Passion The Books

Wow. I've never been brought to tears while reading a book until I read the passion. It is passionately written but more than that it will make you think about your world and where you fit in it, but never tells you what to think. Despite the title it is not dark and is even uplifting and deeply spiritual in parts, but it does expose the dark side of humanity.

Be careful - It will not leave you untouched.
Tejun Fowler is truly a catcher of men. He caught me in his trap.

Wow. Words can hardly describe this book. Tejun Fowler, after all your trials you've finally done it at last.
If you look past the title of this book for just one second and glimpse the story within there is no doubt that you will be amazed. Never have I been more touched by a story. It's not just a story about religion, but about love, society, and everything in between.
Give the Passion of the AntiChrist a chance. You won't be sorry.

This is an exiting new book by a new writer. Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it. I thought it was really moving and beautiful.

What a book! It had humor, pathos, and engaged me to the point where I was really involved with the characters. I cared about what happened to them. I sighed with relief at moments, and gasped in despair at others. I pounded my head and asked, "Why?"

The book is the story of Pluto, an unemployed Cork man in his thirties, who is about to be evicted from his apartment. Through Pluto's reminiscings, we meet his best buddies from childhood and hear about their childhood adventures and misadventures played out on the streets of their neighborhood. Great stuff: cowboys, sneaking into the movies through the exit door, troubles with the "bad boys." Pluto, while awaiting eviction, meets up with each of his old pals for the first time in years, and relives old times. Pluto's life is crashing in on him; the chaos from his past and present swirl around him. He's not where anyone would hope to be in their lives as a person approaching mid-life.

I won't spoil the book for you, but I hope I've tempted you. I'm not big on novels at all, but this book got to me. Read it.

*A note on the language: The book is written in English, but it is the English that is spoken by the working-class Irish, which gives the book a distinctive voice. I'm working on a glossary of some of the terms that I think your average American might not be familiar with, and will try to post it here. Otherwise, email me at katekennedy@juno.com for my glossary of Irish slang.

My huband and I were privileged to attend the Passion Play in Oberammergau last month. I saw this book at the shop across from the theater before the performance, but I did not purchase it because I thought it would be too heavy to carry in my suitcase on the rest of our European tour. After seeing the live Passion Play, I went back to the shop to purchase this book because it really captured both the history and performance of the "2000 Passionspiele." The only thing I regret is that they did not include a CD of the music that accompanied this incredible drama.

If you do not have a chance to go to Germany this summer and see the passion play, this book is your one chance at a glimpse of a great tradition. This wonderful work, put on every ten years for the past 400, is the product of a small village in Germany where the locals play the parts of Christ's passion. The phtography captures as best as is possible the beauty and craftmanship of the production. "Passion" easily refers here to both the trails of Christ's earthly journey as well as the effort and style of the performers' work. The book is a very well done look at a play which is simply inspiring as good art really is.

Unbelievably insightful, believably helpful, this program has changed more than our sex life! Highly recommended, and fun. It opened new doors and greatly expanded others. Very well done and worth every penny. Thanks Dr. Ava!!

The Passion Power audiocassettes and 100 page workbook are worth every penny. By the way, you also get Dr. Ava's best selling Stock Market Orgasm for free. You can listen on your own or with your partner and will have more fun than you have ever had in your life. Passion Power will bring romance and passion back into your relationship and teach you some pretty amazing new sexual techniques which are out of this world. The Venus Butterfly is my favorite.

This book is sensational. I'm an aviator and don't usually read this kind of book. However, once I picked this book up and read just a few poems I noticed in a special way that it would help me to express just exactlly how I feel toward a special women in my life. The author is allowing me to understand and express my love in a more meaningful way to the women I care most about.
After reading the entire book I highly recommend that every man should buy this book to better express their feelings to their loved ones.

This is a book of love poetry written to another woman, but I found myself wishing
the poems were meant for me. The writings were sequenced to experience the ups and downs of dating another.
Each poem brought me closer to knowing two people searching for love.
I could feel the pain and the joy in the relationship unfolding over time.
I became so immersed in his writing that I read the entire book without putting it down.
I wanted to read more, but most of all I wanted my special guy to tell me just how much I meant to him.
I will keep this book by my nightstand, and can't wait to see more of his work.
I highly recommend the book.

Eloquent in style, bright and positive in mood, rich in language, a truly talented author who will one day receive literary recognition for her work.

A compelling and delicious book. A wonderful voice that is startling in its power to move, interest and delight.

I just got my copy of the vocal score of Sondheim's "Passion" and I should say it is a Broadway collector's joy to have one of these. The entire book contains all the music, lyrics, and underscores. An average pianist may find it quite difficult to play the music but when played by an expert it makes it sound almost as if you're playing the entire orchestra! Anyone who loves collecting Broadway music definitely wouldn't want to miss owning a copy of this fabulous musical. This goes better together with the script which is also available from Amazon.

Passion is an excellent show. It won the Tony for best musical in 1994.

One of the things that I find most fascinating about this score is the way it flows from song to dialogue and back again. Songs segue into one another without breaking flow or style. There are no set applause points, no big dance numbers, just a moving, touching story told with some of the most beautiful music ever written for the stage.

If you are a Sondheim fan at all, or if you would like to own an achingly beautiful collection of love songs, this is definitely the score for you.

This book is one of the most sensual pieces of literature out there. I cannot think of another book that reads so much like an operatic aria. It is not so much a meditation on love as on all-consuming attraction, obsession, and eroticism. The story takes you into the mind of Giorgio, who is torn between two women who could hardly be more opposite. Clara is beautiful, healthy...and married. Fosca is sickly, desperate...and alluring. The two best things I can say about reading this book are:
1) It challenges each of us to get in touch with the light and dark sides of human sexuality.
2) The translation is absolutely outstanding. For readers who appreciate masterful translation work, or for those who study literature in translation, this is a must-read!

Fosca is a sick woman, living in XIXth Italy she is considered a Hysteric. But Fosca is not only sick she is ugly. And there is nothing worse for a woman being ugly. So one day arrives Giorgio, a handsome officer, who just left his lover, a married woman back in Milan. To Fosca is love at first sight, but for Giorgo is not. He tries to be kind because she is ill. But her desperate love is more than he can endure.

The PASSION she feels for him is agressive even in the physical sense of the word. Fosca wants him so desperately that you can do nothing but understand her and also feel what she feels. Unrequited love here is a powerful force out of control.
The darkness in his relation with Fosca has its reverse with the clarity in his relation with Clara. She is beautiful, sensual. The "usual" object for a man's affection. But through the novel this oposition is changing in a subtile way. Because finally what Fosca offers is pure love. With total surrender, yes, but giving everything in exchange.

I always recomend to read the book in Italian, but this translation is a good one. And if you want to make this reading a memorable experience listen Stephen sondheim's musical "Passion". His adaptation is perfect.
If you like Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre this book wil be one of your favourites

This book's exuberance is immediately evident from the cover, with its photo of a joyous figure leaping in front of a sunrise. The book contains inspiring stories and practical how-to's for cultivating a deep appreciation for life.

I learned about the author from a friend in England who is her coaching client. Van Meter is a psychotherapist and personal coach, so she not only writes about life passion, she helps other people find and cultivate their own.

I particularly resonated to it because I was raised to keep a low profile and not attract attention to myself, and then here comes this book that advocates living with zest and pleasure, and trusting your own internal drummer.

It would be a great handbook for parents who want to nurture their kids' individuality, for graduates who need encouragement to follow their hearts, for couples who want to rekindle their passionate love. The book asks and answers fundamental questions about passion. Are we all born with it? How do we lose it? How can we get it back?

I liked the accessible and informal writing style, and also the quotes from philosophers, poets, and writers from several centuries, all supporting the idea of passionate, appreciative living.

This book's exuberance is immediately evident from the cover, with its photo of a joyous figure leaping in front of a sunrise. The book contains inspiring stories and practical how-to's for cultivating a deep appreciation for life.

I learned about the author from a friend in England who is her coaching client. Van Meter is a psychotherapist and personal coach, so she not only writes about life passion, she helps other people find and cultivate their own.

I particularly resonated to it because I was raised to keep a low profile and not attract attention to myself, and then here comes this book that advocates living with zest and pleasure, and trusting your own internal drummer.

It would be a great handbook for parents who want to nurture their kids' individuality, for graduates who need encouragement to follow their hearts, for couples who want to rekindle their passionate love. The book asks and answers fundamental questions about passion. Are we all born with it? How do we lose it? How can we get it back?

I liked the accessible and informal writing style, and also the quotes from philosophers, poets, and writers from several centuries, all supporting the idea of passionate, appreciative living.

Passionate Dialogues is a book well worth reading even though Mel Gibson's film came out some time ago. The articles in this book highlight many reasons why we, Christians and Jews, should not let the flurry of conversations and opinions and feeling that the movie sparked die out. The editors did a great job of pulling together a rich array of perspectives that dig deeply into everything from film making to the war on terror and Biblical scholarship.

These are my comments, section by section:

Historical perspecitives:
Denova's article is a trove of clear and concise information culled from extra-Biblical sources. She uses this scholarship to help inform us of Gibson' manipulation of the Passion Narrative. She shows us that his primary focus on who was responsible for Christ's death overshadows the very real tragedy of Jesus' betrayal by all. She makes a compelling argument that Gibson's film is unfortunate because its portrayal of Jesus' death as atoning sacrifice continues what J. D. Crossan calls the "largest lie" in Christianity.

Richard Miller's article continues on with the atonement. His quite original work compares Gibson's traditional portrayal as Jesus as victim - an atoning, universal sacrifice for sin, with an older tradition culled from 2 and 4 Maccabees and other Hellenistic sources. His argument that Jesus, following a strong theological and historical precedent for martyrdom in his own time, determined to attain martrydom to foment a radical change, is meticulous and compelling.

Anne Brannen's article points to a place that I identified with strongly as I watched the movie - there was no point of contact for me to implicate myself into Christ's passion as a perpetrator. She describes a medieval resource that Gibson overlooked in his medieval treatment of the story: The York play "Crucifixtion." Using the perspective present in this play, people would have been drawn into the realization of their own sin and redemption, much like a modern day David Mamet play can do for an audience today.

In "From Stage to Screen," Ziva Piltch discusses quite well the translation of the somewhat parallel tradition of medieval Passion Plays to the genre of film Her analysis is very thought provoking. I found myself fascinated by her revelations about how film direction, editing and photography moves us in ways that are more limiting than the techniques of the medieval playwrights. Her insights into anti-semitism in Gibson's film are key and exacting.

Dorothy Chansky's easily accessible article is a great look at the more homespun modern passion plays in North America. I appreciate her bias completely. Especially good are her observations that when these plays are "preaching to the choir" their underlying purpose of conversion, like Gibson's film, marginalizes anyone from outside the community. She makes the point that theater can be used to critique and reinvent stereotypes such as the evil Jews or a Caucasian Jesus. Gibson wasted this opportunity.

Literary perspectives:
Ray Keck's literary analysis is inventive and powerful. He sees a certain awful beauty in the violent portrayal of the sacrifice of Christ in Gibson's movie. Mentioning several Spanish authors and works - Lorca and Miro - he identifies the Passion of Christ as a modern day metonymy for the state of our world today. Much as "the bottle" has become a metonym for the disease of alcholism - Christ's passion has become a metonym for our reality.

In a dialogue with the writings of Flannery O'Connor, Williams does a beautiful job of upholding Gibson's portrayal of Satan and the ongoing battle between him and Jesus. Using the vehicle of transubstantiation, he makes a case for placing Gibson's vision on par with great literature. This disturbs me because he fails to see, I think, Gibson's failed attempt to "present violence s a vehicle to understanding the world." (p. 120) I wonder if Gibson's personified Satan does anything except place our own hands on the mallet and nails (as Gibson claims.)

In the article "What Gibson Really Meant", Wilhelm Wurzer seems to echo things that preachers, probably even including Jesus, have long known: "the real spirit of Gibson's film is not limited to ... the various incidents... on screen." (p. 137). I think what "Wurzer really meant", but never says, is that the Holy Spirit can be relied upon to allow a picture of Jesus that is alive and in the world, inspite of Gibson's alternative purposes. This unlimited quality, along with the masterful cinematography and score lead Wurzer to dub the movie a "work of art."

Sarah Haeglin examines Gibson's cinematic decisons and declares that his intense scrutiny and portrayal of the scourging of Jesus is an ethical failure. She argues convincingly that his flashback technique - cutting violence with loving moments with the women - subverts the message of Christ and the mystery of salvation by shifting the historic theology of the cross to the theology of the whip.

Psychoanalytic perspectives:
Don Carveth take on Gibson's film claiming that its violent picture of Jesus' death supports a less evolved understanding of the atonement - limiting it to the substitutionary model. He recognizes a more "advanced" understanding of the atonement (that I like except for the hiearchy he attributes to it.) This is one that allows good and evil to be experienced and held in tension with one another. He, therefore, judges Gibson's film to be narrow and primitive by supporting a view of Christianity that denies many of its central truths and paradoxes.

Philip Gundersn sees Gibson's film as another voice in the "language of sacrifice" (p. 180) that has taken over in neo-conservative rhetoric since 9/11. He argues rather brilliantly that the old Freudian model of psycho-sexual development, wherein we sacrifice pleasure for delayed gratification at some stage in our lives, is played out in extreme in this film. This same CHOICE for sacrifice is being called for in the war on terror by the power that be today.

Britton Johnston's argument that Gibson portrays Jesus as the ultimate Lethal Weapon is compelling. Using the anthropological/literary work of Rene Girard, Johnston shows that Gibson's work totally reverses and undoes the hopeful message of the whole Bible - that humanity can say NO to its ancient and mythic patterns of scape-goating as opposed to grace and mercy.

Interfaith Perspective:
David Shtulman write a very well balanced article on how Gibson's film provides a teachable moment for Jewish/Christian relationships. He highlights the progress of this reconciliation starting with Vatican II. And, while not ignoring the anti-Semitic aspects of the film, he cautions Jews not to over react or expect to tell Christians how to tell their own story.

Daniel Burston finishes the collection with an article that takes us back to the beginning articles. He cautions Christians to deepen their understanding of why Jews don't necessarily appreciate the universalism of humanity's culpability for the death of Jesus. He feels that Gibson's movie is an anachronism that has reversed the ideal of a vibrant and humane religious pluralism" (p. 239) He also outlines, with brave honesty, what he sees as a "Faustian bargain" that exists between Evangelicals and Israeli Jews and also between more mainline factions of both faiths as we band together against the Muslims. His discussion of original sin was eye-opening.

This is an amazing book that deserves wide circulation. It is not simply a book about Mel Gibson's movie - it's a frank and scholarly discussion of the role of religion in American life. The editors - Daniel Burston and Rebecca Denova - have done an excellent job of assembling a wide-array of opinions on Gibson's movie. Indeed, Burston and Denova deserve our gratitude for insisting on essays that are both challenging and contrary to the editors' own view. This book does not bash Gibson's movie. That would be too easy and not particularly edifying. Rather, the editors have done what Gibson himself is constitutionally incapable of doing - they have treated religion as something problematic, as something that needs to be thought out, and as something not to be used as a bludgeon to force people into line.

The book has 14 chapters, organized by 5 themes. The first section is Historical Perspectives, which looks at Gibson's movie from a number of different perspectives. The lead essay by Denova gives a very good overview of the meaning (to both Christians and Jews) of passion plays, the crucifix, the arrest and trial of Jesus. Overall, Denova writes a very measured essay, criticizing Gibson for emphasizing conflict over love. This, of course, could be criticized, for Gibson is hardly deserving of one's moderation; but Denova has written a fine historical essay that is very thoughtful and sensitive.

The other essays in the section are less rigorous, but no less interesting. Richard Miller thinks that Gibson is courageous to tell the story as he does, but he doesn't back that claim up; Anne Brannen dislikes the use of "medieval" as a synonym for reactionary, and tries to revive an alternative understanding of that concept. She finds that Gibson's medievalism may not be the most salutary understanding of that term.

Piltch and Chansky both discuss the meaning of the Passion play in western culture. It seems clear that Gibson knows that Passion plays incite anti-semitism and hatred; it is hard to divorce the meaning of these plays from innocent religious theatrics.

The next section discusses Gibson's movie from literary perspectives. The two essays are short but incisive commentaries on the role of violence in Gibson's movie.

The next section is on Film Studies. These two essays are perhaps the best of the book. The first essay by Wurzer is a strange one. He not only tries to revive Nietzsche as a rightwing philosopher, but he brings along Mel Gibson and Jesus too. Wurzer is clearly having fun using rightwing postmodernism to his favor. His essay suffers, however, from his desire for play at the expense of locating Gibson's excesses, his stupid anti-semitic remarks, his paranoia, his historical inaccuracies, and his bloodlust within the tradition he is trying to revive. Sarah Hagelin's essay rectifies some of Wurzer's omissions. She discusses the film from the standpoint of film studies. She finds problems with the movie as well as with its theology (which Wurzer doesn't address). She rightly places the movie in context with other movies on Jesus' life (Scorcese), as well as within a literary tradition, emphasizing the movie's violence as part of the larger American culture and Mel Gibson's filmography. It's an essay well worth reading.

Daniel Burston is a professor of psychology (see his other books on Amazon), and no doubt encouraged some authors to discuss essays from a psychoanalytic perspective. This was a brilliant idea. In this section, there is one short essay, a medium essay discussing Rene Girard, and a longer one that discusses the movie through a Lacanian and Deluezian perspective. This essay too is one of the finest in the book, and a good corrective to Wurzer's.

Finally, there are essays on inter-faith dialogue. It's clear that Gibson's movie has irritated the issue, with conservative religious people defending the movie without acknowledging its major defects, its distortions, its use of violence, its antisemtic imagery. Dan Burston clearly feels the pain of Gibson's efforts. He writes a sensitive essay on the damage done by Gibson to interfaith dialogue. But Burston, one feels, is an optimist, and the book reflects his overall efforts to bring diverse people together. Bravo!

This is a fine book on a difficult topic. Burston and Denova are sensitive and fine scholars of their respective fields. Although the movie came out some time ago, this book is not untimely. The issues it addresses are contemporary issues. It is fair, open, moderate, and dedicated to the finest spirit of liberalism - all things, unfortunately, Mel Gibson seeks to rid us of.