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Dick Staub starts his book by describing the key difference between the Christian faith and the Force of the Star Wars films. In Star Wars, the Force itself is the energy field that "surrounds and penetrates us… [and] binds the galaxy together." But in our world, Staub points out that a Christian believes in one true Lord over all things - including the Force itself, a Lord of the Force, if you will. So with this subtle but important point made, the rest of the book takes a journey of exploration, looking in detail at how a Jedi learning the ways of The Force can be readily compared to a Christian learning the ways of the Lord of the Force.
The interesting aspect of this book though, is not the primary conceit of using the Jedi mythology to explore Christianity. Instead it is the wealth of ideas Staub brings to the table from a variety of sources as he takes us on the journey. The title of the book may presuppose and even help ensure a select demographic, but in truth Staub's book comes across as a fireside chat that would be of interest to many, weaving together elements from Star Wars, the Bible, academia, psychology, and so on to make his underlying point, which is to live a fully-engaged Christian life. For example, in a discussion that starts with a quote from Yoda: "Always two there are, a master and an apprentice," Staub follows up with an obvious Biblical parallel on discipleship from the Book of John, but then takes it further, discussing the Jewish tradition of how a rabbi chooses and trains the next generation of teachers that will succeed him, a more detailed description of how Jesus discipled his own followers, and ending with an off-the-wall but thoroughly on-point illustration from the field of engineering that demonstrates the value of correctly applied knowledge from those we should look to as potential mentors.
By the end of the book, we are reminded of the commonality of belief systems (fictional or otherwise.) All seek to give us our place in the universe, and equip us with the knowledge necessary for a successful journey. Staub's book starts with the myth of the Jedi system, but it's true end is an invitation to become a Christian Jedi, following what he calls the "one true myth" of the Lord of the Force.--Ed Dobeas
Book Description
Written by award-winning radio personality Dick Staub, this compelling book is filled with anecdotes from the Star Wars films that serve as a launching pad into rediscovering authentic Christianity. Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters also contains quotes from revered “Jedi Christians” such as Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, the Apostle Paul, G. K. Chesterton, and other theologians, mystics, writers, and philosophers. The author sheds new light on the struggles and challenges of living faithfully in postmodern life and offers a reintroduction to what C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien called the “one true myth,” Christianity.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing..........2007-05-10
As a person who is interested in the intersection between theology and popular culture I was very excited to read Staub's book. My excitement quickly faded when I read through the first few chapters. I find that Staub's book is a bit more of a devotional than anything else. Of course that is not a bad thing, but the content was not as in-depth as I had hoped. Also I found that for myself Staub's book is a bit elementary. That being said I believe that is where Staub was going since he notes in his preface that he was looking to create a text that could be used as a Christian "Jedi" training manual for young believers.
But as a person who has served the church as a professional minister, and has engaged in catechesis with young believers, I think that Staub's book fails in being a good catechetical help. There is not a clear connection between sound doctrine and sound practice. Staub jumps into orthopraxis without considering orthodoxy. Then again true orthodoxy includes both right belief and practice.
In regards to devotional books a good book that I purchased the same day as Staub's is a book called "Faith Odyssey: A Lenten Journey". I was impressed by the way in which the author (who's name escapes me) was able to blend theology and popular culture in his devotions. An excellent book and I only paid $3.00 for it.
This book is terrible.......2007-02-21
This is a self help book, not a book discussing Christian themes in the Star Wars movies. Do not buy this book. Instead, read your Bible and watch Star Wars. This is just an attempt to cash in one the popularity of Star Wars and peddle Christianity at the same time, neither of which I feel is done well.
For all aspiring Christians looking for a new kick........2006-07-28
Dick Staub does a FABULOUS job of tying in the old teachings of the Bible with the very popular Star Wars Saga! This is an amazing book and it is very insightful. If you are looking to change your life and be a better Christian, this book is for you!!!
This book is also great for people following Jediism who are Christian. I recommend with both thumbs up!
Just an eloquent writer gifted with the ability to reach out to both adults and youth! A MUST read!
Good and Bad .......2006-04-06
Dick Staub makes some very good points and conections to the training of a Jedi in the ways of the Force in Star Wars and the walk of a Christian following God in life today. However, he does misquote and misinterpret many quotes from the Star Wars movies, and I even found a misquotation from the Bible. He makes good points, but these details were distracting to me as I read. I am not yet finished and will leave more once I am done.
After finishing this book it occured to me that Dick Staub needs to take some time to do a couple of things. First he needs to re-read the Bible and get facts correct (He quoted Moses as saying something to Joshua, but Moses was dead at the time and God told it to Joshua). Second, he needs a simple commentary for the passages he misinterprets (He says David had Uriah killed to be the only one Bathsheba loved, He had Uriah killed to cover up his sin). Third he needs to re-watch the Star Wars movies and not bend the quotes of the characters to fit his book (He talks about Obi-Wan asking Yoda for help in Episode II and portrays the event differently than it happens, as well as bends Yoda's reaction to fit what he is trying to show). This book is not what I thought it was, and any Christian who is young in their walk should not read this.
This book does not stay on target !.......2006-03-03
The book seems to miss the mark. It just seems like he thought he could slap star wars and christianity on it to make a quick buck. Hey these 2 things have made tons of money in the past right? Ok not a good idea to put the 2 things together. Get dharma of star wars and leave this book on the dark side.
Book Description
Contributors explore new aspects of composition and performance in this comprehensive examination of the repertory, institutions, performers, composers, and social and cultural world of one of the greatest moments in music history. They consider the cosmopolitan nature of music making; emergence of markets for musical activity; and development of new musical styles and gestures. The work also contains a separate chronology and dictionary-style entries on individuals, places and institutions.
Book Description
Includes with brief biographies of all sixteen previous Karmapas, specially composed for this collection by the highly respected Seventh Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Here, the reader discover the compelling histories of the first Tibetan masters to be recognized as reincarnate lamas.
Customer Reviews:
ONLY for true devotees---The Worst Book I have ever Read.......2007-06-28
I am not a Buddhist but interested in the controversy for a couple reasons and I wanted to get an objective look at how each side views their Karmapa. I bought this book with the hope that I would have a reasonably objective although understandably prejudiced look at this particular Karmapa. 143 pages out of 351 pages of the book deal with the life of the Karmpa and the rest are poems, and writings of the Karmpa. Everything she has to say is rosy, sugary, and unobjective making it difficult to read since every step or statement the "Karmapa" makes from early age to the end of her "story" is seen as the step and words of "god". Her interpretations of every event surrounding "her" Karmapa are seen by her as so "uplifting" with his clairvoyance, memory of past lives, poems and writings even at a young age that I just painfully continued reading. I have read enough elsewhere regarding this controversy to know that she has stretched the truth beyond belief even though I am not in favor of either Karmapa.
The first Karmapa was around 1110 AD in Eastern Tibet and he was also the only one who, before dying, wrote down every detail of his new rebirth, so other Lamas didn't have to find him, they read the letter he left and then they went out and found the child. Unfortunately, the 16th Karmapa didn't leave many clues and now they have this mess and that in light of the fact he knew full well he was dying and that's why he was in Chicago for treatment of his stomach cancer.
DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK UNLESS YOU ARE TOTALLY DEVOTED TO THIS KARMAPA---NO OBJECTIVITY AT ALL.
Best of Buddhist Writing for 2004.......2005-05-19
Underscoring the importance of the Karmapa and the quality of this book about him, excerpts from Music in the Sky were included in the Best of Buddhist Writing for 2004, edited by Melvin McLeod. He is also Editor-in-chief of the Shambhala Sun, which has the largest circulation of all Buddhist magazines. Ziji on-line said that Music in the Sky, "is destined to be a classic," and Richard Gere called it, "profoundly moving." People from other countries have agreed and the book has been translated into six different languages.
Enlightened Reading.......2004-04-15
Music in the Sky is a thoroughly engaging account of a young Tibetan leader's dangerous escape over the Himalayas to India. This recent, true-life adventure of the fourteen-year-old, Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, underscores the present day realities of the Chinese presence in Tibet. Not only does Michelle Martin's book contain the factual details of his escape, along with wonderful color photographs, but it also includes original teachings given by this extraordinary Tibetan monk. Anyone interested in Tibet and its form of Buddhism will want to include this book in their "must read" list.
He risked his life for freedom.......2004-04-02
Unbeknownst to his thousands of followers who gathered at centers throughout the world to welcome the new millennium by praying for peace at dawn on the morning of January 1, 2000, His Holiness Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, was at that very moment risking his life and the lives of those closest to him to escape from Tibet. His goal? Freedom in India, and the ability to meet with his primary tutors in order to receive necessary instruction-an opportunity denied him by the Chinese regime that now controls Tibet. Meticulously researched and entertainingly written by Michele Martin, a translator with impeccable credentials who trained with the esteemed teacher Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, this book gives a fascinating account of His Holiness's early life, the political milieu-including an attempt on his life-that forced his decision to escape from the Chinese, as well as teachings, poetry, and art by a young man who seems destined to change lives around the globe, perhaps even the course of Asian history. Highly recommended!
check for yourself.......2004-01-21
This Karmapa is a Chinese puppet. To get to know the other version better read Tomek Lehnert's Rogues in Robes: An Inside Chronicle of a Recent Chinese-Tibetan Intrigue in the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Diamond Way Buddhism.
Average customer rating:
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Blackwell History of Music in Britain: The Seventeenth Century (Blackwell History of Music in Britain)
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0631165185 |
Book Description
The purpose of this series is to provide a large repertory 17th century Italian sacred music in clear modern editions that are both practical and faithful to the original sources.
Customer Reviews:
A perfect balance of scholarly expertise, historical scrutiny, and wry human interest.......2006-04-03
Written in an engaging and comfortable style for the non-specialist reader, Music And Ideas In The Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries is a fascinating history of how musicians and musicologists were caught up amid warring ideas about religion, science, education, economy, and government in the era of the Reformation. Chapters discuss "Humanist Reaction to Polyphony", "Music and Scientific Discovery", "Ancient and Modern: Styles and Genres", and much more. Researched at length, with an eye toward the musical revelations that transformed human understanding, Music And Ideas In The Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries is a perfect balance of scholarly expertise, historical scrutiny, and wry human interest.
Book Description
This is a study of the manufacture of brass instruments, particularly the trumpet, in Nuremberg during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The book begins with a brief history of the instrument and the city where it was made, and an introduction to the changes in style, shape, and ornamentation which occurred over more than two hundred years. The techniques of extraction and purification, and the chemical and physical structure of the metals are discussed, especially in relation to the use of authentic materials in reproductions. A separate chapter deals with solders for brass and silver and their use in the workshop. The tools and workshop facilities are identified and detailed using contemporary illustrations and examples from the author's workshop. The longest chapter, which is highly illustrated, deals with the techniques of fabrication as practised today, and draws parallels between them and historical practice. The book concludes with a discussion of the philosophy, ethics, and practicality of using historical instruments or accurate facsimiles in modern performance.
Customer Reviews:
Good content, terrible print quality.......2006-04-07
Robert Barclay surveys the processes and methods that went into the making of 16th, 17th and 18th century trumpets, mostly by German and Austrian makers. There is a great deal of information about the early metallurgy of brass as well as some detail on the actual construction techniques used by the early builders. Reproductions of illustrations from Agricola, Diderot, and Weigel are most welcome.
Don't expect this book to be a "how to build your own trumpet" guide, however--fully half the book surveys early metallurgy and tools and only the last half skims over construction techniques.
However, for a paperback of 186 pages, this book is very much overpriced. At $55, one would expect high-quality graphics, but instead what is delivered is blurry, low-contrast black-and white photographs. In addition, several pages in my copy were all but unreadable due to dropouts in the printing process.
In balance, this is an interesting read, but poor production and high price detract from this book's appeal.
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful survey of baroque and early classical sonatas
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Violin and Keyboard: The Duo Repertoire: Volume I: From the Seventeenth Century to Mozart
Abram Loft
Manufacturer: Amadeus Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0931340365 |
Book Description
This wonderful book is written for musicians seeking to build or extend a sonata repertoire. Analyses are given of both well-known and many lesser-known pieces of music, with recommendations on performance as well as descriptions of difficulties. Many are suitable for student or amateur musicians. This is mainly a book for violinists, though; many of the keyboard parts of these pieces are little more than continuo accompaniment. The second volume, detailing the music of Beethoven onward, contains descriptions of music that puts the keyboardist on more equal footing with the violinist.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful survey of baroque and early classical sonatas.......1999-08-09
This wonderful book is written for musicians seeking to build or extend a sonata repetoire. Analyses are given of both well-known and many lesser-known pieces of music, with recommendations on performance as well as descriptions of difficulties. Many are suitable for student or amateur musicians. This is mainly a book for violinists, though; many of the keyboard parts of these pieces are little more than continuo accompaniment. The second volume, detailing the music of Beethoven onward, contains descriptions of music that puts the keyboardist on more equal footing with the violinist.
Customer Reviews:
Informative and Exhaustive.......2002-05-18
This book is an excellent read for any performer of Baroque music. It explores all the different sources on notes inegales and overdotting and provides a comprehensive discussion of the subject. The book is written in a plain, straight-to-the-point style, and includes many musical examples. Highly recommended.
Average customer rating:
- Lutes, viols and virginals
- Great. Please contact me!
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Music, Science, and Natural Magic in Seventeenth-Century England
Penelope Gouk
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0300073836 |
Book Description
What influence did music have in the domains of natural magic and early modern experimental science? In this highly original book, Penelope Gouk argues that developments in sixteenth-century musical practices changed English thought on science and magic in the next century. Her exploration of the relationships among these apparently separate disciplines sheds new light on the history of each.
Customer Reviews:
Lutes, viols and virginals.......2000-11-19
How changes in the theory and practice of music echoed and exemplified a crescendo of new natural philosophy, and an equal and opposite diminuendo of traditional natural magic, is the subject of Gouk's book, an harmonious work that comprises three movements. The first, 'Geographies', poses and answers such questions as how was music understood in the period; how was it taught; who performed it, and on what instruments; where was it played and appreciated; and who were its audiences. The second is an annotated 'Gallery' of illustrations -picturing, amongst other things, the Theatre of Instruments, the Division of the Scale, and the Harmony of the Spheres- taken from contemporary publications by diverse authors, among them Fludd, Kircher, Schott and Mersenne. The last part, 'Narratives' relates the history of the Royal Society's engagements with music and the new Science of Acousticks, then studies of the role of music in the lives and works of Hooke and Newton. The author shews that, over the course of the century in question, the pursuit of knowledge and truth via natural philosophy took on an increasingly public and collaborative character, and this trend had an analogue in the increasing prevalence of public performance of music that had previously been confined to the chambers of the elite: in both cases, a species of Performing Art was being redirected, outward, to a broad audience in a secular setting. This absorbing book is clearly a distillation of many years' study and thought, and the resultant brew is a potent elixir of images and ideas, which almost evokes, at times, the sound of a lute, a viol or a virginal.
Great. Please contact me!.......1999-11-08
I haven't read the book yet but I do want to get in touch with the author, Penny Gouk. We were at university together and I am putting together a newsletter for all those of us in her year. Please ask her to contact me on: MWaller@compuserve.com
Books:
- Cinema for French Conversation: Le Cinema en Cours de Francais, Second Edition
- Cinema of the Other Europe
- Claire Denis (Contemporary Film Directors)
- Conversations With God : An Uncommon Dialogue, Book Three, Audio Volume III
- Cross-Cultural Filmmaking: A Handbook for Making Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Videos
- Danny Elfman's Batman : A Film Score Guide
- Edith Head: The Life and Times of Hollywood's Celebrated Costume Designer
- Ewen McGregor: The Unauthorized Biography
- Fantasia 2000
- Film & Video Budgets, Revised and Updated Edition
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