D Books

have a problem with using words like "brilliant", "masterful" and "intelligent." But willing apply all words to this brilliant book, masterfully research and intelligently told.

The author gives a very full and complete treatise on Brown versus the Board of Education, but of greater interest, he writes of all the history that lead up to the ruling.

An exceptional book chronicling an extremely important issue in our country's history.

This is certainly the best book ever written -- the best book that ever will be written -- about race, law and American society. It is a remarkably insightful history and one of the most stunning existing examples of narrative journalism. It is a masterpiece.

I'm a fan of nonfiction works and this easily moved to my top 5 favorite books. When I was growing up there were no courses on the contributions blacks made to America. There was no black history month. And I was cheated. I'm a 50+ white woman who lived through desegregation and had no clue that it was a struggle. I honestly don't remember a time when my elementary classes were all white but they must have been. I do remember clearly when my elementary class stopped being all white. That was when Richard Harris became my Batman buddy. On the aftenoons following the show we would go to the neighborhood soda shop and have a coke and discuss all the action of the previous evening's show and check for new Batman bubble gum cards with the intensity that only 5th graders can bring to such an important endeavor. It felt normal to chat Batman with Richard; and I'm so sorry for all the children that had such a dumb practice as segregation rob them of those moments.

This book read like a thiriller for me. Couldn't put it down. Underlined and highlighted parts. Read other sections out loud to my husband and to some friends at work. This is American history. Everyone should have the opportunity to learn about the value of education, the value of varied experiences and the perseverance to acquire the rights that should never have been denied to the black people. It's made me hungry to know more and I'll be keeping my eye out for other works by Kluger. Excellent author.

I just finished this book, A Simple Justice, and it is fantastic. It's the story of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, which is the landmark Supreme Court case that desegregated compulsory public schools in America. But it's so much more than that. After reading this book, I felt almost ashamed of my previous ignorance to the struggles and condition of black america at the hands of almost everyone else in the country. It is comprehensive in its scope and perspicacious in its analysis, sparing no feelings on either (or rather, any) side. I believe myself to be, for the most part, a judicious man when it comes to philosophical or sociological observations, but Kluger was able to open my eyes to angles I had previously missed on issues I thought I had resolved long ago. So if you're not too scared of big books, this one's worth the time.

Long a mainstay of every 1L's pre-law school summer reading list, SIMPLE JUSTICE is more than a retelling of the tortured history of the landmark cases now known collectively as Brown v. Board of Ed. It is more than a retelling of the agonizing struggles of both gifted and ordinary people---black and white and every other---to reverse the four centuries of racial disparagement that make up the ugliest of all underpinnings of the American Experiment. What SIMPLE JUSTICE is, is an exhaustive sociological history of race relations in the United States to the 1950s.

It is a book every American should read. The endemic quality of racism in the American psyche is so overwhelming that it is easy to lose the human element. SIMPLE JUSTICE restores that element with sensitive, intelligent writing, exhaustive and documented research, and a tone which is pitch perfect, strident when need be, reasoned and thoughtful throughout. Ultimately optimistic, SIMPLE JUSTICE will renew your belief in the American system even while tempering it.

In it's retelling of nightmarish incident after nightmarish incident (the explosive and hideous lynchings are often easier to understand than the equally hideous and more subtle segregation and caricaturing that endured for, it seems, ever), SIMPLE JUSTICE shows us an America riven by its view of itself as a noble nation being eaten by the canker in its soul.

Although many Americans now consider race discrimination passe, it is not so hard to see the continuation of a pattern of violence toward blacks and the denigration of the black experience, even today. And yet, there is more, for not only are Black Americans denigrated, but White Americans as well, both suffering because this nation is only a fraction of what it might othewise be.

SIMPLE JUSTICE is a crucial Civics lesson. Read it to learn. Read it to know. Read it. Read it again.

I purchased this for use at home as we home-educate our children. I thought this would help me to brush up on my grammar skills, but my kids immediately picked this book up and started using it on their own. It is very user friendly - an easy read for any age, and a great review for middle and high school students. My 14 yr old uses it as a reference when she is writing. Highly recommended!

Painless Grammar is completely different from any typical grammar stuff! We tend to label grammar as boring, but I noticed something totally different from what we learned at school; it doesn't involve any dull and/or old-fashioned structures at all. What really intrigued me was the last chapter dealing with how to e-mail! Actually, I like that chapter best in this book. That was the least I'd expected! Facial expressions and abbreviations drew my attention because both of them are expressed differently from Japanese. I think using them sometimes helps you enjoy e-mailing your friends. Of course, I know too much use of them confuses readers, though. I bet dealing with e-mail is a down-to-earth and up-to-date approach to attract readers!

Read and then keep at your desk within arms reach when you write. This book is perfect for those grammar stumpers.

Even though this book is geared for the 6th-8th grade student, it offers sound advice in a clear, easy-to-understand style. Who needs a grammar book that's full of long, linguistical answer that no one can understand. If I'm stumped by a grammar question, I don't hesitate to pick up this fun reference tool.
Karen Reddick, author of Grammar Done Right!

Before ordering this book I've read many reviews. Those reviews helped me a lot to make the right decision. This book is just amazing for sharping your English grammar skill. You polish your English by learning little details. I'm a Junior in High School. I thought that my level of English grammar is pretty high, but till I started reading ''Painless Grammar" with all these small, tiny detail. My dad, is educated 52 years old teacher, who is a bookworm! Even he found this book very exciting. So right now, when I start to read this book he is always next to me. The book is written with good humor and explanations to every aspect of the grammar. I read 10-15 min. per day, that's enough.

I think this book should be a "hand book" for every single person, no matter how old you are. Folks, don't even hesitate! Just go for it, buy it, and have pleaser by reading "Painless Grammar."

Hard to believe that it has been 20 years since the mini-series "Lonesome Dove" debuted on television. I remember sitting transfixed with my entire family before the TV screen for each night's new episode. I felt then, and still feel, that it was, if not the best western ever filmed, somewhere near the top. And what I loved so much about it, besides the authenticity of the costumes and sets, was that it stuck so closely to the novel, which I had read three years earlier. My admiration for that book was so great, I had stood in line for over an hour to have my copy signed when Larry McMurtry paid a visit to my hometown.

In commemoration of this anniversary, Bill Wittliff, who wrote the "Lonesome Dove" screenplay, has collected 112 sepia-toned photographs that he took during the filming of the mini-series. The opening photographs in the book are of Robert Duval standing on his mark, with camera equipment and reflectors poised, doing a costume check, except that Duval is already in character, his posture so clearly that of Gus McCrae. The next photo is of Tommy Lee Jones, likewise his costume check, and he, too, has already become the intense Woodrow Call.

"These are not just pictures from `Lonesome Dove,'" Harrigan writes in his Introduction, "they are documentary images of something that seems to have really happened." The passing of the mythical West perhaps, or a photographic journey through a hot and dusty bit of Texas History.

The book is well-made with high-quality glossy paper and an excellent binding. Several of the panoramic shots inside span across two pages, with some looking almost like Charles Russell paintings: a stolen horse stampede, cowboys riding herd, Indians on the prod. Others go beyond sheer moviemaking magic, like the ones with the great black thunderstorm roiling in the background.

"A Book of Photographs from Lonesome Dove" is not a book of movie stills or publicity shots. It isn't advertising for the novel or for the mini-series. Instead it is Wittliff's remarkable private photographic record showcasing the characters and the story, and if the faces weren't so familiar, the scenes would seem almost to have been pulled out of some photo history of a 19th-century cattle drive.

I checked this book out at the local library and had only read the introduction when I knew I had to buy it. Then I saw the photo of Augustus McCray's face that made me burst into tears and I ordered it on Amazon. It came quickly and didn't disappoint.

This book is an excellent book and was received in perfect condition. I recommend it for anyone who loves the rustic feel of the content. I have it in a log cabin on a book stand and people who visit love it. A very cozy book and pictures are great.

This is a wonderful book for any true Lonesome Dove fan.

The pics are beautifully done. They definitely have that look of an old-time western pic. I have to admit I have not yet read the forward by Larry McMurtry - I just wanted to dive right into the pics 1st.

Of course I'm glad I was able to get it from Amazon for $29.70 because there's no way I would have paid the $45 cover price for it.

I purchased this book for my husband and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a gift for me as well. I knew he would enjoy it since he has watched "Lonesome Dove" many times, one time was when this book was actually being shipped. Not only were the photographs wonderful, I enjoyed the Introduction and Afterword.

This book has a lot of potential to be interesting, but in the end, it falls short. This book is decent, a very quick read, and at times it does a very good job of capturing the reader's interest.

The major problems I had with this book were the two I mentioned in the title of this review, namely a lack of depth and style. All of the author's stories seem to stop just when they're about to get interesting. Furthermore, Dunn doesn't write with enough detail or style to effectively convey the intensity and feeling of any of these situations to the reader. While I am sure Dunn is an excellent police officer, he is obviously not a professional writer. Overall, this is an okay book, but that's about it.

I read this book years ago when it came out in hard back. It really helped me understand what my son was going through as a police officer. I just bought it again to give to a friend who's son is coming back from Afghanistan and wants to join LAPD, and I read it before passing it along because he says he added a few new tales. It is a fun, and fascinating book to read, and i recommend it for every young person who wants to be a police officer, or any mom who wants to know what their kids are going through thier first year out.

I believe this is a fantastic book for anyone thinking of joining law enforcement - or just trying to get a feel for what its like to become a cop.
I've also just completed the book "Gangs of Los Angeles", a candid look into the world of LA street gangs. I've done my best to retell their history and explain their culture in a way only an LA street cop with gang expertise could.

I first read this book when I was in High School I thought it was great, few weeks later I joined the LAPD Harbor's Division Explorer Scouts. One day while working at the station I met Sgt. Feula (a character mentioned on the book) I was very surprised, he did not know his name was mentioned on the book. He took me on several ride-alongs and I learned alot from him few months later I shipped out for the Military, he retired and I never heard of him:.... ///Sergeant Feula if you ever see this messege; thank you for everything, day by day I get closer and closer to become an LAPD officer, I will take what I learned from you and put it to use... Martinez///

This book is hands down the best book relating to firsthand police work I've read. Truly does give you a good sense of what it might be like to work in L.A. as a cop.

This book was Great, not only did it keep my interest, but it was very helpful and i would sudjest it to any married couple (with or without relational struggles). This book gives great advice, and has many strong points giving the reader an understanding as well as a level of relation as many of the situations the reader will be able to relate too. Buy the book or Borrow it! it's an important part of every marriage.

What an incredible book! This was required reading for a counseling course but it's purpose served more than that. Roseneau does an incredible job of communicating how beautiful & sacred an intimate relationship with your spouse should be. God created man and woman to please one another in many ways in addition to intercourse and this book does a great job of instructing couples how to deepen their sexual intimacy.This is definitely worth your money! Roseneau also has a Newlywed version and an over 50 version.

This book contains good info and answers and tips that are often not found in "Christian" books on sexual matters.
The version for newlyweds is great as well..my husband and I do much pre-marriage counseling and recommend this and give it as gifts as well.

This book is helpful for couples who are confused about what God expects of us in our sexual relationships with our spouse. It helps to create healthy bounderies and teaches couples how to have a healthy God ordained sex life.

The best Christian sex book out there written by a licensed psychologist/Christian sex therapist. This book is written for the mutual benefit of both wife and husband. It takes a very comprehensive and holistic approach, includes the spiritual elements as well as practical techniques and everything you can think of and some things you might not have even thought of. I highly recommend this to every married couple and to the engaged couple -- about one month before their wedding.

I am a nurse, so of course, I loved this. It has wonderful, uplifting stories. It would be a wonderful gift for any nurse, or for yourself, if you are a nurse or for anyone thinking about becoming one.

As always, very pleased with yet another Chicken Soup book.

Incredibly touching with quotes to remember. A book I will pass along so others can enjoy the soul warming experience as I did.

I was feeling really down until I read this book and now, after 27 years in the profession, I can remember why I love this job!!!

I work as a Director of Nursing and I enjoyed this stories.

Bill Lampton expresses great ideas for one of the most important skills in business---communication. This book is a must-read for serious professionals who want to communicate with others well. Dr. Lampton lays out a lot of real-world practical ideas that you can use immediately. I highly recommend this book! Terry Brock

Good communication is the key to success in ANY profession. Dr. Bill Lampton has written a book that will help anyone be a better leader by increasing their communication skills. Good communicators learn from others and can get their ideas across to those working with them. Bill's style is extremely easy to read and he covers a variety of topics that everyone can use. His stories will charm and encourage you. As a physician and a medical journalist for 20 years, I would encourage every doctor to read this book to better serve their patients...and every patient to read to better get what they need. This is a superlative book that you'll be glad you picked up.

The Complete Communicator is everything a book on communication should be. Bill Lampton's easy to follow recommendations are as useful as they are devoid of superfluous fluff. The good Doctor cuts to the chase and informs readers how to better their communication in virtually every aspect of life. Forget the politicians. Lampton is The Great Communicator, and thanks to his book you can be one too.

Jim Wagoner
Editor/Anchor
Metro News/Sacramento Bureau

As Dr. Bill Lampton so vividly points out in "The Complete Communicator", we are always communicating - whether we're aware of it or not. If you're in sales, you would be well advised to think about the implication of this on your business.

Customers and prospects are continuously evaluating your non-verbal behaviors, appearance, phone messages, presentation, listening skills and written communication. Do you know what messages you're sending? Are you sure? Making assumptions gets you into trouble too.

"The Complete Communicator" dispenses practical advice on how to increase your communication's effectiveness and how to take it to the next level. If you want to increase your sales, pay close attention to Dr. Lampton's useful tips, solid guidelines and insightful commentary on being a better communicator, speaker and writer.

And the biggest bonus - this book is filled with real-world examples and incredibly readable. "The Complete Communicator" is definitely a worthwhile investment for your sales library!

Jill Konrath
President & Sales Consultant
www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com

The Complete Communicator is simply the best, most complete communications book it has been my pleasure to read. Simple, direct, concise and compelling in its stories . . . this book embodies its own messages in wonderfully effective ways.

Poor communications is the problem that holds humanity back from making progress more than any other. Think of it as being like a stalled engine that would otherwise pull your car forward at whatever rapid pace you like. Overcome that stall, and progress will be yours.

Because of the importance of improving communications, I have made it a point to read every book about communications that I can find. Most of these books provide an in-depth look at one aspect of communications, while ignoring all of the others. Many times, communications books are not as simple and direct as they could be. Other times, they lack compelling stories.

I can think of few elements of effective communications that are not covered by Dr. Lampton's superb book, with Neuro-Linguistic Programming being the main exception. As a result, a person can read and employ the lessons of The Complete Communicator and have the benefits of reading many dozens of other books. For that reason, I think The Complete Communicator is the best communications book I have read.

Here are the subjects covered:

Person to Person (including self-talk, making connections, getting information, finding prospects for a business, and deepening relationships)

Nonverbal Communication (gestures, appearances, symbolism, and credibility)

Writing (the writing process, things to emphasize and avoid, getting published and improving your writing)

Letter Writing (following up on meetings, complaints, answering complaints, and avoiding errors)

Giving Speeches (the right mental attitude, preparation, expressing yourself naturally, touching the audience and making the right impression)

Listening (what those who are speaking would like you to do, questions to ask, appropriate responses, and ways to improve)

Telephone (good habits, etiquette, succeeding through voice mail, and keeping notes on messages)

Computers (e-mail, Web sites, and Internet connections)

Media (keep it simple and effective, getting booked on broadcasts, handling crises, and letters to the editor)

Many people who try to write such an overview book fail to either properly credit their sources, don't have enough examples or make the book too long. Dr. Lampton avoids all of those snares.

To me, the best writers tell stories that grab me emotionally. Dr. Lampton did that very well with stories from his own experiences. I especially liked one about a telephone message that he read from his Ph.D. advisor.

What more can I say to convince you to read this book? Please, contact me by e-mail with any questions. Click on my name at the beginning of this review to find my e-mail address.

Begin with Hero Archetypes and learn about the Chief or the Lost Soul or the Warrior. See what might make them tick.

Move to your Heroine Archetypes to visit with the Free Spirit, the Nurturer or my favorite the Spunky Kid. Learn how they got to be who they are.

Then you will learn how to use the Archetypes to Create Characters. As most writers understand, great characters are not one-dimensional and flawless. It is their layers that make them truly intriguing. Indiana Jones' fear of snakes made him believable.

Finally play with Archetype Interactions and see how the Waif might react to the Professor type. What if the Waif were layered with the Librarian and the Professor had a bit of the Swashbuckler in him. What would these two encounter? Where would they take your story?

Tami et al's book is invaluable to me. If I had no other book on characterization, I would be fine. My only quibble is that we didn't get the Villains, but Tami teaches a Villains Archetype class online as well as face-to-face. I just recently had the pleasure of taking that class with From The Heart Romance Writers.

Put this on your "must have" list if you want rich, complex characters.

In the quest of refining character, I have devoured a number of psychology texts and writer's guides, and I do believe that this one may be the best book on that topic I have ever discovered. I would quibble with Cowden, LaFever and Viders in their assertion that the 16 Master Archetypes are the only archetypes, but it's such a small point that it doesn't detract from what they present. Peppered with easily accessible examples, their book breaks down character into strong, clearly sketched components and then discusses how the palates may be blended--in individual character development and interpersonal relationships. I don't know if I would ever use any guide to create a character from scratch, but I'm always happy to find something to help me ensure that my characters behave consistently once they've been created. I expect this book to prove valuable for that, and I highly recommend it.

I started using this book for my writing the very day I received it. It's great--I can't recommend it highly enough

The book is a great tool for aspiring writers and screenwriters. It offers great insight into the different archetypes. That information is presented in a dictionary type form. Anyone can look up a personality type and find its virtue, flaws, style and background. I highly recommend the book to all aspiring writers.

I can't say enough good things about this book. Fantastic character profiles. I wish it had been available when I was studying Sociology at university! I own two copies so I can always have it at hand when I need some help. My ONLY complaint are the pop culture references as archetype examples. But, overlook Dr. Spock and Ally McBeal and this book is priceless!

Every once in a while you read a book, and you can not let go of it. You recommend it to friends, you buy it for family and people you care about and you actually go back and revisit it long after the first read. This is one of those books. With four young children, my wife and I constantly worry about a myriad of things, mostly having to do with giving our kids the skills the need to become good people, successful adults (by whatever measure they deem successful) and all around better prepared than we were.

This book is a great framework for discussions with your kids about what is important to know, and it is really shocking how little of this we give them in school.

In my family, we were told never to talk of money. How was I supposed to learn about it. Managing the green in this book is a great example of real world tactics for kids to become responsible young adults.

I read a lot of business books, and I am happy when there are one or two key points that stick with me and become a part of the set of tools I use everyday, but to be honest this book is so full of them, I had to go through it with a highlighter!

Do your kids a favor, buy this book for them, but read it first. You will be amazed at the conversations you will have and you can go sleep at night knowing that maybe just maybe, everything is going to be all right for them.

I bought this on the basis of the reviews. I thought the book was pretty good, but the content was not as comprehensive or helpful as I thought it should be.

Cool Stuff they should teach in school is a guide to jobs, people skills, goals, and money for young adults written by two normal teenagers. This book covers everything from trying to figure out what you want to do with your life and how your attitude actually determine how successful you'll be through how to make a good impression and what not to do during a job interview to how to manage your money and how to make your savings work for you.

I loved the conversational style of this book as well as the straightforward no punches pulled advice. I also liked the colourful Cool Stuff quotes and 2K tips. This is the advice your best friend would give you if he could. Cool Stuff they should teach in school will make a really great gift for any teenager or young adult needing just a little bit of nudge to start their future on the right track.

great book for anyone feeling lost as far as what they want to do with their lives. It makes it really easy to understand all the financial stuff in today's world. I used some of the people skills they have written about and noticed improvemnt.

this book = miracle

From the standpoint of intent, scope & substance, this wonderful book is exactly similar to 'The Power of Focus for College Students' by Andrew Hewitt & Luc D'Adabie. I have reviewed this latter book earlier.

The 'Cool Stuff' book is apparently targetted at high school students (& graduates). The 'Power of Focus' book is targetted at high school graduates & college students, even though the delineation is really not an issue. The earlier book is written by two brothers during their late teen years, in 2004. The latter book, which has been published one year later, is written by two university graduates in their early twenties. This book is also an extension of the earlier 'The Power of Focus' by Les Hewitt, Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen, which is obviously targeted at adult professionals.

Essentially, the 'Cool Stuff' book is designed to help students GET REAL...to help them face a multitude of challenges as they grow from teens to young adults & while they move into the real world. The abundant information in this book are packed into bite-sized nuggets, illustrated with zany graphics.

Whereas, the 'Power of Focus' book is more sober of the two books, with abundant information, as well as inspiring stories, packed into nine focusing strategies. Tactically, it has been designed to help high school graduates & college freshmen in finding fulfilling career pathways.

While the 'Cool Stuff'book has a more light-hearted approach, both books generally help to answer these critical questions:

- why 70% of graduates are unhappy & disillusioned within five years of leaving college?
- what 3% of Yale students do that lead them to become wealthier than the other 97% combined?

One interesting point: The entrepreneurial flair of the authors of both books is exemplified by their own respective websites: namely ccolstuffmedia & focusedstudent, which continue to promote their books, seminars & workshops & other stuff.

One last point: The 'Power of Focus' book has a seemingly subtle & yet direct slant towards 'GET RICH' partly because of its association with Donald Trump...so it's also designed to help you build the financial future you so desire.

To sum up my review, both books are really great stuff! If you are a high school student or college freshman, I strongly urge you to go & get a copy to read & to learn how to maximise your high school - & college - experience & also how to deal with a rapdily changing world out there!

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.

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.

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.

`Early Christian Doctrines' by J. N. D. Kelly was my textbook for a course of the same name in 1964, over 40 years ago, when our Philosophy Department thought it could not assemble a large enough class for Medieval Philosophy. The joke was on them, because the class came to but three students, two Philosophy majors (myself and a classmate) and a `heretic' who was clear about the fact that he was taking the class to support arguments for his specifically anti-Christian point of view. I am not really qualified to address this book as an historian, and I could address it as a general scholar and from a philosophical point of view (which I will to some extent), but I really wish to present the book to this third fellow in our class, and to the opposite camp, extreme Christian conservatives.

For starters, I am really impressed that this unassuming book is still in print and going strong. The fact that it has gone through a number of editions and revisions says a lot about the value of the book even before you crack the spine. From the point of view of the casual scholar who may not read scholarly books for a living, I find the book just a bit weak in its layout. To the inveterate reader of bibliographies (me, for example), I find a weak presentation of very brief and cryptic scholarese references in the back of each chapter, and no general bibliography at the end of the book. This is unfortunate to those who would like, for example, to find out more about the major players in the first five centuries of Christian doctrinal development. Most people have some notion of St. Augustine, but most people don't have a clue as to when and where in history Origen, Arius, Eusebius, and Irenaeus, among a cast of hundreds, lived, worked and wrote. The author is basically speaking to an audience who knows the careers of these figures well, at least as far as we can know them from this far remove.

But none of this really detracts from the overall value of the book to the average intelligent reader. The overall impression one gets very early on is the notion that for almost 200 years after Christ, the body of documents, the foundation of the modern New Testament, and even the exact composition of the Old Testament inherited from Judaism, was not firmly defined. This is in sharp contrast to, for example, the Koran, the foundation of Islam, which was written by a single individual within a single lifetime and, to my limited knowledge, has undergone very little modification. The problem faced here is how to reconcile the character of Christian doctrine as revealed by God when the plain physical fact is that it took 250 years to decide from a larger body of writings, which were `holy' and which were not! And that doesn't even start to get into the problem of translations from Greek and Hebrew to Western European languages! What I take from the author's very scholarly point of view of this issue is that this is not at all a difficult problem. Selection, translation, and interpretation may be difficult, but the nature of faith plus a bit of understanding makes it all quite understandable. The written documents are human artifacts and no matter how much divine inspiration had a hand in the conception, it was still a fallible human who put pen to papyrus or sheepskin and put thoughts into a poorly standardized natural language.

I will not deal with the problems of translation, as Kelly's book is not about archeology or philology. For this, check out `Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About' by the distinguished computer scientist, Donald E. Knuth. Rather, Kelly's main interest is in the interpretation of these documents by the early church fathers.

For those fundamentalists who are inclined to take every word of their Bible translation at `face value', it may be surprising to discover that some of the most important makers of `Early Christian Doctrines' including the great St. Augustine, were very definitely interpreting New Testament writings to explain things which, on the face of it, seemed either bizarre or utterly simple. Some of the very earliest writings even went so far as to interpret some statements with allegorical meanings.

This being said, we should also be reassured that this interpretation was often done within very carefully prescribed limits, threading the needle between the excesses of Gnosticism and the oversimplifications of Arianism. I for one am really quite surprised to see that there was a quasi-Christian sect, the Gnostics, who had an interpretation which looked remarkably like the old Greek and Roman myths. But, even 1000 years before it was promulgated, the mainstream church fathers seemed to follow the principle of Occam's razor, paraphrased by Albert Einstein, which said that doctrines need to be just as complicated as need be, but no more complicated!

For those who thing the interpretation of 2000 - 4000 year old documents which became our Bible is an uninteresting pursuit fit only for scholars, you only need to look at the abomination to which Biblical literalism can be put in nominally political works such as Ann Coulter's book `Godless'.

My main object in reviewing this book was less scholarly than it was to bring this book's point of view into the radar of the average well-informed reader who needs to evaluate statements seemingly based on scripture.

Professor Kelly has served us well over the years!

I purchased this book because I was told by the most reliable scholars that is this is the classic must read! They were correct.