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Title: JOSHUA by Joseph F. Girzone ISBN: 0-684-81346-7 Publisher: Scribner Paperback Fiction Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.06 (146 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A Portrayal of Christ Among Us
Comment: Father Girzone has authored an interesting portrayal of what might happen if Christ came to live amongst us today. I very much enjoyed Father Girzone's perception of the humanity of Christ and how he might think and act. To that end, I enjoyed Joshua the person and liked him very much.
One impediment to any effort along the lines of portraying the thoughts of God the Son is that it would always be colored by our own biases of what should be and what should not be. So, not surprisingly, Joshua is really projected through the eyes of the author's views of authority, the Law and human bondage to sin.
I will qualify my critique of Father Girzone's message by beginning with the statement that I did not view this book as an attack on the orthodoxy of the Catholic faith. Joshua is much more concerned with human practices within the Church which may color people's relationship with Christ. Father Girzone does not attach Catholic doctrine. And so, his approach is far more nuanced that has been suggested by some critics.
However, Father Girzone's bias against institutions speaks loud and clear through Joshua. I believe he presents a false dichotomy in pitting a loving relationship with Christ against Church. The Church is a living institution complete with the faults and merits of those who are chosen by God to administer that institution. To that end, I agree with Father Girzone's critique that such administrators (i.e., bishops) exist to serve and not rule over the faithful. But once again, I believe Father Girzone runs slightly afoul by arguing through this book that the exercise of the power to bind and loose inevitably leads to exploitation of the faithful and a lessening of their walk with God. This need not be.
Nonetheless, this was a pleasant read. I see no "danger" in this book except to those who will easily fall prey to the false dichotomy presented. In Father Girzone's ideal Church, bishops would shepherd the flock but would be forbidden to preach as to which is good and which is bad. In the end, the conscience of each individual rule supplants the authority of the very Bride of Christ.
To that end, I have a mixed review. However, I think we should give Father Girzone the benefit of the doubt and look to the positive portrayal of Christ and his ministry of forgiveness and love set forth in this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: The message may be worthy, but the method falls way short.
Comment: I built up alot of great expectations after reading all the glowing reviews for this book in Amazon, etc. But when my wife and I started to read it together, we just kept hoping it would improve. It didn't. The message is worthy, and fairly simple, but I truly feel the author has a terrible way of conveying it. First, I'm disappointed that the publishers didn't proofread it better. There are many more grammatical and useage errors than should occur in a big-name book. Second, though Fr. Girzone clearly is committed to the philosophical line he preaches, he doesn't have much of a handle on either the way real people act and talk, or on contemporary issues - the kinds of things which would confront a modern-day incarnation of Jesus. His prose jumps from cursory descriptions of people and events - into unneccessarily long and detailed stuff about things of little value to the "parable". And I hate to admit it, but after about the fifth repetition of Joshua's main message, delivered each time in a sincere but preachy style, I got tired of it. Yes, I agree with the message, but this book is sloooooow going, and will probably be frustrating to anyone who had a good English and Creative Writing teacher in school.
Rating: 1
Summary: Joshua Junk
Comment: Many Catholics may be lead astray by the Joshua series. Joshua is the champion of the uncatechized "pick and choose", cafeteria Catholic. Basically the recurring theme is this: there's the Joshua Jesus figure who walks the earth preaching love and inclusion vs. the institutional Church with its dogmatic, stifling, and lifeless doctrines. According to Joshua, it doesn't matter, in the end, what Church you belong to or what dogmas you hold as long as you're a nice person. (That's fine if that's what you believe, but it's hardly the Catholic position.) The writing is vapid and boring and reads like a preachy, repetitious, high school essay. Do yourself a favor and save your money. I regret Amazon's rating system doesn't allow me to give it 0 stars.
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Title: JOSHUA AND THE SHEPHERD by Joseph Girzone ISBN: 068482504X Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 20 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: JOSHUA AND THE CHILDREN by Joseph Girzone ISBN: 0684813459 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Joshua In The Holy Land by Joseph Girzone ISBN: 0684813440 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Never Alone : A Personal Way to God by the author of JOSHUA by Joseph Girzone ISBN: 0385476833 Publisher: Image Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Joshua and the City by Joseph Girzone ISBN: 0385485697 Publisher: Image Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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