Would the community respond to this event in the same way?
This 112 page paperback is highly recommended.
Shepard was found by a bicyclist the next day, but died shortly after in a hospital. In announcing his death, his parents stated ""Go home, give your kids a hug, and don't let a day go by without telling them that you love them."
Four weeks after the death of Matthew Shepard, nine members of the Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and started collecting interviews with members of the community. They collected over 200 interviews in a 18 month period. The result? The Laramie Project, a powerful play on hate, tolerance, forgiveness, and religion.
This book is the screenplay. I've seen the play performed twice, once in Honolulu and once in Utah. Reading the screenplay wasn't as powerful as experiencing the performance, but it was powerful nonetheless. You are numbed as you "hear", in their own words, people point fingers, make accusations, and try to find meaning in this event.
"I did hear from Matthew about forty-eight hours before his attack. And he told me that he had joined the gay and lesbian group on campus, and that he said he was enjoying it, you know, he was getting ready for Pride Week and whatnot. I mean, he was totally stoked about school - yeah, he was really happy about being there" (p. 20).
"There is a proclamation that came out on the family. A family is defined as one woman and one man and children. That's a family. That's about as clear as you can state it. There's no sexual deviation in the Mormon Church. No - no leniency. We just think it's out-of-bounds" (p. 25).
"If you had a hundred customers like him it'd be the - the most perfect bar I've ever been in. Okay? And nothing to do with sexual orientation. Um, absolute mannerisms. Manners. Politeness, intelligence" (p. 29).
So now it is 2008, not 1998. What has changed? Could this type of crime still happen today? Would the community respond to this event in the same way?
This 112 page paperback is highly recommended.
And Still Nothing Is Changed
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-13
Review Date: 2008-11-13
I read this book and still have a hard time believing nothing has changed since this killing has taken place. If you say
you are not homophobic than read this book and you will find that we all are in one way or another. Maybe not as bad as those
involved in the killing but we are all a little. I believe this book and the DVD of the same name should be required reading
in all Middle and High Schools.
Worhty Read prior to the DVD
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-25
Review Date: 2008-10-25
I bought this to read prior to watching the DVD of the Laramie Project, to compare, and was glad I did. It carry's as much
if not more of the drama and weightiness of the subject matter, the killing of Matthew Shepard in 1998.
An easy and quick read, it helped me identify the characters later on the DVD, and though in stage format, doesn;t read like a novel. I finsihed it in one afternoon, and if this horrific incident still concerns you, this is a good way to understand how it affected so many in a sparsly populated "city" in a huge mostly unpopulated state.
Hate knows no boundaries, but how it affected Laramie, is well done with an unusual idea. It took great courage to do this project, and shouold be more widely read, if not required reading, for schools.
An easy and quick read, it helped me identify the characters later on the DVD, and though in stage format, doesn;t read like a novel. I finsihed it in one afternoon, and if this horrific incident still concerns you, this is a good way to understand how it affected so many in a sparsly populated "city" in a huge mostly unpopulated state.
Hate knows no boundaries, but how it affected Laramie, is well done with an unusual idea. It took great courage to do this project, and shouold be more widely read, if not required reading, for schools.
A Remarkable Theatrical Piece; A Powerful Statement
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-10
Review Date: 2007-11-10
Matthew Shepard was about two months short of his twenty-second birth when he was robbed, beaten, tied to a fence post and
left to die in a rural area of Wyoming. The man who found him at first thought he was a scarecrow. Rushed to Poudre Valley
Hospital at Fort Collins, he died on 12 October 1998--and when Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney were arrested for the
crime they resorted to a defense known as "gay panic." Matthew Shepherd had propositioned them, they said, and they were so
horrified that they killed him in response.
The gay community and numerous civil rights watchdog groups were outraged by the defense, and as more and more facts came to light it seemed that the crime was somewhat more complicated than Henderson and McKinney wanted the public to know. Witnesses stated that Henderson and McKinney had specifically targeted Shepherd because he was gay. After much legal wrangling, Henderson pled guilty and testified against McKinney, who was convicted; after still more legal wrangling, and at the request of Shepherd's parents, McKinney escaped the death penalty but has no chance of parole.
The case made headlines from end of the United States to the other and prompted numerous calls for Hate Crimes legislation, which had long been stalled both at the state and federal level. And in the midst of the confusion, chaos, and controversy, Moises Kaufman and the members of The Tectonic Theatre Project arrived on the scene, interviewing more than two hundred people about their thoughts and feelings on the case. These were shaped into THE LARAMIE PROJECT, a drama that debuted in 2000 and which has since shocked, impressed, and deeply moved audiences from coast to coast.
Playscripts are not really intended to be read; they are intended to be performed, and there can be a significant difference between how a script and how it plays. This is particularly true of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, which doesn't consist of scenes or acts but of "moments"--bits and pieces of monologue and dialogue and staging that non-play-readers will likely find difficult to envision. When performed, all those bits and pieces become like tiles in a mosaic: they may seem to mean different things individually, but when performed one right after another they become a unified whole.
Perhaps the single most impressive thing about THE LARAMIE PROJECT is its refusal to "take sides." The play presents its characters and their words with commenting in favor of them or against them; you are instead allowed to interpret for yourself. The result is uniquely powerful. Strongly recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
The gay community and numerous civil rights watchdog groups were outraged by the defense, and as more and more facts came to light it seemed that the crime was somewhat more complicated than Henderson and McKinney wanted the public to know. Witnesses stated that Henderson and McKinney had specifically targeted Shepherd because he was gay. After much legal wrangling, Henderson pled guilty and testified against McKinney, who was convicted; after still more legal wrangling, and at the request of Shepherd's parents, McKinney escaped the death penalty but has no chance of parole.
The case made headlines from end of the United States to the other and prompted numerous calls for Hate Crimes legislation, which had long been stalled both at the state and federal level. And in the midst of the confusion, chaos, and controversy, Moises Kaufman and the members of The Tectonic Theatre Project arrived on the scene, interviewing more than two hundred people about their thoughts and feelings on the case. These were shaped into THE LARAMIE PROJECT, a drama that debuted in 2000 and which has since shocked, impressed, and deeply moved audiences from coast to coast.
Playscripts are not really intended to be read; they are intended to be performed, and there can be a significant difference between how a script and how it plays. This is particularly true of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, which doesn't consist of scenes or acts but of "moments"--bits and pieces of monologue and dialogue and staging that non-play-readers will likely find difficult to envision. When performed, all those bits and pieces become like tiles in a mosaic: they may seem to mean different things individually, but when performed one right after another they become a unified whole.
Perhaps the single most impressive thing about THE LARAMIE PROJECT is its refusal to "take sides." The play presents its characters and their words with commenting in favor of them or against them; you are instead allowed to interpret for yourself. The result is uniquely powerful. Strongly recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Controversial?
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-30
Review Date: 2007-10-30
We purchased this play because my son's High School principal decided not to allow the theater teacher to put it on at his
school without even bothering to read the play before making this decision!!! Moreover, the principal essentially threatened
to fire the teacher if the issue was pursued. We wanted to share this play with as many people as possible after that incident
and so have been loaning it to friends, relatives, other teachers, anyone willing to read it. It is truly an important work,
putting a human face on the people of Laramie, Wyoming. What happened there could happen anywhere, and we not only can't,
but shouldn't, hide these difficult truths.
Early Christian Doctrines
Published in Hardcover by A & C Black Publishers Ltd (1977-10)
List price:
Used price: $47.87
Average review score:
The Must Read Standard on the Early Church
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-21
Review Date: 2008-09-21
JND Kelly does a splendid job of detailing the doctrinal development of the early church of the first five centuries. Particular
attention is given to Scripture, tradition, the trinity, the two natures in Christ, the rise of the episcopacy, the sacraments
and soteriology. Kelly is an Anglican, but does a wonderful job of describing early Christian thought in a way that is free
of partisan bias. Kelly is also an excellent writer. Also, his biography of Jerome is magnificent.
simply put ... a Classic ... in early Christianity studies
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-18
Review Date: 2008-05-18
INTRO
This is the magnus opus of J.N.D. Kelly, a Protestant who has done his research on the the beliefs, doctrines, practices and creeds of the early Christians (1st century until 8th century).
CONTENT:
This book has an easy to follow content and table of contents, is very easy to read, and the chapters are all in chronologically increasing order. This revised edition actually contains a NEW chapter - "Mary and the Saints" - which was actually the first chapter that I read. The content and exposition of early Christian's doctrines is very fair, balanced, yet erudite, not trying to lean towards any modern belief-system or pull any punches. The author writes very convincingly and with great prosaic skills.
CONCLUSION:
Eastern Orthodox, Evangelical Protestants, and Roman Catholics will find many fascinating and uplifting facts regarding the doctrines of the early Christians. Even tho the book would benefit from better paper and print quality, and a bible verses index, I hope that everyone reading this book will form or strengthen their collaboration in word and deed with Christians from other traditions/confessions/denominations.
This is the magnus opus of J.N.D. Kelly, a Protestant who has done his research on the the beliefs, doctrines, practices and creeds of the early Christians (1st century until 8th century).
CONTENT:
This book has an easy to follow content and table of contents, is very easy to read, and the chapters are all in chronologically increasing order. This revised edition actually contains a NEW chapter - "Mary and the Saints" - which was actually the first chapter that I read. The content and exposition of early Christian's doctrines is very fair, balanced, yet erudite, not trying to lean towards any modern belief-system or pull any punches. The author writes very convincingly and with great prosaic skills.
CONCLUSION:
Eastern Orthodox, Evangelical Protestants, and Roman Catholics will find many fascinating and uplifting facts regarding the doctrines of the early Christians. Even tho the book would benefit from better paper and print quality, and a bible verses index, I hope that everyone reading this book will form or strengthen their collaboration in word and deed with Christians from other traditions/confessions/denominations.
It is a classic
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-19
Review Date: 2007-03-19
I purchased this book because I was told by the most reliable scholars that is this is the classic must read! They were correct.
classic historical theology
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-17
Review Date: 2007-09-17
If this classic work on the formulation of basic Christian doctrines teaches its reader anything, it is that Christian men
and women once worried incessantly and carefully about matters that we moderns and post-moderns too quickly dismiss as quibbles.
One can consider this obsessive and even perverse, yet it stands in stark contrast to an approach to Christian theology that
is perhaps best described as careless.
A read through Kelly's more than five hundred pages of classic exposition of the processes that led to definitions of Christology, canonicity, Trinity, and the like is a warning shot across the bow of a generation that would be well served by worrying just a bit more about things that matter very deeply.
Kelly's survey comprises four 'parts'. Part I: Prolegomena surveys the trends and material witnesses that formed the basis of Christian deliberation in the first five centuries. Part II: The Pre-Nicene Theology names that Council (325 A.D.) as a watershed, probing deeply into the incipient doctrines that would be crystallized and canonized by subsquent colloquys. Part III: From Nicea To Chalcedon follows the afterwinds of Nicea through to one of the essential Councils. Part IV: Epilogue projects into Chalcedon's future the lines of thought that were developing at the time and picks up a few miscellanies.
Because Kelly's work (see also his Early Christian Creeds stands as a reference point for historical theologians, a deeper survey of his eighteen chapters is in order. The author's first chapter sets forth an apology for his choice of doctrinal development from the close of the first century through to the middle of the first ('The Background', pp. 3-28). On the one hand, it makes sense to begin outside the parameters of the New Testament. On the other, the creative surge of the first five centuries gave way to 'formalism and scholasticism in the sixth.' Kelly's heuristic rubric utilizes a vertical and a horizontal dividing line. The vertical distinguishes the different temperaments of East and West. The horizontal recognizes a concrete passage with the reconciliation of Church and State under Constantine, a development of which Nicea is the emblem. When Kelly surveys the matrix of the post-apostolic era in terms of Judaism, religious trends in the Roman Empire, Graeco-Roman philosophy, Neo-Platonism, and gnosticism, one becomes aware how ahead of his time the author stood in 1960. His perception of a highly traditional Judaism clothed in the language of Hellenism but with a Palestinian soul and his delineation of gnosticism as a habit of thought rather than an organized religion would only later come to represent scholarly consensus.
Chapter II ('Tradition and Scripture', pp. 29-51) examines the interrelationship of scripture and tradition at a time when there was no fixed canonical 'New Testament'. Kelly judiciously treats the combination of oral and written apostolic material that must have oriented the nascent church and the problems forced upon the community by the gnostic utilization of scripture for ends that were not aligned with apostolic teaching. 'The Bible as interpreted by the Church' that became the Christian norm, an affirmation and confidence that would require considerable qualification in due course.
When these scriptures eventually crystallize into a 'New Testament', Kelly judges the composite to have included the deuterocanonical books on the theory of an 'elastic' Hellenistic attitude towards the sacred writings (Chapter III, 'The Holy Scriptures, pp. 52-79). Irenaeus is the first to have used the term 'New Testament' and to lay the uniquely Christian scriptures as equal in authority alongside the Hebrew canon, now by implication called the 'Old Testament'. Sectarian tendencies often led to and/or were generated by a disdainful attitude towards the latter, an historical datum that ought to weigh heavily on the conscience of Christians today. Kelly is particularly helpful when he addresses the Christian hermeneutic that found in the Christ event a fulfillment of scriptural anticipation and even promise. Here he brings to the discussion the differing Alexandrine (alt., Alexandrian) and Antiochene temperaments that were to exist in tension and even contradiction most notably, more than ever in the context of christological controversy.
Kelly initiates his survey of Pre-Nicene theology (Part II of the book) with a chapter on 'The Divine Triad' (pp. 83-108). The word 'triad' is presumably chosen in order not to prejudice the slow and tortuous process that ended in the choice of 'trinitarian' language. The author rightly recognizes that the early conversation's monotheistic assumption was a legacy of the Bible and Judaism rather than philosophy. The secondary nature of the philosophers is evidenced in, say, Justin's conviction that Plato and subsequent Greek thinkers had access to Moses. Yet this visceral monotheism was complicated by Christian conviction, for as Kelly writes: 'Before considering formal writers, the reader should notice how deeply the conception of a plurality of divine Persons was imprinted on the apostolic tradition and the popular faith.' How to reconcile both convictions? Kelly presents the apostolic fathers as witnesses to the tradition rather than interpreters of it. The beginnings of an 'angelic christology' are present in Hermas.
Such conceptual innocence ended with the apologists, who began to develop a language for 'describing eternal distinctions within the Deity'. Yet this new attention to the nuances of plurality do not compromise their fundamental conviction: '(the) Logos was one in essence with the Father, inseparable in HIs fundamental being from Him as much after His Generation as prior to it.' Monotheism was not in doubt, though it's expression in the light of the Christ event and New Testament reflection on it was to require considerable time to reach its mature form. Shades of what would become known as 'economic Trinitarianism' were visible in Irenaeus' writing, though not to the detriment of this pre-Nicene giant's ability to recognize 'the mysterious three-in-oneness of the inner life of the Godhead'.
By the time his gaze falls upon the third century, Kelly is prepared to employ the word 'Trinitarianism' (chapter V, 'Third-Century Trinitarianism', pp. 109-137). This is as it should be, for attention now fixes with regularity upon the distinctions within the Godhead that urge new vocabulary and sophistication if they are to be adequately described. From North Africa, Tertullian framed the question in terms of two diametrically opposed approaches, the first asking about the Three-in-One in his eternal existence, the second inquiring into his self-revelation in creation and redemption. A purely analytical approach would have severed the tendons of monotheistic conviction, but Tertullian of course was alive to that danger and too wedded to the biblical materials to fall victim to it. Tertullian was prepared to designate the Son a persona and to use the term trinitas to describe the Godhead. To speak of distinction between the personae was to discern a distinctio or dispositio but emphatically not a separatio.
Outside of what history would judge to be orthodox, dynamic and modalistic monarchianism was to seek to preserve the deity's unity by ascribing the appearance of plurality to presentation and appearance alone. He is distinct, according to this view, in his operations but not in his existence. Meanwhile, Clement and Origen in the East were temperamentally more inclined to focus on the distinctions than the unity of the triadic God. The three persons were each a 'distinct hypostasis from all eternity, not just ... in the economy'. Clearly this view militates against modalistic tendencies. Kelly lingers over the persistently subordinationist tendencies in Origen's synthesis, a legacy that was to prove both fruitful and complicated.
Chapter VI, 'The Beginnings of Christology', begins with the observation that the primitive confession 'Jesus is Lord' contained the recognition that Jesus Christ was divine as well as human, an affirmation that by its very nature would require the unpacking of its complex implications (pp. 138-162). Christology proceeds along the lines of the 'double premiss of apostolic Christianity, viz. that Christ as a Person was indivisibly one, and tht He was simultaneously fully divine and fully human ... (T)he task of theology (was) to show how its two aspects could be held together in synthesis.' Unilateral solutions to the christological conundrum were not lacking: Ebionism denied the divinity of Christ altogether. Adoptionism, too, considered Jesus to be merely a man. On the other extreme, Docetism (and its cousin, Gnosticism) denied the humanity of Jesus Christ, placing all its christological eggs in the basket of his divinity. The latter attempted to preserve the notion of divine impassibility by rendering the human aspect of the Christ a mere appearance.
One of the considerable achievements of this chapter is that Kelly reminds us how close Gnosticism came to winning the day. 'Orthodoxy' conquered in the end by holding fast to the reality of Jesus' two natures according to the primitive apostolic confession, even when the ambiguities inherent in this stance must have seemed inconvenient and troubling. Tertullian was the first theologian seriously to address the relationship that must exist between the two natures, divine and human. He laid down the important premise that both nature must have remained unchanged. As the chapter title suggests, these searchings represent but the beginnings of Christology. Yet they establish the logical parameters and habits of mind that were to endure into the mature phase of the discussion.
Kelly introduces soteriology as that topic about which 'no final and universally accepted definition of the manner of its achievement has been formulated to this day', a rather startling observation in a book that tends to treat creedal consences reached in the first five chapters with something akin to reverence (chapter vii, 'Man and his Redemption', pp. 163-188). By the time of the Apologists, the relationship of Adam and his sin (as the second Adam and his righteousness, Pauline language all of it) to the rest of the human race has become the soteriological locus of attention. Irenaeus--building upon and moving beyond the work of Justin--changed everything by offering a theory of 'recapitulation' that sought to bring the biblical materials into a coherent soteriological system that did more than simply choose a preferred biblical vocabulary of salvation and ignore the rest. Origin saw humanity being offered a 'new start' in the second exemplary Adam of the biblical drama. The theologians Kelly canvas largely emphasized the example of Jesus, mankind's mystical union with the Christ, or even a species of penal substitution without reaching the kind of detailed synthesis that was to become the gift of the Councils when other areas of theology came under their treatment.
When he comes to the topic of ecclesiology, Kelly notes the poles of particularity and universality that came early to the communal instincts of the Christian movement, together with the emergence in second century between a catholic church that maintained the apostolic faith over against multiple heterodoxies, which did not (chapter VIII, 'The Christian Community', pp. 189-220). Fairly early in its life the Church was forced to declare its mind with regard to the orthodox 'sacraments' and the effect of these (or not) that ensued upon their enactment by non-orthodox parties.
Eventually, Christian reflection upon Christ's deity passed the Nicean watershed and attention became focused on new concerns. The road from Nicea to Chalcedon entailed intricate consideration of the two natures of Christ. The 'Christological controversy', it turns out, was not to end in Nicean harmony. Part III of Kelly's work takes up this next stage of Christology in the making.
The Nicene Crisis was set off by Arius' reduction of Christ's status to that of a demigod, in keeping with his insistence that the Father alone is the eternal God in the fullest sense of the phrase (chapter IX, 'The Nicene Crisis', pp. 223-251). Arianism was condemned at Nicea in 325 in an enduring creed that establishes Christ's co-equality and co-eternity with the Father. Talk of Jesus as a creature would henceforth be considered heresy. Yet the creed's statement hardly specifies the manner in which its Christ can be fully human. In terms of Christology, Nicea represents a penultimate consensus. It is worthwhile to linger over Kelly's treatment of Athanasius, the young Egyptian who represents the 'moderate' position of the Nicene party. Athanasius was able to maintain in tension the deity and humanity of Christ in a way that foreshadows the Chalcedonian achievement. Kelly notes the 'battle royal' that the extant literature portrays with regard to the conflict of Sabellians and Arians. Orthodoxy, in the person of Athanasius and the company of the Nicene party, was to steer a course between such extremes and such articulate extremists. Passion, one might surmise, is not enough to generate orthodox belief.
Chapter XI ('Fourth-Century Christology', pp. 280-309) is the book's pivotal chapter. This is so in part because of the critical christological analysis that came to the fore in that century and in part because Kelly's survey of the 'Word-Flesh' (associated with Alexandria) and 'Word-Man' (associated with Antioch) christologies is masterful in its clarity. Nicea did not only settle problems. It created new ones by the brevity of its claims regarding the Son's deity. Critically, Appollinarianism forced the Church to reckon with the two natures of Christ--human and divine--and to struggle in the direction of articulating their relationship. Even so moderate and intuitively acute moderate Alexandrian as Athanasius was unable finally to provide a satisfying description of 'the structure of the Godhead'. Kelly is surely correct to observe that it would fall to the Antiochenes to bring dogma into vital contact with the historical Jesus. They found 'the Alexandrian truncation of Christ's humanity unacceptable and set about developing the vocabulary that would serve the Chalcedonian project of accounting for Christ's two natures. Though Nestorianism lingered over the horizon, Kelly achieves a sympathetic reading of some fathers who would eventually be derided as 'Nestorians before Nestorius' because of their concrete convictions regarding Christ's humanity. This is surely accurate historiography. This chapter augments the reader's comprehension of how orthodoxy was increasingly becoming the ability to hold in tension the christological paradox without caving in the urge to allow the Son's deity or, conversely, his humanity to practically erase the reality of the other.
Between the years 428 and 451, there occurs what Kelly calls 'the decisive period for Christology, viz. the short span between the outbreak of the Nestorian controversy in 428 and the council of Chalcedon in 451' (chapter XII, 'The Christological Settlement', pp. 310-343). In preparing his reader to understand the collision between the 'Word-Flesh' and 'Word-Man' christologies that shaped the anteroom to Chalcedon, the author alerts him to the prevalence of personalities and politics in what would be mistakenly apprehended as a merely abstract and conceptual controversy. Indeed it turns out that Nestorius himself might not have been a 'Nestorian', though it was convenient for his adversaries to concur with the notion that he subscribed to a view of Christ's two natures as essentially distinct and ununited. If this quintessentially Antiochene figure was willfully misunderstood as dividing the two natures, so was Cyril--his erstwhile Alexandrian opponent--somewhat recklessly said to have united the two natures in a way that denied Christ's humanity.
Curiously, the controversy was in part fueled not by a discrete attempt to define the relationship of Christ's 'two natures', but rather by the question of how Christians should refer to Mary. Cyril, the Alexandrian, preferred theotokos ('God-bearing') while the Antiochenes preferred anthropotokos ('man-bearing') or at most christotokos ('Christ-bearing'). Nestorius suspected that theotokos denied Christ real humanity. Cyril saw in Nestorius' preference for anthropotokos a virtual adoptionism via the denial of Christ's real deity.
It is worthwhile to hear Kelly's own appraisal of Cyril's strength, one that emerges from his focus on the 'structure of the Godhead' not in terms of the need to explain the two natures but rather by an almost chronological scheme that attempted to explain the Son's status before and after the incarnation:
Cyril thus envisaged the Incarnate as the divine Word living one earth as very man. Here lay the strength of his position from the religious and soteriological standpoints; the Jesus of history was God Himself in human flesh, living and dying and rising again for men. Understood in this light, his horror of Nestorius's rejection of Theotokos is comprehensible.
Kelly tells us that it was when Cyril came to accept that it was possible to make a distinction between the two natures that did not imply a separation, the Alexandrian bishop found it possible to accomodate a settlement with the moderate Antiochenes, yet not before becoming rather lavish with the anathemas he pronounced upon his eventual partners-in-compromise.
Personalities and politics also shaped the lay of the land subsequent to the Chalcedonian Definition. Dyophysites (on the extreme 'Antiochene' side) and Monophysites (on the 'Alexandrian')--quotes now seem appropriate in the wake of the Definition--continued to denounce the work of Chalcedon. It would fall to future councils to reassert the substance of the Definition with allegedly increased clarity.
Christian faith necessarily stewards and negotiates reflexes with regard to human nature and the human condition that are profoundly optimistic, on the one hand, and deeply pessimistic on the other. It was the fourth and fifth centuries when this paradox came to the fore in Christian thinking (chapter XIII, 'Fallen Man and God's Grace', pp. 344-374). The dominance of the Bible's creation narratives and the Pauline wrestling with the relationship of Adam and his sin to humanity in general supplied the prevalent motifs.
In the West, Ambrose, Ambrosiaster, and Augustine worked towards a theory of original sin that presumed the race's moral solidarity. Mankind was at least contaminated and possibly even culpable in Adam's sin. Augustine's view of the human race as a 'lump of sin' incapable of helping itself without assertive divine interference ran counter to Pelagius' uber-optimistic conviction that human 'free will' could not be obstructed in any real way and was indeed the pivot upon which a person's destiny hinged. Augustine's logic leads inexorably in the direction of a doctrine of predestination, since human intervention is the sine qua non of any redemptive outcome. Augustine, notoriously for both supporters and detractors, followed that logic to its end, arguing that God elected certain individual from eternity past to know the benefits of faith and redemption, passing over other less fortunate souls who nonetheless have no claim upon their Creator for having overlooked them in his salvific movements.
Pelagianism was, in the end, condemned. The evidence suggests that Augustinianism enjoyed a fate somewhat less than universal approbation. On balance, its penetration of the divine and human wills worked more faithfully with the biblical materials than its rather humanistic alternative, though sectors of the church remained and remain reticent about pushing its logic further than the biblical materials themselves appear to warrant. All orthodox positions underscore that salvation is a 'gift', though different sectors parse the implications of this affirmation in diverse fashion.
At the beginning of his chapter on soteriology, Kelly warns his reader that it was not until the twelfth century that the effective of Christ's redemption would receive anything near the definition that the christological controversies demanded of the church's first five centuries (chapter XIV, 'Christ's Saving Work', pp. 375-400). Instead one finds apparently unrelated theories that Kelly argues can and should be viewed as complementary. The notion of recapitulation--presented by the apostle Paul and developed by Irenaeus--is in Kelly's approach the thread that unites the evident disparity. In discussing physical, mystical, and realistic theories of redemption, the author is particularly attentive to how 'ransom' notions work themselves out in terms of who pays the price, who receives the price, and how exactly the liberation of the ransomed is made effective. Augustine steps for the bearer of a mind capable of uniting the diverse forms of conversation about redemption into the closest thing to a unified theory of redemption that the church of the first millennium would produce.
In all of this struggling to know its mind, the Church had necessarily to establish its own identity. Who merited full inclusion in the great conversation, and on what basis? To whom was full fellowship to be extended and from whom withheld? Though the answers to these questions were for some time held to be implicit, they would be articulated with relationship with the Constantinopolitan Creed in terms of four adjectives: 'one', 'holy', 'Catholic', and 'apostolic' (chapter XV, 'Christ's Mystical Body', pp. 401-421). Because these terms are as much theological as sociological, the proper relationship of the human assembly known as the church--in all its far-flung corners--to Christ himself would come in for intense discussion. This reviewer finds Kelly to be a particularly useful guide with regard to Rome's emergence to preeminence, a prerogative whose merits were not always and entirely clear to all parties.
In chapter XVI ('The Later Doctrine of the Sacraments', pp. 422-455), Kelly portrays the church wrestling with the role of the priest, of the medium, and of the believing recipient in the gradually emerging collection of sacraments. True to form, Kelly wisely indicates the role of the restoration (or not) of Christians who had lapsed under persecution in driving forward the definition of the sacraments, by what criteria they can be assumed to function, and upon whom they should be conferred.
Somewhat unexpectedly, the author's 'Part Four'--entitled 'Epilogue'--contains just two chapters, one on 'The Christian Hope' (chapter XVII, pp. 439-489) and the other on 'Mary and the Saints' (chapter XVIII, pp. 490-499). Several turns of phrase in these two chapters encourage the view that these subjects fall into an 'epilogue' as much because the author was able to come to them only lately as because they are afterthoughts in the development of early Christian dogma.
In his consideration of eschatology, Kelly surveys the twin elements of the apostolic teaching that forever consign Christian thought to managing the tension between the once-and-for-all 'nowness' of a new kingdom, on the one hand, and the expectation of a spectacular consummation at the end of ordinary time, as another. Along other lines, the early church struggled with the nature of resurrection. Was it chiefly a corporate experience or, rather, did it represent the endpoint of individual human existence and its entrance or even release into the world to come? Is the nature of the resurrected body identical with that of what we know in this world's experience or, alternatively, is resurrection metaphorical of the eternality of the soul or is the human body as we know it susceptible to a transformation that requires continuity with present experience in the light of an intensified or glorified extension of it?
Does prophetic and apostolic expectation merge with the famous twentieth chapter of John's revelation in a way that constructs a chiliastic or millenarian hope, or is this vision rather to be construed as a picturesque representation of the church's experience in this age.
Finally, is the blessing of the life to come representative of a perfect contemplation of God or will we yet see through a glass darkly, even if (much) less darkly?
From the perspective of this reviewer, none of these considerations ought from either a historical or a theological viewpoint be consigned to marginal status, and so it is advisable to read this chapter of Kelley's work without undue attention to its label.
Finally, the author takes account of the natural preoccupation of the early church with honoring the mother of its Lord. Defining the nature and duration of her virginity may seem a colossally unfathomable preoccupation to moderns but was arguably a natural sidebar to the reverential instinct. Signs of a cult of Mary are evident, if just, by the third century. Yet the orthodox Church's respect for the person some would both describe and address as theotokos was restrained by the gospel's own witness to her need for correction by her beloved son.
It is difficult to assess a work like this in a few words. One attempt to do so finds recourse to the word 'classic' to characterize the enduring power of Kelly's synopsis of a body of material that easily overwhelms a lesser student. This reviewer has no hesitation in doing so.
Early Christian Doctrines is perhaps the finest such synopsis to see the light in the last century. That it is read still by historians and theology students is testament not to some preternatural ability to anticipate academic development since its first publication, but rather to a uniquely masterful statement of what we knew not so long ago that somehow still stands as an adequate point of departure a half century hence.
A read through Kelly's more than five hundred pages of classic exposition of the processes that led to definitions of Christology, canonicity, Trinity, and the like is a warning shot across the bow of a generation that would be well served by worrying just a bit more about things that matter very deeply.
Kelly's survey comprises four 'parts'. Part I: Prolegomena surveys the trends and material witnesses that formed the basis of Christian deliberation in the first five centuries. Part II: The Pre-Nicene Theology names that Council (325 A.D.) as a watershed, probing deeply into the incipient doctrines that would be crystallized and canonized by subsquent colloquys. Part III: From Nicea To Chalcedon follows the afterwinds of Nicea through to one of the essential Councils. Part IV: Epilogue projects into Chalcedon's future the lines of thought that were developing at the time and picks up a few miscellanies.
Because Kelly's work (see also his Early Christian Creeds stands as a reference point for historical theologians, a deeper survey of his eighteen chapters is in order. The author's first chapter sets forth an apology for his choice of doctrinal development from the close of the first century through to the middle of the first ('The Background', pp. 3-28). On the one hand, it makes sense to begin outside the parameters of the New Testament. On the other, the creative surge of the first five centuries gave way to 'formalism and scholasticism in the sixth.' Kelly's heuristic rubric utilizes a vertical and a horizontal dividing line. The vertical distinguishes the different temperaments of East and West. The horizontal recognizes a concrete passage with the reconciliation of Church and State under Constantine, a development of which Nicea is the emblem. When Kelly surveys the matrix of the post-apostolic era in terms of Judaism, religious trends in the Roman Empire, Graeco-Roman philosophy, Neo-Platonism, and gnosticism, one becomes aware how ahead of his time the author stood in 1960. His perception of a highly traditional Judaism clothed in the language of Hellenism but with a Palestinian soul and his delineation of gnosticism as a habit of thought rather than an organized religion would only later come to represent scholarly consensus.
Chapter II ('Tradition and Scripture', pp. 29-51) examines the interrelationship of scripture and tradition at a time when there was no fixed canonical 'New Testament'. Kelly judiciously treats the combination of oral and written apostolic material that must have oriented the nascent church and the problems forced upon the community by the gnostic utilization of scripture for ends that were not aligned with apostolic teaching. 'The Bible as interpreted by the Church' that became the Christian norm, an affirmation and confidence that would require considerable qualification in due course.
When these scriptures eventually crystallize into a 'New Testament', Kelly judges the composite to have included the deuterocanonical books on the theory of an 'elastic' Hellenistic attitude towards the sacred writings (Chapter III, 'The Holy Scriptures, pp. 52-79). Irenaeus is the first to have used the term 'New Testament' and to lay the uniquely Christian scriptures as equal in authority alongside the Hebrew canon, now by implication called the 'Old Testament'. Sectarian tendencies often led to and/or were generated by a disdainful attitude towards the latter, an historical datum that ought to weigh heavily on the conscience of Christians today. Kelly is particularly helpful when he addresses the Christian hermeneutic that found in the Christ event a fulfillment of scriptural anticipation and even promise. Here he brings to the discussion the differing Alexandrine (alt., Alexandrian) and Antiochene temperaments that were to exist in tension and even contradiction most notably, more than ever in the context of christological controversy.
Kelly initiates his survey of Pre-Nicene theology (Part II of the book) with a chapter on 'The Divine Triad' (pp. 83-108). The word 'triad' is presumably chosen in order not to prejudice the slow and tortuous process that ended in the choice of 'trinitarian' language. The author rightly recognizes that the early conversation's monotheistic assumption was a legacy of the Bible and Judaism rather than philosophy. The secondary nature of the philosophers is evidenced in, say, Justin's conviction that Plato and subsequent Greek thinkers had access to Moses. Yet this visceral monotheism was complicated by Christian conviction, for as Kelly writes: 'Before considering formal writers, the reader should notice how deeply the conception of a plurality of divine Persons was imprinted on the apostolic tradition and the popular faith.' How to reconcile both convictions? Kelly presents the apostolic fathers as witnesses to the tradition rather than interpreters of it. The beginnings of an 'angelic christology' are present in Hermas.
Such conceptual innocence ended with the apologists, who began to develop a language for 'describing eternal distinctions within the Deity'. Yet this new attention to the nuances of plurality do not compromise their fundamental conviction: '(the) Logos was one in essence with the Father, inseparable in HIs fundamental being from Him as much after His Generation as prior to it.' Monotheism was not in doubt, though it's expression in the light of the Christ event and New Testament reflection on it was to require considerable time to reach its mature form. Shades of what would become known as 'economic Trinitarianism' were visible in Irenaeus' writing, though not to the detriment of this pre-Nicene giant's ability to recognize 'the mysterious three-in-oneness of the inner life of the Godhead'.
By the time his gaze falls upon the third century, Kelly is prepared to employ the word 'Trinitarianism' (chapter V, 'Third-Century Trinitarianism', pp. 109-137). This is as it should be, for attention now fixes with regularity upon the distinctions within the Godhead that urge new vocabulary and sophistication if they are to be adequately described. From North Africa, Tertullian framed the question in terms of two diametrically opposed approaches, the first asking about the Three-in-One in his eternal existence, the second inquiring into his self-revelation in creation and redemption. A purely analytical approach would have severed the tendons of monotheistic conviction, but Tertullian of course was alive to that danger and too wedded to the biblical materials to fall victim to it. Tertullian was prepared to designate the Son a persona and to use the term trinitas to describe the Godhead. To speak of distinction between the personae was to discern a distinctio or dispositio but emphatically not a separatio.
Outside of what history would judge to be orthodox, dynamic and modalistic monarchianism was to seek to preserve the deity's unity by ascribing the appearance of plurality to presentation and appearance alone. He is distinct, according to this view, in his operations but not in his existence. Meanwhile, Clement and Origen in the East were temperamentally more inclined to focus on the distinctions than the unity of the triadic God. The three persons were each a 'distinct hypostasis from all eternity, not just ... in the economy'. Clearly this view militates against modalistic tendencies. Kelly lingers over the persistently subordinationist tendencies in Origen's synthesis, a legacy that was to prove both fruitful and complicated.
Chapter VI, 'The Beginnings of Christology', begins with the observation that the primitive confession 'Jesus is Lord' contained the recognition that Jesus Christ was divine as well as human, an affirmation that by its very nature would require the unpacking of its complex implications (pp. 138-162). Christology proceeds along the lines of the 'double premiss of apostolic Christianity, viz. that Christ as a Person was indivisibly one, and tht He was simultaneously fully divine and fully human ... (T)he task of theology (was) to show how its two aspects could be held together in synthesis.' Unilateral solutions to the christological conundrum were not lacking: Ebionism denied the divinity of Christ altogether. Adoptionism, too, considered Jesus to be merely a man. On the other extreme, Docetism (and its cousin, Gnosticism) denied the humanity of Jesus Christ, placing all its christological eggs in the basket of his divinity. The latter attempted to preserve the notion of divine impassibility by rendering the human aspect of the Christ a mere appearance.
One of the considerable achievements of this chapter is that Kelly reminds us how close Gnosticism came to winning the day. 'Orthodoxy' conquered in the end by holding fast to the reality of Jesus' two natures according to the primitive apostolic confession, even when the ambiguities inherent in this stance must have seemed inconvenient and troubling. Tertullian was the first theologian seriously to address the relationship that must exist between the two natures, divine and human. He laid down the important premise that both nature must have remained unchanged. As the chapter title suggests, these searchings represent but the beginnings of Christology. Yet they establish the logical parameters and habits of mind that were to endure into the mature phase of the discussion.
Kelly introduces soteriology as that topic about which 'no final and universally accepted definition of the manner of its achievement has been formulated to this day', a rather startling observation in a book that tends to treat creedal consences reached in the first five chapters with something akin to reverence (chapter vii, 'Man and his Redemption', pp. 163-188). By the time of the Apologists, the relationship of Adam and his sin (as the second Adam and his righteousness, Pauline language all of it) to the rest of the human race has become the soteriological locus of attention. Irenaeus--building upon and moving beyond the work of Justin--changed everything by offering a theory of 'recapitulation' that sought to bring the biblical materials into a coherent soteriological system that did more than simply choose a preferred biblical vocabulary of salvation and ignore the rest. Origin saw humanity being offered a 'new start' in the second exemplary Adam of the biblical drama. The theologians Kelly canvas largely emphasized the example of Jesus, mankind's mystical union with the Christ, or even a species of penal substitution without reaching the kind of detailed synthesis that was to become the gift of the Councils when other areas of theology came under their treatment.
When he comes to the topic of ecclesiology, Kelly notes the poles of particularity and universality that came early to the communal instincts of the Christian movement, together with the emergence in second century between a catholic church that maintained the apostolic faith over against multiple heterodoxies, which did not (chapter VIII, 'The Christian Community', pp. 189-220). Fairly early in its life the Church was forced to declare its mind with regard to the orthodox 'sacraments' and the effect of these (or not) that ensued upon their enactment by non-orthodox parties.
Eventually, Christian reflection upon Christ's deity passed the Nicean watershed and attention became focused on new concerns. The road from Nicea to Chalcedon entailed intricate consideration of the two natures of Christ. The 'Christological controversy', it turns out, was not to end in Nicean harmony. Part III of Kelly's work takes up this next stage of Christology in the making.
The Nicene Crisis was set off by Arius' reduction of Christ's status to that of a demigod, in keeping with his insistence that the Father alone is the eternal God in the fullest sense of the phrase (chapter IX, 'The Nicene Crisis', pp. 223-251). Arianism was condemned at Nicea in 325 in an enduring creed that establishes Christ's co-equality and co-eternity with the Father. Talk of Jesus as a creature would henceforth be considered heresy. Yet the creed's statement hardly specifies the manner in which its Christ can be fully human. In terms of Christology, Nicea represents a penultimate consensus. It is worthwhile to linger over Kelly's treatment of Athanasius, the young Egyptian who represents the 'moderate' position of the Nicene party. Athanasius was able to maintain in tension the deity and humanity of Christ in a way that foreshadows the Chalcedonian achievement. Kelly notes the 'battle royal' that the extant literature portrays with regard to the conflict of Sabellians and Arians. Orthodoxy, in the person of Athanasius and the company of the Nicene party, was to steer a course between such extremes and such articulate extremists. Passion, one might surmise, is not enough to generate orthodox belief.
Chapter XI ('Fourth-Century Christology', pp. 280-309) is the book's pivotal chapter. This is so in part because of the critical christological analysis that came to the fore in that century and in part because Kelly's survey of the 'Word-Flesh' (associated with Alexandria) and 'Word-Man' (associated with Antioch) christologies is masterful in its clarity. Nicea did not only settle problems. It created new ones by the brevity of its claims regarding the Son's deity. Critically, Appollinarianism forced the Church to reckon with the two natures of Christ--human and divine--and to struggle in the direction of articulating their relationship. Even so moderate and intuitively acute moderate Alexandrian as Athanasius was unable finally to provide a satisfying description of 'the structure of the Godhead'. Kelly is surely correct to observe that it would fall to the Antiochenes to bring dogma into vital contact with the historical Jesus. They found 'the Alexandrian truncation of Christ's humanity unacceptable and set about developing the vocabulary that would serve the Chalcedonian project of accounting for Christ's two natures. Though Nestorianism lingered over the horizon, Kelly achieves a sympathetic reading of some fathers who would eventually be derided as 'Nestorians before Nestorius' because of their concrete convictions regarding Christ's humanity. This is surely accurate historiography. This chapter augments the reader's comprehension of how orthodoxy was increasingly becoming the ability to hold in tension the christological paradox without caving in the urge to allow the Son's deity or, conversely, his humanity to practically erase the reality of the other.
Between the years 428 and 451, there occurs what Kelly calls 'the decisive period for Christology, viz. the short span between the outbreak of the Nestorian controversy in 428 and the council of Chalcedon in 451' (chapter XII, 'The Christological Settlement', pp. 310-343). In preparing his reader to understand the collision between the 'Word-Flesh' and 'Word-Man' christologies that shaped the anteroom to Chalcedon, the author alerts him to the prevalence of personalities and politics in what would be mistakenly apprehended as a merely abstract and conceptual controversy. Indeed it turns out that Nestorius himself might not have been a 'Nestorian', though it was convenient for his adversaries to concur with the notion that he subscribed to a view of Christ's two natures as essentially distinct and ununited. If this quintessentially Antiochene figure was willfully misunderstood as dividing the two natures, so was Cyril--his erstwhile Alexandrian opponent--somewhat recklessly said to have united the two natures in a way that denied Christ's humanity.
Curiously, the controversy was in part fueled not by a discrete attempt to define the relationship of Christ's 'two natures', but rather by the question of how Christians should refer to Mary. Cyril, the Alexandrian, preferred theotokos ('God-bearing') while the Antiochenes preferred anthropotokos ('man-bearing') or at most christotokos ('Christ-bearing'). Nestorius suspected that theotokos denied Christ real humanity. Cyril saw in Nestorius' preference for anthropotokos a virtual adoptionism via the denial of Christ's real deity.
It is worthwhile to hear Kelly's own appraisal of Cyril's strength, one that emerges from his focus on the 'structure of the Godhead' not in terms of the need to explain the two natures but rather by an almost chronological scheme that attempted to explain the Son's status before and after the incarnation:
Cyril thus envisaged the Incarnate as the divine Word living one earth as very man. Here lay the strength of his position from the religious and soteriological standpoints; the Jesus of history was God Himself in human flesh, living and dying and rising again for men. Understood in this light, his horror of Nestorius's rejection of Theotokos is comprehensible.
Kelly tells us that it was when Cyril came to accept that it was possible to make a distinction between the two natures that did not imply a separation, the Alexandrian bishop found it possible to accomodate a settlement with the moderate Antiochenes, yet not before becoming rather lavish with the anathemas he pronounced upon his eventual partners-in-compromise.
Personalities and politics also shaped the lay of the land subsequent to the Chalcedonian Definition. Dyophysites (on the extreme 'Antiochene' side) and Monophysites (on the 'Alexandrian')--quotes now seem appropriate in the wake of the Definition--continued to denounce the work of Chalcedon. It would fall to future councils to reassert the substance of the Definition with allegedly increased clarity.
Christian faith necessarily stewards and negotiates reflexes with regard to human nature and the human condition that are profoundly optimistic, on the one hand, and deeply pessimistic on the other. It was the fourth and fifth centuries when this paradox came to the fore in Christian thinking (chapter XIII, 'Fallen Man and God's Grace', pp. 344-374). The dominance of the Bible's creation narratives and the Pauline wrestling with the relationship of Adam and his sin to humanity in general supplied the prevalent motifs.
In the West, Ambrose, Ambrosiaster, and Augustine worked towards a theory of original sin that presumed the race's moral solidarity. Mankind was at least contaminated and possibly even culpable in Adam's sin. Augustine's view of the human race as a 'lump of sin' incapable of helping itself without assertive divine interference ran counter to Pelagius' uber-optimistic conviction that human 'free will' could not be obstructed in any real way and was indeed the pivot upon which a person's destiny hinged. Augustine's logic leads inexorably in the direction of a doctrine of predestination, since human intervention is the sine qua non of any redemptive outcome. Augustine, notoriously for both supporters and detractors, followed that logic to its end, arguing that God elected certain individual from eternity past to know the benefits of faith and redemption, passing over other less fortunate souls who nonetheless have no claim upon their Creator for having overlooked them in his salvific movements.
Pelagianism was, in the end, condemned. The evidence suggests that Augustinianism enjoyed a fate somewhat less than universal approbation. On balance, its penetration of the divine and human wills worked more faithfully with the biblical materials than its rather humanistic alternative, though sectors of the church remained and remain reticent about pushing its logic further than the biblical materials themselves appear to warrant. All orthodox positions underscore that salvation is a 'gift', though different sectors parse the implications of this affirmation in diverse fashion.
At the beginning of his chapter on soteriology, Kelly warns his reader that it was not until the twelfth century that the effective of Christ's redemption would receive anything near the definition that the christological controversies demanded of the church's first five centuries (chapter XIV, 'Christ's Saving Work', pp. 375-400). Instead one finds apparently unrelated theories that Kelly argues can and should be viewed as complementary. The notion of recapitulation--presented by the apostle Paul and developed by Irenaeus--is in Kelly's approach the thread that unites the evident disparity. In discussing physical, mystical, and realistic theories of redemption, the author is particularly attentive to how 'ransom' notions work themselves out in terms of who pays the price, who receives the price, and how exactly the liberation of the ransomed is made effective. Augustine steps for the bearer of a mind capable of uniting the diverse forms of conversation about redemption into the closest thing to a unified theory of redemption that the church of the first millennium would produce.
In all of this struggling to know its mind, the Church had necessarily to establish its own identity. Who merited full inclusion in the great conversation, and on what basis? To whom was full fellowship to be extended and from whom withheld? Though the answers to these questions were for some time held to be implicit, they would be articulated with relationship with the Constantinopolitan Creed in terms of four adjectives: 'one', 'holy', 'Catholic', and 'apostolic' (chapter XV, 'Christ's Mystical Body', pp. 401-421). Because these terms are as much theological as sociological, the proper relationship of the human assembly known as the church--in all its far-flung corners--to Christ himself would come in for intense discussion. This reviewer finds Kelly to be a particularly useful guide with regard to Rome's emergence to preeminence, a prerogative whose merits were not always and entirely clear to all parties.
In chapter XVI ('The Later Doctrine of the Sacraments', pp. 422-455), Kelly portrays the church wrestling with the role of the priest, of the medium, and of the believing recipient in the gradually emerging collection of sacraments. True to form, Kelly wisely indicates the role of the restoration (or not) of Christians who had lapsed under persecution in driving forward the definition of the sacraments, by what criteria they can be assumed to function, and upon whom they should be conferred.
Somewhat unexpectedly, the author's 'Part Four'--entitled 'Epilogue'--contains just two chapters, one on 'The Christian Hope' (chapter XVII, pp. 439-489) and the other on 'Mary and the Saints' (chapter XVIII, pp. 490-499). Several turns of phrase in these two chapters encourage the view that these subjects fall into an 'epilogue' as much because the author was able to come to them only lately as because they are afterthoughts in the development of early Christian dogma.
In his consideration of eschatology, Kelly surveys the twin elements of the apostolic teaching that forever consign Christian thought to managing the tension between the once-and-for-all 'nowness' of a new kingdom, on the one hand, and the expectation of a spectacular consummation at the end of ordinary time, as another. Along other lines, the early church struggled with the nature of resurrection. Was it chiefly a corporate experience or, rather, did it represent the endpoint of individual human existence and its entrance or even release into the world to come? Is the nature of the resurrected body identical with that of what we know in this world's experience or, alternatively, is resurrection metaphorical of the eternality of the soul or is the human body as we know it susceptible to a transformation that requires continuity with present experience in the light of an intensified or glorified extension of it?
Does prophetic and apostolic expectation merge with the famous twentieth chapter of John's revelation in a way that constructs a chiliastic or millenarian hope, or is this vision rather to be construed as a picturesque representation of the church's experience in this age.
Finally, is the blessing of the life to come representative of a perfect contemplation of God or will we yet see through a glass darkly, even if (much) less darkly?
From the perspective of this reviewer, none of these considerations ought from either a historical or a theological viewpoint be consigned to marginal status, and so it is advisable to read this chapter of Kelley's work without undue attention to its label.
Finally, the author takes account of the natural preoccupation of the early church with honoring the mother of its Lord. Defining the nature and duration of her virginity may seem a colossally unfathomable preoccupation to moderns but was arguably a natural sidebar to the reverential instinct. Signs of a cult of Mary are evident, if just, by the third century. Yet the orthodox Church's respect for the person some would both describe and address as theotokos was restrained by the gospel's own witness to her need for correction by her beloved son.
It is difficult to assess a work like this in a few words. One attempt to do so finds recourse to the word 'classic' to characterize the enduring power of Kelly's synopsis of a body of material that easily overwhelms a lesser student. This reviewer has no hesitation in doing so.
Early Christian Doctrines is perhaps the finest such synopsis to see the light in the last century. That it is read still by historians and theology students is testament not to some preternatural ability to anticipate academic development since its first publication, but rather to a uniquely masterful statement of what we knew not so long ago that somehow still stands as an adequate point of departure a half century hence.
Great Book, Terrible Edition
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-09
Review Date: 2007-06-09
Kelly's treatment of the first few centuries is an outstanding work and a rightfully a standard in the field but THIS PRINTING
IS TRASHY (hence 4 stars rather than 5). The paper is of ultra low grade quality and the binding is pretty crummy also.
You are much better off buying the more recent printing by Prince Press.
In Search of Lost Time, Vol. II: Within a Budding Grove (Modern Library Classics) (v. 2)
Published in Paperback by Modern Library (1998-11-03)
List price: $16.00
New price: $8.91
Used price: $4.75
Used price: $4.75
Average review score:
Philosophy as narrative
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-12
Review Date: 2008-07-12
Volume two of Le Proust's great work is a sensual delight. Part One (of Vol.2), by and large, is more about Swann's family
and, of course, the agonizing and philosophizing in regard to "getting over" Miss Gilberte. There is much less about the
narrator's family which ran the course throughout SWANN'S WAY. Stylistically, BUDDING GROVE is an absolute wonder. We are
once again treated to the narrator's philosophies on life's ups and downs (how's that for a summation?). Once he gets to
the fictitious seaside town of Balbec, the book surges--taking on the proverbial "life of its own". The reader is in the hotel
room with him...and on the beach...and on the boardwalk, etc. It was a joy to see how Proust/Moncrieff would occasionally
work in "street talk" with the mainstay of aureate and lyrical prose: a woman in Balbec is described as having "yellow hair
and six inches of paint on her face and a carriage which reeked of harlot a mile away..." Delicious. Priceless.
Perception and cognition
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-12
Review Date: 2006-09-12
I cannot imagine trying to read Proust's Everest of a novel until I've had enough life experience to be able to identify with
his insights. How on earth was a man who died young and was confined to a bed for so many years able to learn so much about
life and common human experience, emotion and perception? I don't know how, but I thank God that he was.
For modern readers, Proust is definitely an acquired taste that rewards patience. I never thought reading the works of one author would make those of others seem so much easier to read. But such is the case with Proust. Nevertheless, one shouldn't regard his writing as therapy or medicine; it may read like self help at times, with its frequent use of the first-person plural, but it is a story first of all. His writing is just more detailed and insightful than that of all but a handful of modern novelists.
Within a Budding Grove is a primer on patience and perception, one that will probably make you a better reader, perhaps a better writer, and certainly a more interesting human being. Struggle on patiently. You will get used to the labyrinthine sentences, paragraphs that run on for pages, and gargantuan chapters (if they can be called that) that don't really begin or end anywhere tidy. Eventually, you will likely come to enjoy it.
My only criticism: at times one does get annoyed by the slow pacing. For instance, I knew that this is the volume that introduces the reader to Albertine. But it did take about 600 pages for the narrator to meet her! That said, there are plenty of tasty morsels along the way. Read it, not so much for the simple story or the minutely detailed descriptions, but for the numerous insights and the astounding wisdom.
For modern readers, Proust is definitely an acquired taste that rewards patience. I never thought reading the works of one author would make those of others seem so much easier to read. But such is the case with Proust. Nevertheless, one shouldn't regard his writing as therapy or medicine; it may read like self help at times, with its frequent use of the first-person plural, but it is a story first of all. His writing is just more detailed and insightful than that of all but a handful of modern novelists.
Within a Budding Grove is a primer on patience and perception, one that will probably make you a better reader, perhaps a better writer, and certainly a more interesting human being. Struggle on patiently. You will get used to the labyrinthine sentences, paragraphs that run on for pages, and gargantuan chapters (if they can be called that) that don't really begin or end anywhere tidy. Eventually, you will likely come to enjoy it.
My only criticism: at times one does get annoyed by the slow pacing. For instance, I knew that this is the volume that introduces the reader to Albertine. But it did take about 600 pages for the narrator to meet her! That said, there are plenty of tasty morsels along the way. Read it, not so much for the simple story or the minutely detailed descriptions, but for the numerous insights and the astounding wisdom.
In Search of Lost Time Volume II Within a Budding Grove (Modern Library Classics)
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-04
Review Date: 2006-03-04
Montcrief's translation, is the quintisential Proust. The, beautiful, florid prose is reminiscent of a time and a place that
no longer exists, and captures the French aristocracy in the advent of WWI -- full of old-world trappings, yet abounding with
subtle reminders of the globalization that was to follow. Proust's style and vision are directed admirably towards his artistic
goal of appreciating art through sublimation, and express his idea that a true understanding of art comes first through appreciation,
and then expression through a medium. This volume is full of Proust's own philosiphies on art, life and the people who abound
in both. His observations, pointed and amusing, keep this volume relevant. Considering the wave of expatriate and existentialist
writers who propogated Paris after the Great War, this book is truly the last in a line of works that view life in a grand,
sweeping and elegant manner. Within a Budding Grove brought Proust fame and acclaim in his own time, and in ours can be seen
as a masterpiece reflecting a time past, yet glimsping assiduously into the future. For those "in search of lost time" this
is truly a great read.
beautiful
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-21
Review Date: 2005-12-21
How can anyone summarize even a single volume of Proust's massive six volume novel? Within a Budding Grove (sometimes translated
as In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower) is the second installment of In Search of Last Time. We find the narrator perhaps
marginally older on vacation with his grandmother living in a luxurious hotel in Balbec off the coast. This volume, paired
with the first (Swann's Way), is really the introduction to the work entire if you can believe it. In it, the narrator perhaps
matures slightly; he cultivates his keen awareness of art, meets new people, and ultimately falls out of love with Gilberte
and falls in love with Albertine. His relationship with his grandmother is certainly expanded, and the reader comes to learn
that the narrator is not merely motivated by a trivial pursuit of pleasure and bourgeois charm. He is in fact, a truly full
human being, complete with fear, love, desire, and ambition. He meets one of my favorite characters in the whole book, the
impressionist painter Elstir, a character clearly based Monet, Manet, Pissaro, and others. He introduces the narrator to Albertine
through his paintings, and teaches him about the joys of life and art. There are some passages in this section of the book
(the latter half) which I just can't resist from quoting,
"I could never have believed that I should now be dreaming of a sea which was no more than a whitish vapour that had lost both consistency and colour. But of such a sea Elstir, like the people who sat musing on board those vessels drowsy with the heat, had felt so intensely the enchantment that he had succeeded in transcribing, in fixing for all time upon his canvas, the imperceptible ebb of the tide, the throb of one happy moment; and at the sight of this magic portrait, one could think of nothing else than to range the wide world, seeking to recapture the vanished day in its instantaneous, slumbering beauty" (pg. 657).
also (how French is this?),
"For a convalescent who rests all day long in the flower-garden or an orchard, a scent of flowers or fruit does not more completely pervade the thousand trifles that compose his idle hours than did for me that colour, that fragrance in search of which my eyes kept straying towards the girls, and the sweetness of which finally became incorporated in me. So it is that grapes sweeten in the sun. And by their slow continuity these simple little games had gradually wrought in me also, as in those who do nothing else all day but lie outstretched by the sea, breathing the salt air and sunning themselves, a relaxation, a blissful smile, a vague dazzlement that had spread from brain to eyes" (pg. 669).
I certainly cannot add any insights into the greatness and profundity of this work which has not already been said by Edmund Wilson or Vladimir Nabokov. Within a Budding Grove is a deeply felt, beautiful and fleeting segment of one of the finest novels of the last century, I urge you to read it.
"I could never have believed that I should now be dreaming of a sea which was no more than a whitish vapour that had lost both consistency and colour. But of such a sea Elstir, like the people who sat musing on board those vessels drowsy with the heat, had felt so intensely the enchantment that he had succeeded in transcribing, in fixing for all time upon his canvas, the imperceptible ebb of the tide, the throb of one happy moment; and at the sight of this magic portrait, one could think of nothing else than to range the wide world, seeking to recapture the vanished day in its instantaneous, slumbering beauty" (pg. 657).
also (how French is this?),
"For a convalescent who rests all day long in the flower-garden or an orchard, a scent of flowers or fruit does not more completely pervade the thousand trifles that compose his idle hours than did for me that colour, that fragrance in search of which my eyes kept straying towards the girls, and the sweetness of which finally became incorporated in me. So it is that grapes sweeten in the sun. And by their slow continuity these simple little games had gradually wrought in me also, as in those who do nothing else all day but lie outstretched by the sea, breathing the salt air and sunning themselves, a relaxation, a blissful smile, a vague dazzlement that had spread from brain to eyes" (pg. 669).
I certainly cannot add any insights into the greatness and profundity of this work which has not already been said by Edmund Wilson or Vladimir Nabokov. Within a Budding Grove is a deeply felt, beautiful and fleeting segment of one of the finest novels of the last century, I urge you to read it.
PROUST: NEED ONE SAY MORE?
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-28
Review Date: 2005-08-28
.
This is a great copy of Vol. 2 of A la recherche du temps perdu [In Search of Lost Time].
Each volume in the septrology may be read individually as an independent novel.
This is, of course, the very best translation available in English; probably the very best that will ever be available in English: certainly the next best thing to reading the original French.
NOTE: Proust is not quick reading, and one who tries to read him too quickly will just as quickly lose the tread of the narrative.
This text has its own time scale, and the reader must adjust his/herself to the text--not the other way around.
In this stream of consciousness narrative, the narrator (/author) digresses as he speaks (/thinks): he digresses, digresses, digresses; and then, he returns, returns, returns to the point where he began. One has to follow his line of thought: this is the art and beauty of the text.
Proust's achievement is one of the greatest edifices of Western art, perhaps comparable only to Wagner's Ring cycle.
.
This is a great copy of Vol. 2 of A la recherche du temps perdu [In Search of Lost Time].
Each volume in the septrology may be read individually as an independent novel.
This is, of course, the very best translation available in English; probably the very best that will ever be available in English: certainly the next best thing to reading the original French.
NOTE: Proust is not quick reading, and one who tries to read him too quickly will just as quickly lose the tread of the narrative.
This text has its own time scale, and the reader must adjust his/herself to the text--not the other way around.
In this stream of consciousness narrative, the narrator (/author) digresses as he speaks (/thinks): he digresses, digresses, digresses; and then, he returns, returns, returns to the point where he began. One has to follow his line of thought: this is the art and beauty of the text.
Proust's achievement is one of the greatest edifices of Western art, perhaps comparable only to Wagner's Ring cycle.
.
Manic-Depressive Illness
Published in Hardcover by Oxford University Press, USA (1990-01-15)
List price: $84.00
New price: $30.00
Used price: $6.99
Used price: $6.99
Average review score:
THE authoritative work on the subject
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2009-01-06
Review Date: 2009-01-06
The second edition of this classic will provide more than any psychiatrist needs to know about Manic-
Depressive illness.
Depressive illness.
The Bipolar Bible.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-06
Review Date: 2008-09-06
This book is more important than the DSM and the ICD when it comes to Bipolar. It's mostly for professionals who have to deal
with diagnosis and need to understand the illness. The writting style is overly accademic and cumbersome however it is the
most useful and informative book around by a long shot. At around 1200 pages long, this is not a cover to cover quick read
unless you have several months with nothing else to do.
Content of Textbook
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-31
Review Date: 2008-03-31
This book is very thorough and gives an in depth look into the most recent research surrounding manic depressive disorder
and depression. Starting with the history surrounding mental illness, moving along to diagnosis, prognosis, course of the
illness', physiological, biochemical and anatomical changes that occur along with up to date research in it's genetic component,
this book gives great insight into mood disorders.
A Must-Read for Patients
Helpful Votes: 17 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-11
Review Date: 2007-05-11
This month's long-awaited second edition recently hit the streets, and is well worth the wait. At more than 1,200 pages and
with an impressive list of collaborators shedding light on all manner of matters melancholic and manic, the book represents
a virtual Manhattan Project on mood disorders.
With our recovery riding on being as smart, if not smarter, than our treating professionals, it pays for patients to read what their clinicians are reading, especially a work of this magnitude. Don't let clinician-speak intimidate you. The authors went to great lengths to organize their subject matter into a meaningful and comprehensive whole, with clear transitions from one topic to the next. A few pages into the text, and one quickly becomes habituated to the polysyllables. Then it's clear sailing.
At $99, sales resistance is understandable. My two cents: You cannot afford NOT to have this book. Each day you struggle with this illness costs you money, already. The cost-benefit is a no-brainer. Stop paying your cable bill, if you have to, and make what could prove to be the best investment of your life.
With our recovery riding on being as smart, if not smarter, than our treating professionals, it pays for patients to read what their clinicians are reading, especially a work of this magnitude. Don't let clinician-speak intimidate you. The authors went to great lengths to organize their subject matter into a meaningful and comprehensive whole, with clear transitions from one topic to the next. A few pages into the text, and one quickly becomes habituated to the polysyllables. Then it's clear sailing.
At $99, sales resistance is understandable. My two cents: You cannot afford NOT to have this book. Each day you struggle with this illness costs you money, already. The cost-benefit is a no-brainer. Stop paying your cable bill, if you have to, and make what could prove to be the best investment of your life.
Complete, comprehensive reading for bipolar disorder
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-30
Review Date: 2007-07-30
Although a huge book along with a hefty price tag, this is probably the most up to date information on bipolar disorder (manic
depression) available today. It offers a wealth of information that is usable to the clinician as well as the patient. In
fact, I think this should be required reading for any clinician who deal with people with this condition.
I strongly urge the purchase of this book esp. for the consumer as self knowledge will be such an asset when communicating with your doctor. This book covers most everything from the most basic to the most complex information to date on this vexing condition. Though I am constantly searching the internet for the most up to date information on bipolar disease, I find the authors of this book to be the leading authorities presently.
I strongly urge the purchase of this book esp. for the consumer as self knowledge will be such an asset when communicating with your doctor. This book covers most everything from the most basic to the most complex information to date on this vexing condition. Though I am constantly searching the internet for the most up to date information on bipolar disease, I find the authors of this book to be the leading authorities presently.
Milk, Money, and Madness: The Culture and Politics of Breastfeeding
Published in Hardcover by Bergin & Garvey Trade (1995-11-30)
List price: $36.95
New price: $29.56
Used price: $17.00
Used price: $17.00
Average review score:
a must-read for everyone
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-15
Review Date: 2007-11-15
This book is invaluable in increasing awareness and education about breastfeeding. It also exposes the negative social and
financial implications our country suffers from not placing the needs of parents and families first. I really appreciate that
its underlying focus is on the family. This book incredibly informative on a variety of issues all directly related to breastfeeding
and the consequent emotional and psychological health of not only the baby, but the mother and entire family as well.
Should be Required Reading
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-04
Review Date: 2007-04-04
I was raised in a "breastfeeding family" but this book still was amazing. It should be required reading for college students
in business ethics courses. Students majoring in health education, nutrition, family sciences, and women's issues, all should
read this during their coursework.
The statistics and studies cited, and information contained, are invaluable in understanding how we came to be a formula-feeding society. And they are the nuggets of how we can reverse that situation. Inform yourself! And you'll begin to be able to inform others, too [given opportunities]. I'm amazed how many people don't recognize the duplicity of formula companies in their product marketing, here and in the Developing World.
The statistics and studies cited, and information contained, are invaluable in understanding how we came to be a formula-feeding society. And they are the nuggets of how we can reverse that situation. Inform yourself! And you'll begin to be able to inform others, too [given opportunities]. I'm amazed how many people don't recognize the duplicity of formula companies in their product marketing, here and in the Developing World.
A MUST READ
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-05
Review Date: 2007-02-05
I can go over all the reason why to read this book, but it's easier to say you have to read it! If you have come across this
book, you must be interested in breastfeeding, this book won't tell you how to do it, but it will tell you why and give you
a much greater feeling of how to promote it to others!
I'm shocked that a book like this can be around, it's sad that there is enough anti-breastfeeding companies etc. to warrent the book.
I'm shocked that a book like this can be around, it's sad that there is enough anti-breastfeeding companies etc. to warrent the book.
It strengthened the Lactivist in me!
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-04
Review Date: 2006-01-04
This book should be on every mother-to-be's MUST READ list. It goes into great detail about breastfeeding in other cultures,
how the medical establishement derails a mothers efforts before she can even get started, and the overly agressive marketing
tactics of the formula manufactures.
There are heartbreaking tales of the number of babies who were killed by artifical feeding.
I cannot reccomend this book enough! Read it before you have children, it will make you see formula (and the Nestle corporation) in a whole new light.
There are heartbreaking tales of the number of babies who were killed by artifical feeding.
I cannot reccomend this book enough! Read it before you have children, it will make you see formula (and the Nestle corporation) in a whole new light.
I wish this book were out of date and irrelevant!
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-23
Review Date: 2006-03-23
This definitive history of formula, pharmaceutical companies and infant death is highly readable, despite its depressing topic.
While it would be comforting to think that formula fed babies only die at a higher rate than breastfed in places without access
to clean water that just ain't so -- never has been, never will be, and the companies which make formula know that. Which
is why the code of advertising (which formula -- which is to say, pharmaceutical -- companies continue to violate) adopted
in the early years of the boycott applies around the world, including in the U.S.
Along the way, Baumslag and Michels include some really amusing sidelights like the invention of the stroller by a New York man, and its adoption by Queen Victoria. One tiny snit: they're anti-swaddling, considering it a barbaric, backward practice that only occurs in backward, barbaric places and should be stamped out.
Along the way, Baumslag and Michels include some really amusing sidelights like the invention of the stroller by a New York man, and its adoption by Queen Victoria. One tiny snit: they're anti-swaddling, considering it a barbaric, backward practice that only occurs in backward, barbaric places and should be stamped out.
Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944
Published in Kindle Edition by Stackpole Books (2004-02-29)
List price: $21.95
New price: $9.99
Average review score:
A Great Historical Resource
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-14
Review Date: 2006-12-14
Joseph Balkoski's book on Omaha Beach is a great historical resource like his book Utah Beach. Omaha Beach tells the story
of when largely untested American troops assaulted the German army's Atlantic wall. This is a great read covering the events
of the day almost minute by minute. It reads like a great documentary. This is not written in the format of a memoir. Balkoski
relies mainly on primary sources such as after action reports, unit journals, and citations to create his blow by blow narrative.
He includes the invasion's diplomatic and strategic context. Omaha Beach is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing
the Normandy landings firsthand.
Sprinkled throughout the battle account are the accounts of those in the battle. It is a classic. It is a must for any D-day library. It also included comprehensive lists of all Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross winners at Omaha Beach. It has: the Order of Battle, unit casualty list for the first twenty-four hours, unit organization of a 30man assault boat unit weapons, and equipment carried in the assault by a typical soldier, and a series of detailed maps allowing the reader unparalleled insight into the minute-by-minute combat on Omaha Beach.
Sprinkled throughout the battle account are the accounts of those in the battle. It is a classic. It is a must for any D-day library. It also included comprehensive lists of all Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross winners at Omaha Beach. It has: the Order of Battle, unit casualty list for the first twenty-four hours, unit organization of a 30man assault boat unit weapons, and equipment carried in the assault by a typical soldier, and a series of detailed maps allowing the reader unparalleled insight into the minute-by-minute combat on Omaha Beach.
Best ever Omaha Beach book!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-03
Review Date: 2006-12-03
I decided at first to write a long review of this book, but upon reading the other reviews here I trimmed my review to simply
this...
I own and run a battlefield touring company in Normandy and have read many many books on the fighting on Omaha Beach on D-Day. There is no better book than this one, that's it it's absolutely the definitive book on the subject. The author has lived overlooking the beach, he's from Maryland - home of the 29th division and he has studied the units involved for thirty years. This book will never be bettered. I cannot sing its praises loudly enough.
I own and run a battlefield touring company in Normandy and have read many many books on the fighting on Omaha Beach on D-Day. There is no better book than this one, that's it it's absolutely the definitive book on the subject. The author has lived overlooking the beach, he's from Maryland - home of the 29th division and he has studied the units involved for thirty years. This book will never be bettered. I cannot sing its praises loudly enough.
Understanding Omaha
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-05
Review Date: 2007-04-05
I read the book several years ago, just prior to visiting the Normandy Beaches. Bought it to have my own copy and read it
again. The book's great strength (drawback for some readers, maybe) is its huge volume of detail. It is thoroughly researched;
written with clarity; tells the story fully. The human side of this Day In History is also illustrated in meaningful detail;
descriptions of unbelievable heroism are numerous; only three Medals of Honor were awarded;many DSCs. Issue: General Cota
should have received the Medal of Honor; saved many lives; inspired leadership. A really fine and exciting book.
A Great Book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-03
Review Date: 2007-04-03
I am not going to go on at length since there are already some well written reviews here. I just wanted to add my vote that
this is a great book. I think it is the finest book on Omaha written, including Ryan's and Ambrose's. I also recommend Bernage's
work for the graphics and photos.
A Great Description of Omaha Beach That Takes You There
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-26
Review Date: 2007-03-26
This is a great "you are there" description of D-Day on Omaha Beach in Normandy. Joseph Balkoski has done an excellent job
of presenting the official and personnel accounts of people who were there that longest day of the war. The descriptions
by the veterans take you into the landing craft, onto the beach, and up and over the bluffs that overlooked the beach. His
telling of the story dispels the usual belief that the soldiers were stuck on the beach all day and only got off the beach
near the end of the day as depicted in the movie "The Longest Day".
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a real detailed story focused on this one beach of the D-Day invasion. I would really recommend it to someone who is a wargamer such as myself since reading the stories makes me want to recreate these small firefights as well as the overall battle. I am sure there are many people who feel that way.
Balkoski's style of telling history is very well done and he has done an excellent job of bringing the materials together so that others can follow in the footsteps of the brave men of that day.
I can't want to read Utah Beach!
Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing And Airborne Operations On D-Day, June 6, 1944
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a real detailed story focused on this one beach of the D-Day invasion. I would really recommend it to someone who is a wargamer such as myself since reading the stories makes me want to recreate these small firefights as well as the overall battle. I am sure there are many people who feel that way.
Balkoski's style of telling history is very well done and he has done an excellent job of bringing the materials together so that others can follow in the footsteps of the brave men of that day.
I can't want to read Utah Beach!
Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing And Airborne Operations On D-Day, June 6, 1944
Rocks from Space: Meteorites and Meteorite Hunters
Published in Hardcover by Mountain Press Publishing Company (2001-06-01)
List price: $55.00
Used price: $140.00
Average review score:
Rocks from space.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-07
Review Date: 2007-11-07
Great book. Lots of historical data, great photos! Very informative. I have several other meteorite reference pieces and this
is one of the best. mike.
VERY ENTERTAINING BOOK ON METEORITES!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-11
Review Date: 2007-01-11
Norton is a rare author who combines detailed knowledge of a subject with very entertaining stories. Once I started reading
some of the chapters I just could not put it down. On the other hand, it also includes chapters which are technical (and
sometimes beyond my understanding in some cases)! It therefore has something for everyone from beginner to advanced, collector
or even a noncollector simply interested in the subject. This is a great introduction and very well written. It was not the
first book on metorites I read, but should have been!
Rocks from Space
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-24
Review Date: 2006-08-24
very informative and well written. a good book to have on the subject.
Rocks from Space, an overview.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-08
Review Date: 2007-02-08
Excellent book, especially for the beginning/intermediate meteorite collecter. Written in easy-to-understand English, yet
technical when it needs to be. Very comprehensive on the subject, and well illustrated with photographs and drawings.
Excellent Book.
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-22
Review Date: 2007-04-22
I purchased the book "Rocks From Space (Second Edition)" about seven years ago. My main interest in space is in the field
of planetary geology and I have a need to be reasonably conversant with the subscience of meteoritics. The "Rocks From Space"
book was recommended by several colleagues, and I also noted that it had received good reviews.
In general, I find "popular" books directed to the interests of amateurs to be shallow and even corny. "Rocks From Space" is an exception. This book is outstanding. It provides a concise but excellent introduction to the subjects of meteorites, asteroids, comets, meteors and impact sites. It is presented in a way that amateur collectors, amateur astronomers or anyone interested in these space-related subjects can easily read and understand, but, at the same time, it is very informative and authoritative. I would not hesitate to recommend the book to anyone who was interested in meteorites and other space debris. In fact, I have recommended it to countless individuals as an excellent place to start.
"Rocks From Space" is well written, well illustrated and interesting to read. It has achieved a permanent and respected place in my reference book collection. I give talks on planetary geology to groups of geologists and astronomers and I use some of the illustrations in my presentations. For people who are interested is collecting meteorites, Norton presents a series of guidelines, anecdotes and useful information including a list of laboratories where one might get an identification confirmed. For a small and inexpensive paperback, this book contains a wealth of information.
Gary Peterson
In general, I find "popular" books directed to the interests of amateurs to be shallow and even corny. "Rocks From Space" is an exception. This book is outstanding. It provides a concise but excellent introduction to the subjects of meteorites, asteroids, comets, meteors and impact sites. It is presented in a way that amateur collectors, amateur astronomers or anyone interested in these space-related subjects can easily read and understand, but, at the same time, it is very informative and authoritative. I would not hesitate to recommend the book to anyone who was interested in meteorites and other space debris. In fact, I have recommended it to countless individuals as an excellent place to start.
"Rocks From Space" is well written, well illustrated and interesting to read. It has achieved a permanent and respected place in my reference book collection. I give talks on planetary geology to groups of geologists and astronomers and I use some of the illustrations in my presentations. For people who are interested is collecting meteorites, Norton presents a series of guidelines, anecdotes and useful information including a list of laboratories where one might get an identification confirmed. For a small and inexpensive paperback, this book contains a wealth of information.
Gary Peterson
Teach Yourself Visually HTML
Published in Paperback by Visual (1999-11-17)
List price: $29.99
New price: $5.50
Used price: $0.07
Used price: $0.07
Average review score:
Great For Beginners - But Not Solely For Beginners
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-21
Review Date: 2008-04-21
This book is so great - I bought this a long time ago, back when I was first learning HTML. I can't tell you what a great
resource it was for me. I learned so much, so fast from this book. It really is a simple, straightforward guide to HTML and
it actually teaches you a lot about what you are doing so that you can learn and apply these concepts to your own projects.
It's a guide that beginners should definitely turn to, but is great for people who aren't just beginners as well because it
has tons of cool stuff that you can learn even if you do know a bit about HTML. Plus it would be a great reference guide while
building a website for yourself or for someone else. And another great highlight of this book is that its not skimpy or condescending
like some of those 'for dummies' books.
For HTML starters, simply IDEAL!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-18
Review Date: 2006-06-18
Started recently with showing interest in the HTML language. It became clear that in the huge amount of books covering this
subject, I was keen on getting something simple, easy to understand and a very handy reference guide. I belive that with this
book, it cannot be made any simpler!! Even for non IT minded persons.
The book covers all, from starting a web page, building CCS, what and how JavaScript is working (did not had a clue what it was) up to special features that can make your web-site just that more interesting.
Even now, as a reference guide, it is just what I needed.
The visually part of it - if somebody is not known with the "Teach yourself visually" series - is so clear, the results are showing.
Later I have bought the Dreamweaver MX 2004 from the same series. Even though Dreamweaver is pretty clear in itself, I still come back to this book for some handy tips and how to do.
Worthwile? I do think so!
The book covers all, from starting a web page, building CCS, what and how JavaScript is working (did not had a clue what it was) up to special features that can make your web-site just that more interesting.
Even now, as a reference guide, it is just what I needed.
The visually part of it - if somebody is not known with the "Teach yourself visually" series - is so clear, the results are showing.
Later I have bought the Dreamweaver MX 2004 from the same series. Even though Dreamweaver is pretty clear in itself, I still come back to this book for some handy tips and how to do.
Worthwile? I do think so!
It Doesn't Get Any Clearer Than This
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-01
Review Date: 2006-03-01
Great for beginners to intermediate users. Clear instructions, great color graphics, simple but fundamental instructions,
powerful in its simplicity. Mouth-wateringly good! Grab this.
One star is too much!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-01
Review Date: 2005-11-01
Following the advice of the others on this page I duly purchased this book. I can now safely say it will be my LAST time following
the general concensus! What is WITH you people?
A photographer/grafik designer by trade, specialising in print-based media I have never done web-based work (other than actually designing pages and buttons in Illustrator - and then having someone else doing the converting, assembly etc.) so I decided to buy a book and have a go. To get straight to the point this book is a piece of crap for the following reasons. 1) (despite professing otherwise) It is totally incoherent, and follows a very illogical progression pattern. 2) The grafiks are so sadly outdated and amateur-ish I cringed every time I opened the book. 3) It fails to empower the reader to move freely and th
A photographer/grafik designer by trade, specialising in print-based media I have never done web-based work (other than actually designing pages and buttons in Illustrator - and then having someone else doing the converting, assembly etc.) so I decided to buy a book and have a go. To get straight to the point this book is a piece of crap for the following reasons. 1) (despite professing otherwise) It is totally incoherent, and follows a very illogical progression pattern. 2) The grafiks are so sadly outdated and amateur-ish I cringed every time I opened the book. 3) It fails to empower the reader to move freely and th