Customer Reviews

Letter to a Man in the Fire : Does God Exist and Does He Care?

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As one who watched his own father, a retired minister, die a horrible, lingering death this past year after 15-year battles with cancer, heart disease and diabetes, I found Mr. Price's "Letter" to be both thought-provoking and helpful in my own search for answers to the questions posed in the book's title -- more helpful than my re-readings of Ecclesiastes and Job were.

No one in this life, however faithful, can be absolutely sure that he has THE answers. All anyone can truly have is a good guess about directions in which to look for those answers. I have found Mr. Price to be a good guide partly because he has traveled farther down that solitary road than most of us and has come back with the willingness to report his findings in the clearest voice that anyone can have under such circumstances.

"Letter to a Man in the Fire: Does God Exist and Does He Care?", by Reynolds Price, is a short work (108 pages) of nonfiction prose that attempts to deal with the issue of human suffering. In his preface, Price explains the book's origin: he had received a letter from Jim Fox, a young medical student who was fighting cancer. Fox had apparently been intrigued by Price's account of his own battle with a disabling cancer, an experience recounted in Price's book "A Whole New Life." Fox wrote to Price seeking his insight.

Price writes from the perspective of a faithful Christian of the liberal Protestant variety. Price writes of his own "revelations" of God's presence, his family's multidenominational Christian background, and other issues. He quotes and reflects on many biblical passages (both Old and New Testament) and also reflects on the lives and work of other writers: W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, John Milton, Wallace Stevens, and others. He also reflects a bit on the Bhagavad Gita, a key Hindu scripture.

Ultimately, Price has an inclusive and hopeful faith: "...I believe that God loves his creation...." His voice is earnest and his prose is beautifully written, but in the end I found the book oddly inert; I felt that I was left with no new insights into human suffering or the idea of deity. Still, a worthwhile book for both spiritual pilgrims and fans of well-written nonfiction prose.

In reading this book, I hoped to find some of what I've come to expect from a Reynolds Price book. But there isn't much here in terms of the quality of thought and subtle eloquence that I often find when reading his work. That is truly surprising when considering the topic of this book -- as well as the events of Mr. Price's recent life.

Here he is presenting a letter of consolation and condolence to a man who is suffering from cancer and the ordeal of treatment. And Mr. Price knows something of what this man is experiencing due to his own experiences with cancer.

But, despite these circumstances and all the best intentions, there is little hope or help provided in the pages of this book.

For someone who is struggling with doubts about God -- or someone who is persuaded fully one way or another about the presence or absence of a divine being -- this book gives surprisingly little food for thought. Mr. Price tells the reader that he has occasionally had a peaceful feeling of harmony -- an "un-aloneness" -- which to him indicates that there must be a God.

What help is that to someone who needs reassurance?

I do believe in a caring God...but hoped to find in these pages some ideas to share with others who doubt. Unfortunately, Mr. Price has not provided those ideas.

Surely God must exist, for in each, of so many of us, he has bestowed such innate characteristics that set us apart from the rest of our brothers and sisters in this crowded world. In Reynolds Price He has offered an unequaled ability to lend music to written word -few writers can turn references into poetry, knowledge into song. This is an eloquent gift, a vivifying endeavor to bring a personal perspective to a query that can only be forever pondered. The spark of Jim Fox's stoic plea, in the face of his own mortality, has ignited a Fire. It is our fortune that its mesmerizing flames: a glimpse of a courageous tale, a sense of duty, and a staggering theological knowledge, have been shared and are certain to linger in our minds and hearts. Beautiful.

As a person that has experienced personal tragedy recently, I began a search for answers on not the existence of God, but the question of "does he really care". I thought this book could provide some insight into answers to that very question. It only left me more puzzled. Mr. Price raised several questions as to the existence of God and whether he cares, but never came to much of a conclusion. If you are looking for a book to generate thought provoking questions concerning faith, this is the book for you. If you are looking for advise and answers, don't bother.

This book is very thought provoking. It is more like a philosophy text than a story though, so I only gave it 3 stars. It's a fairly fast read, and the prose is interesting. I had read another book from this author, and this author consistantly puts out good works. A good pool side read.