Book Description
Hans Küng is undoubtedly one of the most important theologians of our time, but he has always been a controversial figure, and as the result of a much-publicized clash over papal infallibility had his permission to teach revoked by the Vatican. Yet at seventy-five years of age Küng is also something of a senior statesman, one of the "Group of Eminent Persons" convened by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and a friend of heads of government like Britain's Tony Blair and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
In this fascinating autobiography Küng gives a frank and outspoken account of the first four decades of his life. He tells of his youth in Switzerland and his decision to become a priest, of his doubts and struggles as he studied in Rome and Paris, and of his experiences as a professor in Tübingen, where he received a chair at the early age of thirty-one. Most importantly, as one of the last surviving eyewitnesses of Vatican II, Küng gives an authentic account of the conflicts behind the scenes. Here it becomes clear just how major an influence he was, to the point of shaping the Council's agenda and drafting speeches for bishops to deliver in plenary sessions.
Küng's book offers an acute analysis, compelling in its drama, of meetings with presidents like John F. Kennedy, popes like John XXIII and Paul VI, great theologians like Karl Barth and Karl Rahner, and journeys around the world. With its rich thought and vivid narrative, it paints a moving picture of Küng's personal convictions, including his relentless struggle for a Christianity characterized not by the domination of an official church but by Jesus.
Customer Reviews:
A must read for those interested in the lives of popular theologians!.......2006-04-22
A very well written, in-depth look at the life of one of the 20th Century's greatest theologians. Kung also happens to be one of the most controversial theologians due to his official disciplining by the Curia's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (FMR: Holy Office).
Although I found this autobiographical memoir particularly engaging and interesting, it only covers half of Kung's life. In great detail, Kung introduces us to his upbringing, family, Roman theological education, French graduate work, early scholarly career, his appointment as a Council Peritus and then essentially concludes this work with the close of the Second Vatican Council. On at least two occasions, he refers to the "second volume of this work" which implies he will write the rest of his biography at a later time. For this I truly hope since what many consider to be his most fascinating saga (the revoking of his license to teach Roman Catholic Theology and battle with the CDF) has not yet been approached.
All in all, it is a wonderful, occasionally overly descriptive work that is a must read for those interested in the lives of major theological figures. Kung also presents a unique perspective of the Second Vatican Council which has not been seen to date.
I highly recommend this book!
My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs.......2005-10-04
Hans Kung has give us a look into what made the Swiss theologian a strong force for individual freedom within the Catholic Church during the last half of the 20th Century. Given the independence of Switzerland, it little wonder Professor Kung was a force for bring the Catholic Church into the modern age. This first volume covers his chilhood, his advisor role at the Second Vatican Council and end with Paul VI's Humane Vitae.
5 star book 3 star translation.......2005-04-30
Fascinating reading for those interested in the background of the Vatican II council sessions and Kung's part in them; and in the development of his theology. And for understanding who he is, getting behind the media picture of the young theological "radical". What emerges is that the Vatican's biggest problem with Kung is that they don't scare him, can't browbeat him, and are arguing with a man trained in their own methods.
Oddly, the book is written (or translated?) all in the present tense, which can be confusing at times, when some use of past tense might distinguish between what Kung thought at the time and thinks now. I don't know if this is the translator, or the author himself; at times it gets annoying and tedious, even occasionally sounding pompous, which is not characteristic of Kung judging from everything else (and that's practically his entire opus available in English) I've read of his work.
At any rate, the use of present tense is strange even in a memoir; I encountered it once previously in a biography, and almost couldn't finish that book.
Kung's memoir also contains some assessments of others (including the late and current popes) that come off unkind and "snarky", which also doesn't seem typical of Kung, even in dealing with opponents, who I think he typically confounds by courteously sticking to his position and insisting on truth. I can't help wondering if some of the "snarkiness" is also a product of the translation.
Also, there are, as noted by a previous reviewer, some odd translation errors, such as calling the USA Secretary of the Treasury "Finance Minister"; again, perhaps translation, or could be the translator trying to stay "true" (unnecessarily, in my view) to Kung's German? I have ordered the German edition (along with the new "Islam" volume) out of curiosity on this point. My German is labored, but I'm anxious to get started on the Islam volume, which could problably prove dangerous to Kung himself if it goes in the direction I suspect (urging modernization by subjecting the Islamic "scriptures" to exegesis, historical and form criticism commonly applied now for decades in Christian scriptural scholarship.)
Vatican II, the true story.......2004-05-15
As a theology student at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. during the time of Vatican II, I was constantly in tune with what was taking place in Rome. Many of our professors made bi-weekly trips to Rome when the Council was in session and would bring back the details.
Kung's memoirs adds the inside story to complete the picture. It is a lengthy, yet fascinating review of the various Vatican II designers and participants. Better yet, you get an excellent understanding of the reform and why it was ended before it could take hold. And the knowledge of the author comes through. It's no wonder that Kung was the top theologian and primary behind-the-scenes designer of it all. I eagerly await his second volumn.
An important book for me.......2004-02-16
This is going to take a long time to digest. I escaped from constraint by going into philosophy instead of seminary. But my impression has always been that the Church had a place for inquiry as long as you did not disrupt everyone else as you moved from reflective thinking stage to stage in your personal quest. I further thought that as you reached the highest levels you would realize that what the Church teaches was right all along. Beware thinking that the concrete interpretations you have as a young person are the only ways to interpret what was to be believed. I have found the statments of faith, for example Fides et Ratio, to be masterpieces of saying many things at once in many ways. You only fail when you try to impose one interpretation or one level on everyone else. My way or the highway. Now reading this I wonder if my Protestant friends do not have a point.
Book Description
My Jihad is the personal story about the biggest threat to world peace and stability in our generation, as told by an insider.
Customer Reviews:
A fun read, but so are comics.......2007-06-10
My perspective is probably biased by my many years of military service, but here goes. The book reads like a good adventure novel and perhaps gives some insight into the loosely and even chaotically organized management style of many jihadists and their tendency to degenerate from religious warriors into common gangsters. However, it is hard to take the collection of stories seriously, sometimes they read like comics with Collins as a jihadist version of Captain America, minus the cool uniform. The nice thing about comics is that they have distinctive artwork and are not presented as having historical, political and religious significance and the writers are not self righteous.
At any rate, if any of these stories were being spun at the local tavern, the storyteller would definitely earn some free drinks.
Couldn't put it down.......2007-06-01
You will not be able to put this book down! He nearly gets killed in several instances, finds himself in the home of enemy combatants, gets caught crossing the border where he's rescued by a mobster, takes a few bullets to his legs, and still decides to return to the front lines! Whatever your feelings about Collins, he is clearly a hero: Most people wouldn't consider dying for their own country, yet this guy goes off to a foreign land to defend its people against the powerful Russian army. The book will also help readers understand what Jihad really is. You'll come to find that the current "jihadist movement" is in fact un-islamic, founded by groups of corrupt people, some of whom Collins describes as not being remotely religious. The book is a bit out of order: Section 2 should have come first. The book also ends on an incomplete note. Nevertheless, you'll get a first-hand account of a war that seems very distant. You'll also come to understand and appreciate the Mujahideen who dropped everything in their own lives to defend people in a foreign land when nobody, including their government, came to their rescue. After reading this book, I couldn't stop thinking about the atrocities that were committed. If anything, we need to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Uses religion as a justification for criminal activity.......2006-10-25
After reading this book, I am left with the impression that Collins was nothing more than yet another troubled youth that attempted to use a loophole in a religious ideology to justify his blatant criminal behavior. It also leaves me to wonder that had the scenario been a few years different, if he would not be over there right now in Iraq or Afghanistan trying to kill Americans instead of Russians?
I am skeptical with the title of this book, "An amazing journey from Usama Bin Laden's training camps to counter terrorism with the FBI and CIA." True it does tell of the author's travels from custody in the California Youth Authority, to training camps in Afghanistan and culminating with the siege of Grozny in Chechnya, but that is about it, a story and not a very amazing one at that. Collins never goes into detail about why he decided to convert to Islam, he just starts out one day while walking the streets of San Diego, enters a Mosque and decides to convert.
However, in part two of the book, he gives some insight as to why he may have decided to "convert," but never mentions if this is the actual reason or not. He comes from a broken home where his father eventually rejects him at the insistence of a drug addicted step mom and his biological mother is murdered over a drug deal gone bad. He winds up like most troubled youth living on the street and started out with committing petty crimes. He then progresses to armed robbery and an ensuing "shootout." When the police come to arrest him he proudly boasts about the 13 police cars outside and states to the arresting officers "all this just for me?" It seems to me this is the typical ranting of a juvenile delinquent, not a holy warrior. My interpretation is that he uses the religion of Islam and his distorted interpretation of it, to rationalize and justify his delinquent behavior.
He uses the concept of Jihad to further rationalize his desire to pursue his inherent criminal behavior by wanting to fight the Russians who are occupying Chechnya. My belief is that the same situation could have played out in any part of the world, he just wants to fight, wherever that may take him. When he finally gets to go out on an operation, "the others" have it all wrong, only he sees the impending ambush and he single handedly saves the others by attacking first and winds up getting shot in the leg. Then to top it all off, he becomes a pedophile by having sex with a sixteen year old at the hospital where he is recovering.
Again, without much of an explanation, he decides that he wants to work as an informant for the FBI against the same individuals he had just recently been fighting with. My assumption on this is that he had become disenchanted with his situation after being shot and he uses it as a ploy to have the government pay for his trip back to the United States. He returns to his wife and daughter back home, but never mentions whether his wife in the States knew anything about his illegitimate "child bride" and subsequent daughter in Chechnya.
He then continues his boasting about how he is intimately familiar with and easily associates himself with the Jihadist elements in the States and how although he is informing on them, at the same time, he works as their "muscle" on the side for some extra money. Again, he falls on back on what he knows, being a criminal. Lastly, and there is probably some element of truth about having to deal with government bureaucracy, but he never mentions how any of his work with the FBI or the CIA lead to anything productive or any meaningful outcome, just how much money he was making off the taxpayers. Oh, and he does get his troublesome leg amputated, also on the taxpayer dime. It concludes with him having a falling out with the CIA, who he then accuses of trying to have him killed during his last trip to Chechnya.
He concludes with a smattering of truth that on his final trip into Grozny, as he is actually faced with a true combat situation, he admits to being scared out of his mind. He attempts to save face by telling the reader that he was ordered to return to the States by his commander to obtain "critical" medical supplies. When he returns, his stateside wife leaves him and he is faced with the harsh reality of raising a son and daughter on his own. His illegitimate wife and daughter, whom he left in Chechnya, are never mentioned again.
A sad state of affairs.......2006-09-15
Firstly, I'd like to state that I loved this book. It was humorous, well written and thoroughly exciting book. The pacing was fast, the language is strong, and peppered with both American slang and Islamic references. For nothing else, it is a fun read.
I noticed though that many of the other reviewers called Aukai a "terrorist" or a "criminal" in their reviews though. This is not only incorrect, but also shows how jaded these people are. The fact that Aukai, irregardless of religious convictions, was willing to sacrifice his life in numerous countries to simply protect people that he had never met should be indication enough of the bravery and selfless nature of this man.
Is Aukai a flawless man? Hardly. But this does not make him a terrorist, or a criminal. Being that warfare still exists (Shockingly enough!), Aukai's killing of Russian soldiers is not a crime (At least not any more of a crime that any other soldier has ever commited during a war). I know that it may be a revelation to some of you, but a Moslem can be a fighter without being a terrorist too.
A somewhat misleading title.......2006-09-04
This book was recommended to me by my boyfriend, who has a vested interest in all things military (or even paramilitary), being in the Irish army. Having read the synopsis on the back, it certainly seemed like an interesting read, so in I dove.
The first thing any prospective reader of this book should know is that Aukai Collins has never once in his life been in contact with Osama Bin Laden, nor has he ever attended one of his training camps. Rather I think that aspect of the book was wilfully overstated in order to increase sales. Call me a cynic, but if you've read the book, you'll know what I mean. The second thing potential readers should be aware of is that Collins is an unabashed egotist - and it gets very tired early on in the novel.
The novel, in my opinion, is laid out rather back-to-front, in that it begins with his attempts to make jihad in various trouble-spots around the world, and we are only given any insight into his youth and why he converted to Islam in the second part of the book. And even this section, such as it is, is pitifully lacking. We are treated to a few short chapters on his childhood, but given no real insights into why he chose to convert to Islam. One rather gets the impression that it came about simply because he was bored in prison, and also because it gave him an excuse to indulge his inherently violent personality.
For all his posturing, Collins actually sees very little real "action". He seems to spend more time trying to get into the countries where he wishes to fight, and playing war games with his mujahideen friends in various camps. Even the manner in which he purportedly loses his leg is misleading - we are told he "left it behind" in Chechnya, when in reality he suffered an injury to it there, and later had it voluntarily amputated in America.
Depsite his supposedly altruistic side (he did, after all, want to help the FBI fight terrorists), Collins is a very hard person to like. He leaves a pregnant wife in America, then proceeds to marry a 16 year old girl in Chechnya. He then leaves her (also pregnant) to return to the States, where he impregnantes the first wife again. This third child is a son, and this is the only one of his children that Collins seems to care a whit about. I find it very hard to empathise with a man with such seeming disregard for his female children.
While parts of this book do undoubtedly give some insights into the world of the mujahideen, the one overwhelming feeling you are left with on finishing the book is "Why?".
Book Description
âOn the morning of March 6, 1970, in the subbasement of 18 W. 11th Street in Greenwich Village, a piece of ordinary water pipe, filled with dynamite, nails, and an electric blasting cap, ignited by mistakeâ¦â
So begins this stunning memoir of a white middle-class girl from Connecticut who became a member of the Weather Underground, one of the most notorious groups of the 1960s. Cathy Wilkerson, who famously blew up and escaped from a Greenwich Village townhouse, here wrestles with the legacy of the movement, at times looking at contradictions of the movement that many others have avoided: the absence of women’s voices then and in the retelling; the incompetence and the egos; the hundreds of bombs detonated in protest which caused little loss of life but which were also ineffective in fomenting revolution. While proud of many of the accomplishments of the 1960s, years later Wilkerson examines why, in 1970, she in effect accepted the same disregard for human life practiced by the government. In searching for new paradigms for change, Wilkerson asserts with brave humanity and confessional honesty an assessment of her pastâof those heady, iconic timesâand finds hope and faith in a world that at times seems to offer neither.
Cathy Wilkerson was active in the civil rights movement, Students for a Democratic Society, and the Weather Underground. In 1970, she, along with Kathy Boudin, survived an explosion in the basement of her parents’ townhouse that killed three Weathermen, forcing the two underground. For the past twenty years she has worked as an educator teaching teachers in the New York City schools.
Book Description
In My Life as a Revolutionary, María Eugenia Vásquez Perdomo presents a gripping account of her experiences as a member of M-19, one of the most successful guerrilla movements in Colombia's tumultuous modern history. Vásquez's remarkable story opens with her happy childhood in a middle-class provincial household in which she was encouraged to be adventurous and inquisitive. As an eighteen-year-old university student in Bogotá, María Eugenia embraced radical politics and committed herself to militant action to rid her country of an abusive government.
Dedicated and daring, Vásquez took part in some of the M-19's boldest operations in the 1970s and 1980s and became one of its leaders. She was able to avoid detection for nearly twenty years in the movement because she was both clever and considered too attractive to be a guerrillera. Her vivid narrative brings to life the men and women who were her comrades and conveys their anxiety and exhilaration as they carried out their actions. When she tells of her love affairs with some of M-19's top leaders, she cannot separate romance from camaraderie or escape a sense of impending tragedy.
If Vásquez gave us only a rare insider's account of youth culture and a guerrilla movement in a Latin American country, this would be a book well worth reading. But she also gives us an unsparing analysis of what it meant to be a woman in the movement and how much her commitment to radical politics cost her.
Customer Reviews:
A guerrilla narrative of Colombia's violent past.......2005-03-24
"My Life as a Colombian Revolutionary; Reflections of a Former Guerrillera," by Maria Eugenia Vasquez Perdomo is primarily a guerrilla narrative of Colombia's violent past. To this end, the author provides an intimate understanding of "how" young urban and rural Colombians flock to revolutionary movements. However, this book has two major shortcomings. First, the author fails to adequately explain "why" Colombians turn their back on establishment institutions to promote change. And secondly, Vasquez makes a very feeble attempt to demonstrate contrition for living the life of a terrorist for 18 years.
On that note, it is no surprise that the Spanish-language version of this book was awarded the Colombian National Prize for Testimonial Literature in 1998. Colombian readers have a good understanding of the absence of political, economic, social and land reforms inside their country. American readers of this text should be warned to pay close attention to the strong 22-page historical "Introduction" by Arthur Schmidt. Otherwise, they will never completely figure out "why" Colombians join guerrilla organizations. The author fails to give a comprehensive understanding of significant historical events. For instance, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, the Bogotazo, La Violencia, The National Front, the controversial 1970 elections and Camilo Torres take a back seat to her day to day anti-imperialism, anti-oligharchy, anti-sectarianism guerrilla activities. Had the author dedicated more time to weave Colombia's complex history to her narrative this would be a benchmark book.
Still and all, this is an extremely valuable text. Vasquez is harassed, hunted and tortured by state institutions. She also renounces motherhood twice for her senior leadership position in the M-19 guerrilla organization. Consequently, her explanation of the turmoil on the Colombian urban campus and the era of war for the sake of peace is useful. Moreover, information on legendary M-19 leaders, Jaime Bateman, Gustavo Arias (a.k.a. Boris), Carlos Pizarro, Ivan Marino Ospina, Antonio Navarro, and Alvaro Fayad is priceless. It just would have made more sense for the author to have developed a better "connect" between the revolutionary consciousness and Colombia's long history of state-inspired violence.
Bert Ruiz
Memoir of a Dangerous Life.......2005-03-21
My wife is originally from Ecuador and her best friend is from Colombia. So, through staying with her friend's wonderful family, I have had the opportunity to explore and experience this vibrant country full of some of the most kind and generous people I have ever met. Tragically, Colombia's history, from far into the past until today, has been marred by devasting political violence and warfare.
When Maria Vasquez was a young, idealistic student she joined a group of revolutionaries, known as the M-19s, hoping to transform Colombian society. Vasquez is an excellent writer who paints a vivid and compelling portrait of her youthful adventures and political activites. That is why I give this book a high rating.
Unfortunately, Vasquez's actions included such atrocities as robbery, kidnapping and hostage taking at a foreign embassy. Obviously, her actions caused suffering to many innocent people. She and other M-19 guerillas also receiving military training in Castro's Cuba and Gadaffi's Libya. In contemporary terms she would likely be called a terrorist. Vasquez does take some responsibility for her actions in the final chapter. But most of the book is a highly romanticized account of her "glory days" as a guerilla, in which little remorse is expressed. In that respect I was disappointed.
Still this book has an amazing story to tell and I do recommend reading it. But, sadly, instead of changing Colombia for the better. Vasquez and her fellow M-19s only continued Colombia's brutal legacy of political violence and killing. This beautiful country and its people deserve better!
Average customer rating:
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The Warriors: My Life As A Jewish Soviet Partisan (Religion, Theology, and the Holocaust)
Harold Zissman
Manufacturer: Syracuse University Press
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Book Description
A first-hand account that gives special attention to the author's experience among predominantly non-Jewish partisans in Soviet Russia, where he confronted anti-Semitism while facing a common enemy.
In this candid memoir, Harold Zissman examines Jewish existence in prewar and wartime Poland. Born into an observant family, he begins by recalling his youth in the Polish town of Ostrow-Mazowieck, near the German border. It is the 1930s, a time of childhood nostalgia darkened by ominous anti-Semitic uprisings and government indifference.
In lean and concise prose, Zissman relives the German invasion of Poland and his own incarceration in a forced labor camp. He recalls life in the Derechin ghetto, where every day brought brutal Nazi persecution and the constant threat of slaughter. Finally, he tells of escape to Russia, where he fought alongside Soviet partisans - only to face prejudice from his comrades. In the tradition of Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi, Zissman probes the Nazi impact on Jewish notions of identity and community during and after the Holocaust. Few books offer such detailed insights into the complexity, peril, and volatility of life as a Jew among non-Jewish Soviet partisans, even while battling a common enemy.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent memoir.......2006-03-20
Too often have I read memoirs from Jewish partisans who served either with the Poles, Ukrainians or in this case Russians and Byelorussia and the sad fact that they had to face anti-semitism within these partisan groups and detachments. Again and again they would prove themselves to be resilient fighters, brave soldiers, and heroic warriors when the time came in the heat of battle. Some lived through it all but many more would die and their stories need to be heard, understood and remembered. Not only suffering from the Germans and their local collaborators but also at the hands of the same people whom they sought out for help and protecting and more so to simply join to seek vengeance. This book is a small glimpse into that world, a world where the enemy might be a man you called a friend not too long ago and someone whom you entrusted your life to in a split second decision when had yet to lose faith in humanity and the generous spirit you know people must have deep down inside. Yet the end result more often than not was betrayal, death, starvation, torture, and torment. Stories abound of the dozens of actions undertaken by these partisans and the huge amount of damage they were able to do to the Germans and locals who were helping them. At the same time we are also told about the German responses to these actions, local people who might have had nothing to do with it were robbed, beaten, and killed for simply being at the wrong place and at the wrong time. War is war, I only wish that the author had included everything in this book, sadly he himself says that he left out stories of 'cruelty, inhumanity, and atrocity.' I think that was a mistake on his part, the more we know the better informed we'll be and hopefully we might avert something like this from ever happening again.
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