No comments about Guide to the Ajanta Paintings: Narrative Wall Paintings.

No comments about Guide to the Ajanta Paintings, Vol. 2: Devotional and Ornamental Paintings.

No comments about The Hastings Hours: The Book of Hours of William, Lord Hastings.

1 comments about Sacred Art Sacred Earth.

1. In Sacred Art Sacred Earth, Heyoka Merrifield has told the story of his life by exposing his personal and creative journey as and offering that reveals the source of creativity and the roots of imagination. The exquiste photographs of his sacred art make his keen alchemical visions available to many in book form, and the story of his courageous growth into shamanistic powers open our hearts. Barbara Hand Clow

No comments about Resplendent Faith: Liturgical Treasuries of the Middle Ages.

No comments about Thomas Kinkade Lightposts for Living: 2009 Wall Calendar.

5 comments about Symbolism of the Celtic Cross.

1. A previous commentator mentioned that he was unable to trust anything but the dates and locations. I'm afraid he shouldn't even trust the dates. For example, on page 40 the author lists the date of St. Aidan's ordination as Bishop of Lindisfarne as 653 AD, which is difficult since Aidan died in 642. The true date is 635 AD. Also, on the very next page, Bryce lists the date of the Synod of Whitby as 644; in actuality it took place in 664. While this may seem to be an exercise in nit-picking, since the book focuses strongly on the Celtic Christian church, and since these are quite possibly the two most formative dates in that church's history, it is disturbing that the author would offer them incorrectly. Beware of the others...



2. What a disappointment! The author clearly had an agenda, which was focused on the christian influence on Celtic Crosses. Many of his assumptions are self-serving, and I was tempted to put the book down halfway through in disgust. Other reviewers have noted good artwork, which I'll concede, but photos would have been better. I purchased this expecting some enlightenment into what the pre-Christian crosses symbolised, and was sorely disappointed.



3. The value of this book lies in its bringing together a number of drawings of Celtic Crosses - as additions to market cross, as free standing crosses, as illustrations within a paten ... etc. And the author calls attention to details within the crosses that might otherwise be overlooked.

   However, if you are looking for a book to interpret the crosses, one can better spend one's time looking for better sources. Bryce feels comfortable asserting that early Christianity was estoteric (the Gnostic Christianity was), asserting that Hindu worldviews are imbedded in the Celtic symbolism (they are both IndoEuropean there could be a connection), and otherwise assuming that "universal" can be assumed - it doesn't require proof. By the end, I was unwilling to trust anything the author wrote beyond the dates, locations and other basis information associated with the crosses. On too many points I wanted to steer him to reliable sources such as Pelikan on the history of images of Christ to modify his over simplification.

   Nonetheless, the book is worth its cost for the illustrations - and some of what the author writes is useful.




4. I've gotten in the habit of carrying this book around to show all my friends who ask me why I wear a cross when I'm pagan... like the way this book points out (as so few do) that crosses DID exist before Christianity



5. Derek Bryce illuminates the history and precise symbolism of the Celtic cross. Reminding us that the wheel suggests the halo of the divine takes us to the growing humber of empty crosses in Europe and USA showing Christ as victor over death. This expresses the divine shining through many holy beings. For interpretation of the four figures around Christ over the main door of Chartres cathedral read A New Sense of Destiny from Ancient Symbols.

1 comments about The Gospel in Greasepaint: Creative Biblical Skits for Clowns, Mimes, and Other Fools for Christ.

1. I looked into this book because I needed Christian material for a mime. The skits in this book are parables and stories from the Bible that are acted out with a narrator or at least 1 person talking. This may be all right for a program in a church setting. But a mime working at a festival is often working alone or with another mime. And a mime is expected to "Respect the WHITE". In other words a mime is never to talk while he/she is wearing the white makeup. The skits in this book were good, but were no help for what I needed and I felt misled by the title.

No comments about Sing a New Song When Music Divides the Church.

No comments about Communicating Spiritual Values Through Christian Music (Helping Families Grow).