Heaven on Earth: The Lives and Legacies of the World's Greatest Cathedrals

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The book – in part a straight history of the sharia, in part a journey probing its application in our present time – opens in 7th-century Arabia. The year is 610 and a 40-year-old Meccan trader is feeling the first throb of revelation. With the exception of Barnaby Rogerson's Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad, I have read few books that give as humane and believable a portrait of the Prophet as this. The picture that emerges is of a man balancing the pressures of divine revelation with the political demands of having become, at the end of his life, king and general of Arabia. As faith adjusts to the needs of the moment, the ground is prepared for one of Kadri's big themes: the tension between text and context. This book was very informative. It approaches a discussion of socialism from a unique perspective of focusing on the biographies of influential leaders, such as Robert Owns, Engels, Marx, Lenin, Mussolini, Attlee, and Mao, who were involved in promoting socialism. Muravchik traces the two hundred year history of socialism and shows that any leader or society who tried to implement full socialism in the government and economy fell into ruin and starvation. Sharifa Oppenheimer’s parenting handbook is a result of years of experience and knowledge as a Waldorf instructor and as a mother of 3. Written in the context of the changing landscape of family dynamics, the book focuses on becoming more thoughtful about how to run a household with the developing brain of children in mind. Filled with research studies and practical advice, this book aims to help parents a family culture that feels like “heaven on earth.” What perseverance that is, which accompanies salvation. It is such a great chapter, and would make a remarkable little booklet unto itself that I really can't complain too much that it's such a departure from the rest of the book (though it did take me a little bit to get used to the notion).

Ranging from the birth of astronomy and the methods of early scientific research, Fauber reveals the human story that underlies this civilization altering discovery. And, contrary to the competitive nature of research today, collaboration was key to early scientific discovery. Before the rise of university research institutions, deep thinkers only had each other. They created a kind of family, related to each other via intellectual pursuit rather than blood. the movements seen on screen are often fast-paced and exaggerated, the subtlety of pausing to appreciate small wonders such as the rain falling outside the windows are not shown Divine knowlege fills a man full of spiritual activity; it will make a man work as if he would be saved by his works, and yet it will make a man believe that he is saved only upon the account of free grace." (178) Divine light reaches the heart as well as the head. The beams of divine light shining in upon the soul through the glorious face of Christ are very working; they warm the heart, they affect the heart, they new mold the heart. Divine knowledge masters the heart, it guides the heart, it governs the heart, it sustains the heart, it relieves the heart. Knowledge which swims in the head only, and sinks not down into the heart, does no more good than the unicorn's horn in the unicorn's head. it could affect the stimulus-response pattern of a child because if the child doesn’t understand what’s happening onscreen, he won’t have the opportunity to question why (unless there is an adult present who can process what is happening)Before reading this book I was convinced that socialism presented a naïve and alluringly simplistic reading of history without presenting any useful or workable solutions to its diagnosed injustices. Social democratic systems have proven far superior, allowing the 'invisible hand' of capitalism to direct an economy, that human minds are incapable of, whilst occasionally intervening to prevent unfair business practices and to garantee key rights (healthcare for example). After reading this book my convictions have largely remained the same, if not reinforced. Another interesting fact that I noticed was that many of the big thinkers of socialism were not "of the people" or the proletariat. They had no real connection with the people who they said they were trying to help. Many were not works or had not worked for very long in their life. They more often belonged to the class of the bourgeoisie than the proletariat and were often frustrated with the proletariats for not seeing their vision as clearly as they did. The proletariats they noticed were only interested in socialism during periods of social unrest which could lead to revolutions and the overthrows of government. As the primary role models of the child, self-care is a must for parents. "Your children need a role model who knows how to find joyful connection with himself and the world.” When you show your enthusiasm in doing activities that you love, such as playing the guitar or going to the museum, it will spill over.

For instance, in the 2nd chapter of the communist manifesto, Marx goes into detail about his theory and its perspective on property. He says that he isn't against private property and its ownership generally, but that his theory is specifically against *bourgeois* property. This motivated Lenin's entire concept of property right in the soviet union. None of this is explained in this book, and that's a mistake. The quality of our family culture pivots entirely upon the awareness we bring to it. Let us bring as much consciousness to this process as we can." Satan promises the best, but pays the worst; he promises honour and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure but pays with pain; he promises profit and pays with loss; he promises life but pays with death."Socialism continued to be pursued for two centuries, despite wishful thinking and bitter disappointment. Finally, in a dramatic fin de siècle, socialism imploded, with falling walls and collapsing regimes. First published in 1654, Heaven on Earth is a treatise on Christian assurance. Brooks explores in great depth the roots, essence, and fruit of assurance within a genuine child of God. Brooks' contemporary Joseph Caryl summed up Brooks' treatise quite well: "All saints shall enjoy heaven when they leave this earth; some saints enjoy heaven while they are here on earth. That saints might enjoy two heavens is the project of this book."

A vivid narrative that connects the lives of four great astronomers as they discovered, refined, and popularized the first major scientific discovery of the modern era: that the Earth moves around the Sun. I would never have survived with the media in our life! I was far too busy to deal with the whining discontent the media creates in children! Because I relied entirely on my children's innate capacity to create, imagine, be active, and entertain themselves, they did exactly that. They never came begging for my attention, wanting to be entertained. How could I, a dull old grown-up, compare to their free-flying imaginative world?” Today we take for granted that a telescope allows us to see galaxies millions of light years away. But before its invention, people used nothing more than their naked eye to fathom what took place in the visible sky. So how did four men in the 1500's—of different nationality, age, religion, and class—collaborate to discover that the Earth revolved around the Sun? With this radical discovery that went against the Church, they created our contemporary world—and with it, the uneasy conditions of modern life. Mr. Muravchik explains in the epilogue the only case of a successful socialist community, the kibbutzim in Israel. Successful yes, but only for a generation or two. What happened?Research findings cited by the author discourages children to be exposed to television and other sources of media (such as gadgets) for the following reasons: Assurance is not of the essence of a Christian. It is required to the well-being, to the comfortable and joyful being of a Christian; but it is not required to the being of a Christian. A man may be a true believer, and yet would give all the world, were it in his power, to know that he is a believer. To have grace, and to be sure that we have grace, is glory upon the throne, it is heaven on this side heaven. We offer the possibility that their future life of thought will be imbued with feeling, and with the ability to bring this heartfelt thought into action in the world. This integration of heart forces, thinking capacity, and the ability to act with confidence is essential as we move together into our new century and create the world anew, day by day.” The home should be set up to encourage imitation of adult activities. That is because adults are considered as templates of children on how it is to be human and whatever the child sees, will be copied. They just don’t imitate our “outer” gestures but also our “inner” ones. That is, how we move with purpose and conviction. For parents, this could be an onerous task because we might feel that we are imperfect human beings but the author assures us that: Heaven on Earth is an intimate examination of this scientific family—that of Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Galileo Galilei. Fauber juxtaposes their scientific work with insight into their personal lives and political considerations, which shaped their pursuit of knowledge. Uniquely, he shows how their intergenerational collaboration was actually what made the scientific revolution possible.

This book started at a 5, and ended as a 2. It's VERY detailed and, while biased, it presents a pretty measured and balanced overview of the history that it covers. I certainly learned a lot of socialism's history, and the notes I took are useful. I liked my post about it last time more than anything I'd say this time, so let me just use it (the final paragraph is new): Love is perfect, and also perfectly reliable. So, with all the imperfections that occur in a day, I always relied on Love, knowing in the end all my transgressions (against my own ideal, by the way, not theirs!) were washed clean by Love's great generosity.” Aesthetically, this is fantastic. The language sings—the book begs to be read aloud (and I frequently did so, interrupting whatever anyone around me was doing). You can feel the passion, the fervor throughout. A few paragraphs from different chapters illustrate this:

It is such a great chapter, and would make a remarkable little booklet unto itself that I really can't complain too much that it's such a departure from the rest of the book (though it did take me a little bit to get used to the notion). You are the foundation of your child's entire life. The way you handle yourself when his emotions run high can be a bridge for him whereby he discovers the fundamentals: problems exist, they are challenging, and they can be resolved to the benefit of everyone involved.”