Variations on the Book: Glimpses from the Bible

ISBN-13: 9781475245516 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 598 str.

Mordechai Rimor

Opis

Variations on the Book: Glimpses from the Bible by Mordechai Rimor is a stirring, reverent collection of more than five hundred very short stories - one page or less - that express and bring to life well-known biblical verses. Legendary scriptural events are experienced with the vivid detail and sense of place of biblical times. In some cases, the story is a brief occurrence suggested or inspired by the verse, in others it is simply an image; in others, it might be a dramatization of the verse, or a scene in which a character mulls over the philosophical implications of an idea suggested by the verse. The collection is ideally suited for daily reflections, taking in one or two verses and their accompanying stories at a time, to then contemplate their significance throughout the day. In that respect, the book is similar to a book of poetry. For example, In Ezekiel 11:9, we find the title prophet in a striking and overpowering vision of how God will transform our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. Psalms 19:2 sings of the glory of God, while an old man marvels at the touching miracle of a newborn baby. In John 7:33, Jesus tells those around him that he is soon to return to the Lord, and we are transported to an ominous moment when officers approach to arrest Him with ropes. And thus it continues for hundreds of beloved biblical verses. With reverence and rich imagination, Mordechai Rimor, has breathed immediacy and new life into well-known verses of the Old and New Testaments to create a novel and enlightening concrete sense to these texts. Readers with an interest in religion or literary prose will value the deep sense of faith and finely crafted storytelling that come together to animate beloved biblical events in a new and meaningful way. Conceived as a fictional work of poetic prose that offers fresh mediations on biblical verses, Variations on the Book: Glimpses from the Bible is unique in form and style, featuring brief tales, each of which is told with evocative detail in regard to the places, nations, fields, cities, houses, and even ideas within the minds of prominent biblical figures and everyday individuals who surrounded seminal events in biblical history. While mining the depths of human faith, love, and respect toward God and our fellow human beings, Variations on the Book explores key ideas representing the roots of our Judeo-Christian religion, as they are expressed explicitly, metaphorically, or implicitly in events, behaviors, and thoughts that occurred during biblical times. In doing so, the Holy and its infinite cues illuminate this magnificent, rare collection of prose poems, which is certain to inspire anyone to view these cherished verses in a revelatory new light.