When we imagine heaven, we picture gardens. If there is a heaven with gardens, they must surely be like Vita Sackville-West's gardens at Sissinghurst. Mind you, when I read this book, I'm over-whelmed by a few sins, like greed and envy, and possibly lust, and I hope that doesn't disqualify me from heaven. I want gardens like these, never mind that the only thing green about me is envy, or that most of the plants won't grow in my climate.

This is a selected collection of gardening articles Vita Sackville-West wrote for The Observer, and charmingly illustrated with photographs and coloured sketches. Although there are gardening tips, it's a book to be read for pleasure. She wrote passionately and we can recklessly follow in our imagination, if not in reality.

Lane's fine overview of Japanese ukiyo-e art is invaluable to the collector of these woodblock prints. Full color plates abound in the history of these "floating world pictures". The illustrated dictionary section includes Hiroshige's complete "100 Views of Edo" and "53 Stations of the Tokaido" in b&w thumbnails plus many prints by most recognized ukiyo-e artists, publisher and censor seals, signatures and crests . The casual lover of fine art books will enjoy the views while the serious student of this art will find much of worth here.

More than 500 pages. In addition to the 200 pages of ship profiles, there are sections on choosing the cruise that is best for you, traveling by freighter and chartering your own boat. The thing that makes this guide really unique is the collection of personal reports -- first hand accounts by professional travel writers on cruises they have taken.

Wow! What a great book. This collection of Bond songs really give you an All Time High. I found that the level of the music was perfect for me. Not only can you play the songs to your heart's content, but they include the words to the songs, so you can sing along too. They also have awesome pictures between the songs, which really give it the James Bond attitude. I gave it a five, because I felt that the level, pictures and songs were chosen perfectly for this book. The book includes the whole song, unlike other music books that cut it short. If I could live twice, I would definitely make the same choice again.

This music book is based on John's CD, Live At Red Rocks. It has most of the songs preformed at the concert, including Concetta, Garden City, April Song, Shock, Key of Love, A Thousand Summers, ect., and a few others, Good Night Moon, ect. The songs are accurately transcripted, and are fairly easy to play. If you want to impress your frends and famly, this is the song book for you!

To all the people who want to know or buy this book, it is the piano songbook I have played in 5 years (besides the One World). It has some very difficult songs but some are pretty easy like The Inn on Mount Ada or Goodnight Moon. One of the toughest song I had ever played from John Tesh is the Spanish Steps. I would recommend it to any one.

Even at a glance, it is obvious that this text has taken years of research on the part of the author. While some of the content matter stretches the mind, the style is interesting and easy to read. This is ideal not only for the serious student of theology but also for those who simply want to inform themselves about the latest stirrings in Christian thinking on life, death and hope.

Primarily the book is about eschatology and reclaiming our understanding of this as a way of being in the world. The novice reader of theology would not be blamed for thinking that eschatology is about death and judgement, heaven and hell and end things, for this was a common pre-supposition for many centuries. No doubt such thinking was one of the reasons for the demise of any serious research in eschatology for a long time. However, Lane not only has shown the significance and meaning of eschatological understanding for Christianity today, but he has also offered an innovative perspective on a discipline integral to Christian faith and practice.

The book^Òs greatest asset is its strong emphasis on hope within the context of Christianity. Hope, in a world of darkness, is what the book is all about. Lane^Òs hope is not a superficial one. Rather, it is a hope which emanates from human experience and the human understanding of life in its totality, finality but ultimate infinity. In this respect, Lane sets about reclaiming eschatology by explaining its relationship to the Church in the world, the Eucharist, social justice, faith and ecology. Thus, eschatology like Christianity itself is rooted in the world giving lie to the Marxist theory that religion is the opium of the people keeping them from their political and social responsibilities to the world. 1

Lane has also shown how eschatology can be used as a vehicle to alleviate other misconceptions about theology. For example, the classical understanding of the dualism of the body and soul, the spirit and matter, heaven and earth are now explained anew within the context of what it means to be a human being. Lane encourages us to not to be so preoccupied with our own individual lives and souls but to see our individual destinies as bound up with the rest of humanity. 2 Yet, this is not to suggest that understanding of the self in relation to God and humanity is sacrificed in any way. For, he says, it is only when the self has evolved and emerges out of a configuration of other relationships does the self embrace a deepened awareness of the transcendent, divine dimension within the world. 3

It is from here, within the all embracing scope of eschatology, that humankind can move in search of hope. Particularly noteworthy are the dimensions of Christian hope of which the author writes. Interestingly, Lane refers to Christian hope as having a "peculiar character". Every Christian has heard of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is precisely because every Christian knows about these events that the mystery of them is often viewed as little more than a mundane fact of life. Lane, however, shocks the reader into re-awakening us from our anaesthetised existence by reminding us that "Christian hope embraces suffering and death as intrinsic elements of Christian existence". 4 This makes us aware that talk about the resurrection and life after death is not where real hope resides. Resurrection and the after-life are not meant to be a placebo liberating us from the stark realities of death which will inevitably come to all of us. Nor on reading this book can we bury our heads in the sand and pretend the far off day will not come when we will no longer be known on this earth. Instead, what Lane encourages us to acknowledge is that in and through our belief in Christ our lives include "both darkness and light, tragedy and transformation, sadness and joy, death and resurrection".5 This is the kernel of Christianity and the promise of eschatology.

The finest chapter, however, is the one written on the Eucharist as sacrament of the eschaton. The centrality of the Eucharist for the Christian, according to Lane, has to be included in any understanding of eschatology. Lane explains with simplicity the complexity of the relation between the two. Given the "overall thesis that eschatology is as much about relationships in this life as the next" 6 he successfully aims to show that the Eucharist, as it is presently celebrated, is a memorial of the past and a celebration of the future. Lane relates the Eucharist to the power of memory. He does not allow our responsibility to the "little ones" of this world to be forgotten; not the Jewish holocaust, not Hiroshima, not Rwanda, not the ecological crisis, nor the perennial holocaust of "Mans^Ò inhumanity to Man". Yet, he sets the stage as to how these and other evils might be addressed within an eschatological understanding of the Eucharist. He writes of the liberating power of memory which exists between the Eucharist and anamnesis as it is understood within the Christian liturgy. As Lane says "only when we have a sense of life as gift will we be able to celebrate that gift in the present through the Eucharist and at the same time dare to hope that what the Eucharist symbolises will come to eschatological fruition for the whole of humanity and creation in the fullness of God^Òs time".7

Even a good review (if this were such a piece) would not do justice to the text. A summary would impoverish it. It has to be read.

this is a very sweet story that depicts the Parable of the vineyard from Matthew (20:1-6) in a way that is easily related to by children. My son (4 1/2 years old) was delighted to read the bible version and connect the two stories. It helped him to understand the parable.

Dr. Craig offers a number of compelling reasons for accepting the historicity of both the empty tomb and resurrection of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels. Extensive references to the primary literature are provided for those who wish to do further study. A "must read" title, particularly for those who have questions about the veracity of orthodox Christianity.

David A. Frenz
Duluth, Minnesota, USA

If you've read Lane's "Solace of Fierce Landscapes" you'll want to read "Landscapes of the Sacred". "Landscapes" was actually written before "Solace," but has been recenly reprinted by John Hopkins Press with an expanded introduction. There's lots here for anyone interested in the cultural, religious, spiritual, and philosophical aspects of how we human beings experience place, especially those places that have sacred significance. The historical background on Puritans and Native AMerican spirituality are especially welcome.