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Undisputably the best for practitioners in this field!
Undisputably the best for practitioners in this field.
A Qaulity Control Engineer's desk reference

What is spirituality?Peterson writes: 'This gathering of articles and essays, poems and conversations, is a kind of kitchen midden of my noticings of the obvious in the course of living out the Christian life in the vocational context of pastor, writer, and professor. The randomness and repetitions and false starts are rough edges that I am leaving as is in the interests of honesty. Spirituality is not, by and large, smooth.'
We have a particular meaning attached to the word subversive, which is generally a sociological and political one. While this is certain akin to the meaning utilised here, it has a different slant and context. All spirituality, in a sense, is subversive, in the sense that it seeks not that which the material world (and usually that means the political world) holds to be important, but seeks a transformation. Most major religious figures have been subversive -- they have tried to change in small and major ways the prevailing framework of life. Religion is sometimes described as the institutionalisation of a revolution; when the institution overpowers the revolution, what is needed to get back on track is a subversion.
Peterson divides the book into five broad sections: Spirituality, Biblical Studies, Poetry, Pastoral Readings, and Conversations. In discussing scripture, seminary experiences, pastoral encounters and relationships, innovative ideas and creative imaginings, Peterson presents, as it were, the raw, unrefined nuggets of spiritual expression he has encountered, in his own life and in the experiences of those close by him, as well as those lessons he has gleaned from the studies of others.
'Spirituality is always in danger of self-absorption, of becoming so intrigued with matters of soul that God is treated as a mere accessory to my experience. This requires much vigilance. Spiritual theology is, among other things, the exercise of this vigilance.'
Spirituality is a subversive practise, when done properly. As Peterson states in one of his conversations, Christians in the West believe they are living in a culture which is Christian, and are often truly amazed to discover that they have more in common with the idol worshippers warned against in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures than with anything Jesus would have really wanted.
As one currently in seminary, I found his discussion of spiritual formation in context of the seminary to be intriguing and enlightening.
'They commonly enter seminary motivated by a commitment to God and a desire to serve their Lord in some form of ministry, and find that they are being either distracted or deflected from that intention at every turn. They find themselves immersed in Chalcedonian controversies, they find themselves staying up late at night memorising Greek paradigms, they wake in the morning, rubbing their eyes, puzzled over hairsplitting distinctions between homoousios and homoiousios. This is not what they had bargained on.... Seminaries were regarded as the graveyard of spirituality. Seminaries were where men and women lost their faith.'
I am fortunate that my seminary experience has, thus far, maintained a balance of spiritual encouragement as well as academic enlightenment.
This is a first class book, borne of a lifetime of searching, reflecting, and acting, and can give much food for thought. Regardless of the denomination of the reader, there is material here for the deepening of one's own spirituality, and for putting into life's practise a greater amount of living in accord with the spirit.
A Peterson Sampler - Start with this book.My advice is not to merely read, but experience what you read, and by all means - share with your family and friends - invite them to the banquet.
Max Rondoni
Menlo Park, California
A must read for all pastoral worker

Super Junior League Cookbook
Buy this cookbook NOW!
Full of Goodies

Simply Outstanding!
Book every serious modern Christian needs to read.
A Timeless "Introduction to the Devout Life."

Vale's Technique of Screen and Television Writingbasics which make for great screen story. This book deserves to be on any screenwriters top shelf, and will be returned to often and for life!
Excellent tool
Solid text

Eugene Smith... what can I say!The publishers did a good job reproducing the photographs, nice detail and tone. Definitely worth the price.
Staff Photographer, Seattle Times, Seattle, Washington
Review of Smith book from an old friendHaving risked hernia to browse the impressive new book of an old friend and neighbor, ( W. Eugene Smith; Photographs 1934-1975 John T. Hill/Gilles Mora) what first grabs is the space, air and light enveloping these intense images with almost a loving caress, a sense of freshness and sunlight never possible in our dim, dingy-dusty claustrophobic Sixth Avenue loft building, where, just outside my studio door, were piled stacks upon stacks of his work mounted on black 16x20 dogeared mats, just waiting to be stolen, but which were, in fact, attributed by many visitors to some magical drugstore, and could I, please, arrange to have their wedding pictures made there, too? Gene couldn't sell one print for even twenty-five bucks in those days. Every night when I came home to sleep there was the despairing Clement Attlee staring upward at the bare light bulb over my doorway.
That was forty years ago, and twenty since Gene went to that great blast of ferrocyanide in the sky, and much ado about him has taken place in the interim. New York fifties mindset was Freudian psychoanalysis; everyone went to a shrink. Any prominent individualistic tendencies were often condemned to one definition of neurosis or another, and in the rather small and specious world of photography , Gene's maverick determination stood out in high relief. Businessmen photographers-- like the young Lee Friedlander, himself awash in Freudophilia, considered Gene a 'spoiler', pretentious-precious, and went instead to sit at the feet of the polymorphous Walker Evans; yes, "pomposity" was pretty much the legend that Gene's exit from LIFE brought down around his head. Not a team player at all; tsk tsk. And in his brave repudiation of corporate moloch, Gene valiantly pratfalled himself right into the lap of utter poverty.
To large extent, Gene's persona seemed to require a struggle against impossible odds; it focused and sharpened him to the high standards he demanded from himself , and he was no slouch when it came to grandstanding, often with tears, his anti-Goliath position. He built his own Myth of Smith, his self-invented public (relations?) image, fine when LIFE was footing the bill, but now, inside our firetrap former whorehouse , there was real rent to pay, real electric bills, bona fide empty refrigerators. That is about when we began to get acquainted--- I never really bought the Myth; for me he was just the strangely interesting guy downstairs who became a great pal.
Outside the loft, Gene was quick to acquire the packagable cliche of the garret-starved self-destructive artist. Compared to Van Gogh, he earned some residue of American Puritan contempt; this man whose great humanity was most evident in his work was treated most inhumanely by his peers.
Inside the loft, for many years the two of us were in daily contact, working and trying to exist under extremely difficult economic circumstances, and we often had one helluva good time!! I found him to be a genial, generous, courageous---often outrageous-- warm wildly witty man, always humble, sensitive, shy and hard-working, sharing a great interest in art, with a remarkable philosophical perspective. We jabbered of Welles and Chaplin , wide angle lenses, witches, Goya, Haiti, Satchmo, Stravinsky, O'Casey, Joyce, Kazan, war, suicide, politics, cock-fought over girls, guzzled cheap scotch, and swung with the jazz that regularly took place in my studio , as if great mind trips could avert the cold fact of the necessity to eat. I remember one hot summer day, making cream cheese and molasses sandwiches for us on cinamon bread. Gene argued that we didn't have to buy the molasses because we could get the iron from our rusty tap water. As a rule, his antic humor and punning sense managed always to keep things slightly off-balance; this man who had such a profoundly dramatic instinct and attraction for the tragic had also a capricious spirit of the absurd in the way he conducted his daily life; Van Gogh with a manic dash of Robin Williams.
And astonishingly productive. Yet always the gloomy impassioned chairoscuro came out of the darkroom-- prints blacker than black, then mounted on black, dense, intense, often in layout strangulation, making sure; I , W. Eugene Smith , won't let you go gently into that unferrocyanided good night. Sans assignments, now more artist than journalist, for years on end Gene shuffled his prints, made and remade PITTSBURG, photographed our jazz and our personal La Boheme, tried a failed book, a failed magazine, and finally luck brought him The Jewish Museum show and then his crescendo, Minimata.
One night in Bradley's in 1975, Gene said, "Well, Dave, I finally got there at last. I've got ten thousand dollars in the bank for the first time. Of course, it's only going to be there about a week."
Jump cut posthumous; an icon, passed away amongst us, is now suddenly acknowledged. Many who jeered him, refused him recognition, now come out to sycophant, to pedestal, to celebrate his life-- including LIFE itself. Gee, we're SO sorry; but let's exploit!
Those twenty-five dollar prints buckled the registers at auctions, and giant profits were made; yes, the same old art-woe story--- just at the time Vinnie the Gogh himself was pulling down millions in Sotheby sales. The dark side of Gene, finally, surely, took care of his children and at least one of his wives.
We get a brilliant and sensitive biography by Jim Hughes, a soso documentary, worldwide traveling shows. And then it seemed over. "There's no money left around for Gene Smith anymore" comments executor John Morris in the late eighties, handing his stewardship over to Gene's bastard son.
Now, surprise! comes this current coffee table dominatrix which gives Gene's babies, his pictures, the opportunity to have a life of their own in renewal. SNAP!! Of course one can argue anew the merits of the individual essays and which choices are the best, etc., but for myself-- having gone to bed amidst these images for many years, there's something new about them now; suddenly welcome. There is a spank-spank/no-no here; not all of what we see are Gene's own prints, very much against the artist's wishes, but the damage is by no means on the level of, say, Clement Greenberg's sanding off the paint on David Smith's sculptures after his death. And most of these choices help illuminate Gene's way of seeing and working. There are also textual inaccuracies; Hall Overton did not own the loft bldg. I had rented three floors, and Hall rented originally from me, and my friend Sid Grossman sent over Harold Feinstein to share Hall's floor. When Harold left, he brought in Gene.
I liked John Hill's technical essay at the closure. I was with Gene the night MAD EYES burnt out all the surrounding background, with ritual Clan MacGregor celebration, for neither of us-- one painter, one photographer-- gave a whit about 'objectivity'.
This spacious book-bomb adds honor and light to these master photographs, allowing them their own life and breathing room not usually available. Gene's insistence on control force-gilded his lilies, giving barely any space in his layouts to let the eye feel free to wander on its own volition. Now one can look afresh with impunity, and they look a bit different--even better.
In any event, Gene, now busily groping angels, can no longer argue in his own defense, no longer joke, weep, holler, cajole, rage, pun. And he doesn't need to.
You know? This fellow really had one goddamned great eye and sense of when.
David X Young
Oct 22 1998


portrait of a racist demagogue
Brilliant Work on Southern Demagouge!
Gene Talmadge: Governor of the people!!!!

The sanest book I've read for ages
An exchange of letters between two male friends.Christian books tend to be heavy, so this serves as a good prop, right underneath your pillow, so you can peak into these wise letters, or to protect you from bad dreams I suppose.
Must Read!Profound theology in simple terms. Get it!


Wynken, Blynken, & Nod is an enchanting, magical tale
A Classic Must Have for Every Child
An incredible and beautiful book, always to be remembered

HIGH MUCK-A-MUCK AT ITS BEST! (LOOK IT UP!)
This book transcends all space and time!!!
Excellent resource, and great for a laugh