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Katherine Martin has compiled a detailed collection of feminine courage and real-life stories of going beyond one's comfort zone.

An inspirational feminist guide for young girls and women. Wonderful resources to finding a personal or impersonal mentor.

Katherine Martin's collection of stories reminds me that every woman, young and old, has natural talents and abilities to bring about supernatural results. A wonderful book that is sure to inspire readers to help make the world a better place.

There is a heartfelt need among women and girls to celebrate women's history. In her outstanding work, Katherine Martin has put before us a diverse group of role models from which every woman can learn and be proud.

41 women are featured in this thought-provoking book: some have names we recognize immediately from politics, medicine, spirituality & literature. Some for their derring-do & some for their expressions of inspiration. Some have made no headlines as they work with our homeless citizens or live with HIV, poverty or teach welfare mothers. One filmed documentaries in dangerous poltiical places. Another survived imprisonment at the hands of rebel bandits in a little known nation only to go to work, upon release, with refugees in ethnic-cleansing zones. Another stepped out of the shadow of a best-selling husband & learnt to speak her own piece while another is a pilgrim upon her walk toward spiritual knowledge.

Listening to their words, remarking upon Katherine Martin's commentary, I have found myself in good company & would willingly offer any one of these brave women my seat by the fire & a cup of hot tea! A wonderful read & a keeper! Do check out my full review!

In "Women of Courage", Katherine Martin has done a superb job of depicting forty courageous women who have followed their dreams, lived their commitments and made a difference in the world. These women are of all ages and are drawn from all professions: from art to politics; from explorers to activists. Some are famous and high-profile; some are relatively unknown. Each of these women has evinced a remarkable courage, openness and determination not to give up her dream - whether writing about the feminine identity of God, crossing the South Pole, or adopting a baby girl from China.

Too often, as Mary Pipher (the author of "Reviving Ophelia," and one of the women profiled is this book) says, courage has been defined as courage in the face of physical danger, the courage of a superhero or of Rambo. With this book, Ms. Martins suggests that courage comes in many aspects, all of which are important and valuable. I would especially recommend this book as a gift to young women, although both genders and all ages should find it enjoyable.

I had the delight of taking John Main's classes at the Yoga Tree when I lived in the Haight in 2002. I just re-ordered thsi book to read it again, my first on being purchased from the Yoga Tree. His honesty and simple, straight on writing and thoughs are inspiring and make for a great, motivating book.

As a relatively new yogi, I found Darren's book to be a fascinating read of the Eight Limbs. I hadn't a clear understanding of each until I read Darren's words. Not only do I feel a much deeper understanding of each limb, but I am able to deepen my practice. Darren's book was as wonderful as he is a person! Thanks, Darren.

I have tried to read many books about yoga and the eight limbs, but for the most part, I usually get frustrated and feel disconnected and quit. Darren Main has done something very unique. He has woven some of the more difficult concepts (and quotes from those "frustrating" books) and brought it all down to earth. I would recommend this book to anyone trying to deepen their practice, but not quite ready to isolate themselves in to the wilderness. It is a great easy read and really inspiring.

For me, this is one of those books that you cant wait to finish so you begin reading it again. Darren has a unique talent for bringing ancient yogic philosophy into modern day terms. I just attended his 3 day workshop in Denver. I am inspired to say the least.

Darren gives you insight in how one can practice yoga and spirituality while living the modern life. His stories with playfulness and compassion, illustrate how we can stay on the path. You can feel his warmth come through his writing. Urban Mystic is delightful to read and always brings a smile to my face.

You could say that Alice McKinley (not to be confused with Alice MacLeod) has a bit of a cult following at my current place of employ. So maybe it was just a matter of time before I too got sucked in.

A word on the series before I start the review: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor began the Alice series with "The Agonies of Alice" in 1985. In that book Alice is 11 and starting sixth grade. She has just moved and started at a new school. Since then, Naylor has been writing a new Alice book approximately every year which certain librarians have pointed out has strong addictive qualities. Until about 2002, the books ran linearly. Then Naylor did something different, she wrote three prequel novels talking about Alice as a third, fourth, and fifth grader weaving in stories that Alice had previously reflected on in other books in the series. "Starting With Alice" is the first of these prequels (followed by "Alice in Blunderland" and "Lovingly Alice"). I like to read linearly whenever possible so, after reading "The Agony of Alice" and finding out about these prequels I decided to read the series straight through in terms of Alice's age instead of publication date (the series is supposed to end when Alice turns 18 and is already well-grounded in the Young Adult genre at this point).

Now that that's settled, let's talk about the actual book.

Alice, her father, and her older brother have just moved into a new house. Alice's first friend on the block is Donald Sheavers, her weird neighbor. Along the way, Alice makes other, less weird, friends. And also attracts some unwanted attention from one of the street patrol girls. It's not always easy being Alice. I can't say much more about the story without revealing everything. This book is more about Alice's day-to-day life as she tries to fit in and make friends than about any huge event.

Alice narrates in the first person. As a result, the novel is conversational and pretty mellow. Alice is a cool girl, even though she doesn't think so, and her narration is endearing. Naylor strikes the perfect balance here. Alice's voice is consistent with her debut novel, but she does sound younger--without being annonyingly young.

Alice also demonstrates that, although she's only eight, it's never to early to develop a strong character. In the novel Alice makes new friends and stands up to bullies among her other wonderfully positive characteristics. I don't know that children read books about children in search of role models, but if they do "Starting With Alice" definitely offers up a good one.

In terms of when to read this book, I think it would work either way. I enjoyed reading it already knowing about Donald Sheavers and an unfortunate poem written to the milkman. But readers could definitely read this without knowing anything about Alice and enjoy it just as much.

wow how in the world do i start! well i read this book in 3 days. each day i came home when out on the porch and started reading for about 3 to 4 hours!

its about this girl alice her mom dies when she was young and she has a older brother lester.this was the first book i read and now i have read about 5 or 6 alice books now.alice goes through friendship trouble and other stuff too.its a really good book for girls.i also read the boys start the war by:pyills too.i read that in 3 days too.both of these books are amazing!naylor is my favorite author!in boys start the war there is pranks that the boys do to the girls then the girls do something and get them back and its filled w/ laughter!GET IT! if this review helped please click yes under my review
thanks!i reccommend it!cya later!have fun reading!

This book was free with a purchase of my Leopard Build-a-Bear when I was nine or ten. I loved it! I settled down with my misbehaving leopard plush and read the book through. It has to deal with all the fun of being a third grader--embarrassing moments galore, laughs, and mistakes! Hopefully readers connect with Alice as they learn about her bluffs through this school year. I would recommend it to anyone seven through eleven. If your twelve year old isn't too 'old' for this, then they probably will chuckle as they remember the mistakes that they made advancing towards grade four.

--Willow, aged 11

My daughter has read this book over and over again- she loves it!

For me, this was definitly the best book i have read in the alice series so far! VERY and i mean VERY few books make me laugh out loud, but this one did--on nearly every page! i engulfed this wonderful tale of an 8-year old girl and her adventures through the move from chicago to takoma park, Maryland, and how she has to start 3rd grade at a brand new school. i read this in one day! i would sit in my room reading this book, and every few minutes or so, i would laugh so hard i cried. And my parents were wondering what all that racket was about....

I love Amelia's notebook's especially this one because it is actually how girl's think when they move to a new place.

when i was in third grade my teacher read my class this book and i thought it was going to be one of those boring books they usually read. well actually, it was really cool! my sister is kind of like cleo and i am like amelia. it was real funny and i really want to own that book you peoplez should read it.

This is an excellent example of journal writing. It shows how a journal truly looks. Some students may get distracted though.

Amelia's Notebook is a great book. It is about a nine-year-old girl named Amelia. Her mother gave Amelia a notebook to record her thoughts in. In this notebook, Amelia writes all sorts of things like: her family (especially her older sister, Cleo), her friends, and Amelia draws pictures in her notebook. When her family has to move, Amelia writes about her trip and leaving her best friend. I recommend this book to girls ages 9-12. I hope you read it!

This is my all time favorite Amelia book. I especially like her doodles of cafeteria food in her new school and her dumb sister Chloe and her nice friend, Nadia. This is the best book. I've read it again and again. I recommend it to anyone who likes to laugh. Some other diarys which are good are THE DIARY OF A SLAVE GIRL, RUBY JO, THE DIARY OF PATIENCE WHIPPLE, and one boy diary called THE JOURNAL OF LEROY JONES.

I received these cards as a Christmas gift. What beautiful cards! What wonderful energy.

Have found them excellent source when you need a quick answer or more depending on time.

I have been using this cards for over a month, and everyday I feel absolutely amazed of how wonderful they work. I'm pretty new in this new spiritual journey (about 1 year!), and I'm learning to listen to my spiritual guides. So, I figured out that this tool could be another way to communicate with them, and it has been so! The cards have wonderful messages, and my guides and I have been able to create a wonderful way to speak. I fully recommend them to anyone who wants to talk with God, the angels, and the spiritual guides.

I've owned this deck for close to a year and it's the deck I always pick up to do quick and straight to the point readings. The readings I receive when I use this deck are very accurate and resonate well with me and my beliefs.

I seen these cards on the shelf in a bookstore and decided to get them. I am not fond of cards because I have toruble reading them but when it came to these it's totally different. The cards come with a referance book to know what each and every card means. I was most attracted to these cards because your spirit guides do talk to you through these cards and send you messages through these. When I first pulled three cards for my self all three cards related to what is going on in my life at the moment. It was amazing! I did shuffle them so many times and the perfect cards poped right up which means my spirit guide wanted me to know something. This def gets five stars!

Ask Your Guides Oracle Cards: The Direct Link To Your Personal Psychic Support System
I have been reading cards for over 50 years now, starting with a regular Bicycle playing deck before moving on to various tarot and oracle decks. Since I give readings for a living, I'm picky about decks, and this one is on the top of my personal favorite list along with Choquette's "Trust Your Vibes" deck. This deck has been, for single card readings, the best I have ever used for myself. Although I have used it in giving some readings for others, I keep this deck mainly for my own use and refer to the "Trust Your Vibes" deck for clients (as well as several other decks, incl. the Abraham-Hicks "Well-Being" and "Law of Attraction" decks)!
You don't need to be a professional "reader" to use this deck effectively; it comes with an excellent little book in the box with the cards. Shuffle the cards with your question or issue on your mind and then choose a card and look up the meaning. You will be amazed.

Auschwitz by Laurence Rees provides a compelling look at one of the darkest deeds in human history. Including first hand accounts from SS and prisoner alike, the book traces the history of the infamous camp from its origin as a work camp through its evolution into one of the most "productive" death camps. Rees delves into the myriad factors that created Auschwitz and how the camp's mission changed as the war progressed. The history of the "Final Solution" is detailed as well and Rees also describes several of the other camps and how they paralleled or were different from Auschwitz.

I had read accounts of the Holocaust before, but this book was incredibly detailed. The personal accounts were often gut-wrenching, especially some of the SS interviews in which there was often no regret expressed, in fact often the opposite. Not only a history of Auschwitz, but of Jewish persecution, the book provided information I hadn't heard before. There were a few accounts the author concluded the book with in which several Jews returned to their homes, only to find them gone or in someone else's possession. This was a side to the Holocaust I hadn't been consciously aware of, but probably should have guessed at The book was well written and quick paced, the material repugnant, but important to remember. Books like this need to be written and read, so that we never allow these events to simply pass into history or their magnitude diluted with time.

I just visited Auschwitz and Birkenhau prison camps and the book "Auschwitz-A New History" placed all this into perspective. The author writes the book purely from a historical researched point of view rather than from personal point of view. The book is very good reading and an excellent historical document.

I expected this to be a detailed presentation on how Auschwitz worked. Instead it was all over the place, with large portions talking about Sobibor; human interest stories; and how Jews were transported from Denmark, Slovakia, and France. This book should have focused on Auschwitz.

Most history books tend to get bogged down in their own data and dry writing style. What makes "Auschwitz" stand out as one of the most important books ever on the infamous concentration and death camp (there were both in many locations in Nazi Germany) is its readability - accurate but poignant and full of the drama that the subject provided.
Rees offers staggering information concerning the camp - the horrifying conditions for those selected to work and die as soon as they were unable to work any more - others "selected" outright for murder, most commonly by gas and guns, and even the occasional breakouts and shows of kindness, sometimes even by the SS troops who ran the camp.
Combined with the horrors of other concentration and death camps like Bergen-Belsen, the first discovered by British troops, Treblinka, Dachau and smaller camps that are not as well known, over six million Jews, gypsies and political "enemies" died at the hands of Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, easily Hitler's equal for depravity and pure hatred.
It is mind boggling how anybody can deny the events here, or the Holocaust in general. Yet Rees doesn't ignore naysayers who still try to deny such atrocities ever took place. Such denials belong in the same category as those who believe the earth is hollow, the moon visits were faked in a Hollywood studio or, believe it or not, that the Earth does not revolve around the sun!! This was opined by a state representative from, I believe, South Carolina just in the last few weeks.
We must remember too that the hate that leads to genocides is present in all of us and still occurs with regularity. We cannot forget Stalin's murder of 25 million Soviets, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, Idi Amin, and Rhodesia and Darfur. We still have troops in Kosovo after the "ethnic cleansing" that took place in the mid '90's.
Understanding what we, as humans are capable of, good and evil, gives us a better perspective on our behavior. We see in "Auschwitz" how "normal" people, placed in horrible situations, could turn murderous, callous and numb to what they were forced to do. We also see how some preferred death to killing others. It's not a fun read, but it should be in every high school classroom.

When considering the history of the Holocaust, Auschwitz and extermination are synonymous, as it should be for the 1.1 million people who were killed by the Nazis at this concentration camp alone. Yet as Laurence Rees sets out to show in "Auschwitz: A New History", the camp's beginnings were a far cry from its final stages. Like other concentration camps within the Nazi's network, Auschwitz evolved as Hitler and the SS found themselves further forced to eliminate their self-imposed "Jewish problem".

Rees begins his history with an examination of the camp's beginnings, built by prisoners of war and meant to serve a myriad of research and industrial purposes. Heinrich Himmler and camp commandant Rudolf Hoss discussed various strategies for using the Auschwitz 'Zone of Interest' - as agricultural research center to coal factory, neither seemingly forseeing the infamous nature it would assume as the war progressed and fortunes turned for the Nazi party. Filled with eye-witness accounts and personal interviews, "Auschwitz: A New History" is a chilling testimony of the Nazi's cold-blooded attempt to exterminate an entire people.

Rees' examination, though compact, is complete. He offers not only the eye-witness accounts and hard facts, but is able to debunk the theories that Holocaust deniers and Nazi sympathizers have seized upon. The greatest power this book holds is the testimony of the SS men themselves, men unabashed in their view of what transpired within the camp, men who cannot (to this day) see their actions as anything but right. They will not just deny their actions away by claiming they were "following orders".

It can often be difficult for someone who did not experience the atrocities firsthand to understand what life in Auschwitz was like: it is rightly difficult to grasp something so incomprehensible. Rees uncovers tender histories along with the harsh, moments of joy and love and the reality of daring escapes. By comparing Auschwitz to the other camps within the Nazi system, he is able to offer a complete picture of the greatest crime in history. Yet while his book has the added title of "How Mankind Committed the Ultimate Infamy at [Auschwitz]", the greater infamy lies in the fact that the majority of those responsible for the mass murder went unpunished, free to live the life they had taken away from so many others. And at the conclusion, Rees points to the very real fear that this may one day become just another piece of ancient history: the survivors and eyewitnesses are growing fewer, and the greatest infamy may be that one day Auschwitz is just another word, just another place in the history books. Lest we forget.

I've read this book at least 'more than' 15 times. I don't
know where I got it, as a birthday gift, I believe, but wherever,
I took to it as I have to few books in my life. I was unathletic
as a kid, though not as smart as the fictional Herbie, so that
helps. The book is dated, though not in a bad way, one can say
it just increased its attractiveness as a historic reference. Hard to
say how much Mr. Wouk is recalling his own childhood, but one can tell
he loves the characters, and it shows.

This is one of Herman Wouk's first books, if not his first. It is a wonderful story of a young man's growth in New York City. A perfect book for readers looking to introduce themselves to the novel; easy to read; a story of young love and of facing the universal emotional problems of youth.

This book reminded me quite a bit of the trite wisdom and stereotypes we see so often portrayed on modern family sitcoms and in fortune cookies...bullies never win, bad people always get whats coming to them, a kid who is smart enough can outsmart a whole group of teachers, love conquers all embarrassment and humiliation, rich girls are fickle snobs, the smartest kids are fat and/or ugly, and the best athletes never do well in school (and many, many more). None of which is true in the real world.

Yet, in this book, these very traits are exaggerated JUST enough to very colorfully and accurately display the vivid emotions of 11 year old Herbie just coming of age in 1920s New York, which makes the whole story a very entertaining read. What appeals most is Herbie's highly developed imagination, which brings him great trouble in his passion for Lucille, the horribly obnoxious girl who as soon snobbishly deserts him when he shows the slightest flaw as fawns over him when he shows outwardly just how wonderful his inner qualities can be.

But the same imagination also brings him great reward, leading him on a life-changing adventure with is average cousin Cliff, the final result of which wins the admiration not only of Lucille but of the entire summer camp (save for bully Lennie who has to wear a nurses dress and the unscrupulous smarmy camp owner/school principal Mr. Gauss). And, upon his return home from camp, an important moral lesson from his father.

Interspersed with this are hilarious moments, most especially with Clever Sam the perverse horse and the whole "Camper's Day" scenario.

A read I highly recommend!

At a loss for something to read, I picked this book at random - and then read it in three days flat! So nearly one of the best books I have read, it's full of true-to-life characters, plenty of touching moments and a lot of laugh-out-loud ones too.

The main character is obviously Herbie Bookbinder, an eleven year old growing up in the Bronx in the early 20th century. He is a fat but very intelligent boy, so intelligent he skips a year in school. However his main flaw in the book is that he falls hopelessly in love with a girl, Lucille Glass, a love so intense that he is led to do some truly extraordinary things. The intensely passionate feelings he has for this girl are to me what makes the character of Herbie so real.

The main event of the book is Herbie, his cousin Cliff, his arch-enemy Lennie and Lucille (among others) going to a summer camp, Camp Manitou. This turns out to be a fairly prison-like establishment, but dissent is kept to a minimum by shrewd calculation on the part of the camp owner, Mr. Gauss.

With Mr. Gauss, Herman Wouk has made into a person all those unpleasant characteristics we encounter in everyday life - greed, cunning, false charm and many more. He feeds the children ice cream on the first night, to dull their unhappiness at the dismal nature of the camp, and when the camp is defeated at games with another camp, Mr. Gauss manages, somehow, to inculcate a feeling that in fact Manitou won a great victory. As the final outrage Mr. Gauss effectively steals money from the naive Herbie.

The climax of the book comes with the confession of Herbie stealing from his father. It is very noticeable that the book gets a lot more serious towards the end, but it is never overly serious, and the warmth of it still shines through.

There are a lot of extremely funny moments, mostly involving a horse by the name of Clever Sam, and Wouk's dry humour at these points really had me laughing out loud.

The only thing that spoiled the book for me was the very end. Here it seems that Herbie and Lucille are finally going to realise their love for each other and perhaps share a truly romantic moment which has eluded them for so long - but instead the book ends with an extremely ambiguous encounter with an older boy whom Lucille seems to like. Even though this ending was obviously meant to be ambiguous in this way, I found it unsatisfying given all that Herbie and Lucille have gone through before. I really wanted to know for sure if they would ever get together.

Still, if anything this shows what real and sympathetic characters Wouk has created, and this small point did not seriously affect my view of the book as a whole. It is a thoroughly enjoyable and absorbing read, and I would recommend it to absolutely anyone!

Set in the Bronx in 1928, this Herman Wouk novel (his second) is all about Herbie Bookbinder and his experiences growing up during that time period. The scenes are warm and humorous, and move from one to another like the episodes in a good situation comedy. Two of my favorite funny scenes from the many to choose from are when Herbie and his friends are trying to get home on the subway and they don't have the nickel to ride, sneak on, get caught, and promise to send the nickel to the subway authority the next day (which they do); and the school play about the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, which has too many hilarious components to summarize. The writing is light and breezy, yet very assured, and Wouk keeps himself out of it so it doesn't come across as nostalgia in the form of a novel. It's an interesting book about growing up and childhood experiences, and deserves a place on the shelf next to TOM SAWYER and the stories of Jean Shepard.

As I sat at my computer, I glanced over at my bookcase and reached for a book. It was a Cup Of Christmas Tea. I began reading out loud and soon started crying. Several times I had to stop and wipe away tears. It takes you back to when holidays were simple and pure and about the people you love.
As I finished the book and wiped away my final tears, I decided that I will make our Chanukah celebration something special for my grandsons.

Symbolized by sharing a cup of tea with an elderly aunt and reminiscing about Christmases past - this is a heart warming poem reminding us to slow down during the holidays and enjoy our time with family and friends.

A friend recommended this book to me several years ago, and when I read it, I was moved to tears. Since that time, I have given countless copies to friends and family because I want to share the message that I received from it with everyone I know. The text is brief, but very descriptive, so I could picture in my mind the events that the authors were describing. The message that I received is that monetary gifts are not as important as the gift of time that we spend with others; so often we set out to do things for others because we feel obligated, and in the end are more blessed than the person who was the object of our attention. This is truly a wonderful Christmas story to read again and again!

I think of this book as an adult "christmas book". I have had a copy for some years and purchased this one to accompany a Spode Christmas "tea pot and cup for one" I gave to my mother. The 25th Anniversary Edition is a celebration of a book that will never go out of style and is a perennial reminder of gracious traditions and feelings that are the heart's treasures.

It's a family tradition to read this book at Christmas

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.

I have really enjoyed reading this book. I have been interested in Feng Shui for years but could never find a book that defined it so well as this one does. She set me straight about the differences in Feng Shui practices and how to use intention along with techniques. Great book with no confusion!
Kristi

I hardly knew about Feng Shui before I read this book--Plus, I really was not interested--so I guess I was a skeptic. A friend gave me the book for Christmas. And though I still am a skeptic to a degree, Alizay seems to describe Feng Shui in a way that I found surprisingly charming and easy to understand. I have tried a couple of her suggestions and I have been rather amazed. I had results! I am still not a complete convert, but the book is enjoyable to read, well-written, and worth the time investment for anyone to finally "get" a bit of comprehension on what this Feng Shui "frenzy" is all about.

I have purchased several books in the pursuit of understanding and applying feng shui to my home. After all, I know that I feel better in rooms that are uncluttered and clean per basic feng shui principles. Therefore I hoped to dig deeper into feng shui applications to discover how to increase the sense of peace and comfort into my home.

This is the book that I needed to make sense of the other books that I own, although this book could just as easily stand on its own. Gabrielle Alizay has a simple, straightforward, and down-to-earth style of writing. She imparts her knowledge in an easily accessible manner and encourages readers to make the art of feng shui "their own." She doesn't bog readers down esoteric mumbo jumbo, but explains how gain positive results by personalizing things within one's own belief system.

Feng shui is not some mysterious religion, but rather a science of symbols and their effect on our subconscious mind. This was the book that cleared the confusion of feng shui and made it easy to understand how to put it into practice. When reading other books on feng shui, I use "Feng Shui for the Rest of Us" as a sort of feng shui encyclopedia or reference guide. But, if I could only keep one book on feng shui, this one would be it.

Super easy to read! Humorous and fun. Alizay un-mystifies a foreign mystery . One that will help direct our lives onto a better path. Tibetan Black Hat Feng Shui is much less complicated than the Chinese compass version. It is much more forgiving as long your actions are done with intent. This book gives real world examples and understand that we dont live in a perfect world- otherwise there would be no need for Feng Shui anyway. So far i have been very please with the book and the results. If nothing else, it has made me take a closer look at how i am living, my surroundings and what they say about me and why.

As of Jan 2007 all but three reviews of this book were made in November 2005. They read like they were written by the same person to me.