Posted by Irene S. Roth on December 23, 2009 · 1 Comment
Body Signs is a very important, potentially life saving book about how our bodies send messages through external signals for inform us to become aware of some of the early signs of physical disease. Unlike physical symptoms which tend to involve pain and discomfort and are likely to send an individual running to his/her doctor’s office, bodily signals are more likely to result in scurrying off to her hairdresser, nail salon, cosmetic counter or drugstore. Symptoms, on the other hand, come in loud and clear, and they usually involve pain, fever, and bleeding. Bodily signs tend to be more subtle and difficult to interpret. However, many bodily signs can signal more serious things.
Filed under Body and Self, Books & Reviews, Culture · Tagged with and health, be your diagnostic detective, body, Body Signs, Dialectic Magazine, from warnings to false alarms, Health, Jacqueline Nardi Egan, Joan Liebmann-Smith, mind, pay attention to your body, self-care, wellness
Posted by Irene S. Roth on October 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment
How Free Can Religion Be? Bezanson’s book provides an insightful and accessible analysis of complex social and constitutional issues. Throughout the book, Bezanson demonstrates a deep appreciation for the difficult task that the Supreme Court faces in trying to strike an appropriate balance between religion and law. The core of legality is experience but not logic. The Supreme Court gives life to the law. Religion guarantees non-establishment and freedom from exercise and it represents the Supreme Court’s not the Constitution’s idea of religious freedom. The Supreme Court basis its decisions on the logic and reason of the history, text and purposes of the Constitution. To not do this is to fail to exercise its power properly and within necessary limits. The Supreme Court is largely loyal to logic and reason. However, despite this, it is also deeply divided. Congress cannot make laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. Logic and reason usually mark the Court’s decisions, though they have competed at a fundamental level since the beginning of time.
Filed under Books & Reviews, Culture, Spirituality · Tagged with balance between religion and law, book review, court and religion, Dialectic Magazine, How Free Can Religion Be, Irene S. Roth, Randall P. Bezanson, relgious freedom, religion, secular government, separation of church and state, social insitutions
Posted by Irene S. Roth on October 6, 2009 · 1 Comment
Review of the book, God Without God: Western Spirituality Without the Wrathful King by Michael Hampson – God Without God seeks to explore what happens to the Western spiritual tradition when the God of presumptive monotheism is removed. Far from being destroyed or diminished, the tradition flourishes in its liberation. It emerges from its captivity as an egalitarian, humanistic spirituality that challenges and defies all earthly powers in its celebration of the realm of the spirit, and the realm of the divine. In acknowledging God who is the ground of all being, we find ourselves in profound communion with the whole human race, for there is only one humankind, only one creation, and only one ground for all being.
Filed under Books & Reviews, Culture, Spirituality · Tagged with Acts of the Apostles, book review by Irene Roth, Christianity, compassionate and loving God, Dialectic Magazine, God Without God, Jesus of Nazareth, monotheism, prayer, religion, seventh sacrament, sin, spirituality, western spirituality, Western Spirituality Without the Wrathful King by Michael Hampson, Yahweh Elohim
