Book Review: Rousseau and Revolution by Will & Ariel Durant

The Story of Civilization, Part X: Rousseau and Revolution by Will Durant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If Voltaire was the embodiment of rationalist philosophers looking to bring reason to government and society then Rousseau was the embodiment of Romantic impulse for self-exploration and social revolt, they lived at the same time and died the same year without known their two visions would influence Europe’s most famous Revolution. Rousseau and Revolution is the tenth—the planned concluding but eventually penultimate—volume of The Story of Civilization by Will Durant and for the fourth time joined by wife Ariel Durant which reveals how Jean-Jacques Rousseau brought forth the Romantic counterpoint to Voltaire’s Enlightenment and how it played into the development of Europe in the late 18th century.

Unlike the previous volume, Rousseau is not as prominent throughout but his influence if felt as the chronology of the various parts of Europe are covered politically and culturally especially as the underpinnings of the Romantic movement begin appearing. The decline and fall of the French Ancien régime bookend the volume as Durant signals the fall of the absolute monarchy with Louis XVI putting the cockade of the Revolution on his hat, yet the history behind the collapse is and how each Estate had a ‘revolution’ of their own before being overtaken by the next until that moment. Between the rest of Europe is covered either from where they were politically and culturally left off in either of the last two volumes. As the Durants originally planned that this would be the final volume of the series, they ignored their 1789 ending point to finish out the lives of various individuals and take a glance at various movements—political and cultural—that began in the focused-on decades, and they did not believe they would fully cover. If this had been the final volume as planned it was a good ending to the overall series, but with another volume to go it will be interesting how the Durants write it given how they wrote this one.

Rousseau and Revolution finds Will and Ariel Durant revealing the countering of Voltaire’s emotionless rationalism in Jean-Jacque Rousseau as well as the consequences of his undermining of the Church that help prop up the absolute monarchy leading to the latter’s fall.

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Book Review: Exploring Mark: A Devotional Commentary by George R. Knight

Exploring Mark: A Devotional Commentary by George R. Knight
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It is most likely the first gospel written and was aimed at Roman Christians during the persecutions of Nero by a follower of Christ in his youth. Exploring Mark: A Devotional Commentary by George R. Knight reveals that why the other Gospels focus on Jesus’ teachings it is Mark shows He is a Man of Action.

Knight divides his study of Mark into 61 segments allowing him to not only explain each passage within the context of the book, the other Gospels and other parts of the Bible, and providing commentary about what the passage means for us today. Throughout Knight brings out themes and threads that Mark sowed throughout his Gospel from showing Jesus doing things and not just teaching, to sandwiching stories in-between two parts of another, Jesus’ continual request to keep his messiahship secret (which comes into relevance at the end of the Gospel), and finally the continual failure of Jesus’ followers to either understand, believe, or to take action which everyone one of us can relate to. As with other books in Knight’s Devotional Commentary series, context of the time of writing gives greater a clearer understanding to Jesus’ teachings and action that gives to us today the same blessing that those 1st-Century Roman Christians received in their time of need.

Exploring Mark is an excellent commentary and devotional by George R. Knight, who gives insight into the shortest and most like the earliest Gospel for the 21st Century.

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Book Review: The Book of Mark by Thomas R. Shepherd

The Book Of Mark by Thomas R. Shepherd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was written for the Christians in Rome during Nero’s persecution and this good news turned out to be the first of four that would reveal the life of Jesus to originally different audiences but collectively for all believers. The Book of Mark is the supplemental book of Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide (3rd Quarter 2024) by Thomas R. Shepherd reveals a striking, forthright, and powerful Jesus in the first evangelist’s gospel. Throughout the book Shepherd reveals the significance of “sandwich” stories, brings to the forefront a revelation-secrecy motif that reoccurs through the gospel, and emphasizes how Jesus’ authority comes into conflict with the religious leaders of the day through 13 chapters that cover the gospel from start to finish. I would highly recommend this 128-page book as a companion piece if one is studying Mark’s Gospel on your own.

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