Want to know what the world was like in 1963, in San Francisco, on sunny afternoons, when all the windows were open on a garden from a small apartment high on the Ashbury Street Hill where Anne and Stan Rice lived and wrote? --- Before the Flower Children came. ---- Then listen to this classic album, the album that defined "jazz" for me more than bossa nova. It was an album that made me want to flee the foggy streets of San Francisco, put on khaki clothes and drift south. It took me well over twenty years to get to Brazil, and the tunes were no longer in my head. Don't know who Stan and Anne are? No surprise. --- They were young writers, dreamers and students. ---- Just wanted to make this review a little reflective of what those moments were like, what this soft sweet, gentle, and sophisticated music brings to mind as I play it on a sunny Sunday in the desert, just wanted to convey the beauty, the pleasure.....and who knows, maybe the innocence? It's making me want to dance.--- Here's to missing you, Stan. Here's looking at you, kid. --- A love is still a love....as time goes by.

  Raul Julia's performance is deeply moving and perhaps unforgettable as the Archbishop Romero whose assassination shocked the world. ---- This film is a brutal yet beautifully done reminder of what people have suffered and are suffering in other countries, people who do not have the daily blessings we enjoy in the United States. ---- The political issues are obviously complex, and the controversy about "liberation theology" goes on, but the story of this one man, so well adapted here, is something that we should face. The film moves slowly, yet gracefully. It is starkly realistic and at times raw and chilling, and overwhelming. The faith of Romero, his transformation in the face of the suffering he witnesses, is an inspiration. ---- The film can make one very uncomfortable for giving us a view of a world we would like to put out of our thoughts, either because we feel helpless or we simply don't want to accept how good our lives are here, and how much has to be done for the world's poor and the world's oppressed. This is very strong, this material, and it is worth seeing for Julia's performance alone. It should move us to action, even if action is no more than a small donation for the poor. The film has left me deeply troubled, but better for having seen it.

  Next to the commetaries of Craig S. Keener, and D.A. Carson, I keep this book for constant reference. It is very accessible for a mainstream reader and has given me wonderful insights. This book is not as thorough as the work by Keener, but it has its own fine elements to offer. As I'm still engaged in studying it, I will probably have more to say later on. I am reviewing it now because I am a Christian novelist and my readers ask me for references. I recommend this book without reserve.---- I like the voice of the author very much, and look forward to learning more from him.---- Let me quote part of a paragraph (p. 15 of the hardcover) which is close to my heart: "In the last resort it appears that the authorship of this Gospel will remain in dispute. In my opinion there is more to be said for the apostle Matthew than recent scholarship commonly allows and more for Matthew than for any other candidate." Agreed, with humble thanks.

  I keep this book on my desk right beside Craig S. Keener's commentaries. Carson writes clearly and succinctly and touches on almost every mystery of the Gospel that concerns me. I think he is completely correct in his criticism of the skeptics. The book is obviously shaped by immense faith and displays great attention to current scholarship and to the details of the text of John. The book also contains a marvelous and forceful summary of the arguments for and against the belief that the Apostle John bar Zebedee wrote the gospel. This is a decisive and brave commentary. Also recommended are all D.A. Carson's other books, including Divine Sovereignty & Human Responsibility. This scholar's output is enormous. It will take me years to catch up with what he has written, and I doubt I'll ever catch up with all of it. I admire him greatly, and recommend him wholeheartedly. --- Addendum added May 16, 2008 as I continue to read this book: There is something commonsensical and firm about the way this author presents his points; he dispatches the objections or contrary theory of others with conviction and an economy of language. Again and again, he appeals simply and unobtrusively to sound judgment as to points over which people argue, and it is refreshing. --- Some scholars today are so hampered by earlier skeptical objections, speculations, and disputes that it is difficult to get through their books. One gets the feeling sometimes that some authors are writing for one another. ---- Not so with D.A. Carson. His writing serves the text and the mainstream reader as well as the scholar. ---- Yet he is ever the Christian (charitable) writer. ---- I sense no snideness or unkindness, but simply a great deal of well earned self confidence, and a straightforward appeal to sound logic. Some readers may find this commentary particularly accessible because of all this. The writing is brisk.

  I have not lost my mind. In the absence of any flow of real Christian entertainment coming out of Hollywood, I think it's very important to point out that this is an extraordinarily Christian film. Bourne is fighting evil; Bourne is seeking to discover those who have enmeshed him in what he knows to be evil; and his conscience guides him as he moves through this rapid paced, wonderfully scripted, wonderfully acted, and wonderfully directed film. His motives can never be reduced to mere revenge. Others in the film also wrestle with serious moral issues. But Bourne is the Knight. ----- His mission results in his extracting a moment of recognition from the villain of what the villain has done, and then Bourne proceeds to seek redemption himself in the only way he knows how. He consciously rejects evil for good. ---- Whether Christ is ever mentioned in the film doesn't matter. ----. What matters is that this is a film reflecting deep moral values, and it is also a film you can watch with your children. There is no jarring sexuality, and the violence in the film is actually treated with conscientious respect. It is treated with appropriate depth for the horror that it is. ---- Until we start getting some really profound Christian entertainment from the TV and Movie execs who seem for the moment to scorn it, I think it's important to point out those films which reflect deep Christian values, and to repeat: this film is such a one. I personally love it and have watched it more than four times. The moments of confession and moral recognition are as thrilling as the action. ---- Highly recommended to everybody, including families. --- Just a fine, fine piece of profound and wonderfully exciting work. (Let me add that Matt Damon is terrific here, just as he has been in every film he's ever made.)

  Since there are over a thousand reviews posted here, one might ask: why am I writing another one? It is because I feel this beautiful book, so eloquently and accessibly written, has much to offer Roman Catholics as it has to offer non-Catholics, and Rev. Rick Warren continues to be one of the most loving and positive ministers in the public arena. He has managed to write a deeply meaningful book here about how to live as a Christian, without saying anything negative about anybody or anyone else's church. This is no small feat. We Christians are tempted at every turn to criticize one another. Rev. Rick teaches love. Anyone who thinks this is superficial or insipid should, I believe, reconsider. To love one's neighbors and one's enemies is for me the hardest thing about being Christian; it is at the core of the Christian explosion of the First Century, and it remains the core of Christian teaching today. --- Just about every page of this book is inspiring, and Rev. Rick has managed to impart to the reader complex theology in wonderfully simple terms. ---- When theology is too difficult, when it is opague or unreadable, what good does it do for most Christians? Well, this is a book with deep theological roots that is for everyone. Highly recommended. And also an excellent gift. ---- Let me quote Rev. Rick in closing: "Jesus taught that spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry!" (p.231 of the hard cover.)

  This two-volume work is one that I keep right on my desk every day, year in and year out, as I study Scripture. What astonishes me is the sheer scope of Keener's knowledge, and the clear and engaging way that he presents his conclusions. He treats the skeptics with the requisite generosity and patience to which I've become accustomed when reading the brilliant scholarship of a believer, and his knowledge of ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish writers is breath-taking. This and his work on Matthew are immense contributions to the field of New Testament Scholarship. I find all Keener's work to be accessible for mainstream people such as myself, who cannot read the ancient languages. The comprehensive nature of Keener's approach, the way he truly does explain just about every conceivable interpretation of a passage is simply amazing. I turn to him constantly for insight, and go back over material again and again discovering something new each time. Make this part of your library.

  This book is gentle yet profound, filled with beautiful observations on the life of Our Lord, and on Scripture. I'm in the midst of studying it and won't finish any time soon as I savor each page as I go along. I recommend it without reservation to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. I've discussed it on Youtube, and with pleasure. Our Pope is a brilliant teacher, and a brilliant writer as well. His encyclicals are also available now in book form and I recommend them completely.

  When I first commented on N.T. Wright's books, I was new to Amazon and didn't do it under my own name. I'm signing on now, again, to say that he remains for me a giant among scholars. This particular book had an impact that I can't fully describe. A deep Christian spirit pervades the writing itself, and Wright's generosity to skeptical scholarship is a shining Christian example to those of us who become too impatient with the anti-supernaturalists. Wright is a believer and a convincing believer with a brilliant yet accessible style, a genius who has had an immense influence on the entire field of Biblical scholarship. One encounters his name everywhere. Wright's books are mammoth in soul and physical size. He provides a complete education in the Gospels, and many of his other books, the smaller, more compact ones, are profoundly inspiring. Other reviews may have more to say in detail about his most important works, of which this is certainly one. Let me close by saying simply "Make his books a part of your library, and your education, and a part of your prayer life."

  There is a grand mad excess that triumphs in this film, overriding any of its faults. I go back to it again and again to revel in the brilliant acting, the dazzling photography, and the deliberate and bold intensity. It is very true to Mary Shelley's masterpiece, very true, indeed. And it is also cinematically magical and very simply beautiful. Highly recommended. The great moral of the tale comes through, of course. Artistically, this particular film will probably live as long as films are made and viewed. ---- Things you might have laughed at the first time around, you soon forget. It's the kind of film that haunts you. It's rich and intoxicating. Branagh really is a great genius and this is one of his finest accomplishments.