Customer Reviews

Reincarnation in Christianity: A New Vision of the Role of Rebirth in Christian Thought (Quest Books)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Anyone who thinks of himself or herself as 'Christian' by orientation but who finds popular ideas of Heaven and hell untenable is likely to welcome this book, written by an Anglican (Episcopal) priest. Fr. MacGregor explains that the concept of reincarnation has a long and distinguished tradition in Christendom and that it remains a highly respectable (and totally logical) way of explaining the obvious inequities of this world, while allowing us to escape from the absurdity of supposing that human beings come only once to earth. This book will be liberating for those who, while attracted to Christianity in an overall sense, nevertheless balk at the simplistic 'Christian' notion that we go (finally) either to Heaven or to hell when we die, without opportunity for further growth.

This is a solid, well-researched book that reads a little bit like a textbook that the author might have used in one his classes at the University. Like Dr. Ian Stevenson who also wrote on the topic of reincarnation from a scientific point of view, Professor MacGregor is very careful to take a balanced, rational approach to the topic and he supports his views with references to a broad spectrum of authors and sources. Like
Stevenson, MacGregor does not make radical claims about the truth or falseness of a belief in reincarnation and its relation to Christianity, but leaves it open for the reader to form his own opinions.

I agree with 'icappleg' that the book sorely needs an editor, or plainly a new author to get some of the ideas across. There are so many clutter words, and poor sentence structure that it does indeed make it quite a task to sift through this book.
When you do get through it, you are able to find a few gems worth taking with you. But I must say, you have to be careful picking up these gems for they ARE timeless, yet there are many ideas the author places in his book that are NOT timeless. They give away the science and research of his day. Thus, a Revision, Expansion and maybe a whole Revamp of this book is required for this book to get any more than 1, 2 or 3 stars at the most.

If you are reading this you are no doubt amply aware already that there aren't many books available on this subject that you can easily find and afford to buy. This is an important one, particularly if you are a Christian and, even more so, if you are a Christian and have an unsettled mind on this important subject. The main point that needs to be made, IMO, is that this is a scholarly work and the print is small - probably a ten-pitch, maybe an eleven, I'm guessing. It is not a comfortable read unless you have good bi-focals or extremely good close-vision. But those logistics' issues won't stop people who are true seekers of insight into this important issue. Indeed, is there a more important issue - if so, please lemme know? I have collected and read most of the books on this subject in the popular public domain and this is a really excellent one and one that IMV should be read by every practicing Christian - but not just people who call themselves Christian's by any means. The very last chapter (titled: A New Version of the Afterlife) will put the whole subject in perspective for you, but you will learn a great deal about the corrupt nature of man, particularly man within the church, along the way, and just how self-serving and irresponsible man has been and continues to be - and sadly, most importantly, how this has led irrevocably to such rampant misunderstanding and poor transmission of essential truths over the ages. If you are really interested in this important subject, get this book and stick with it to the end. If it gets tedious, skip over the harder parts and keep going. But whatever you do don't skip the last chapter; you will be rewarded for sticking with it. If I could I'd give it a 10 for content and a 3 for physical structure, which would come out to a 6.5, but I can't - so it's overall, a 5.

Writing should be clear and simple; the writing in this book is neither. It reads as if MacGregor knows he is highly educated, and desperately wants you to know it too. The book is a plethora of intricate, paragaph-long sentences -- verbosity for its own sake. MacGregor basically says nothing once you take the time to diagram and analyze a sentence to find out what his point may be. It is very tiring to slog through even a few chapters.

MacGregor's complicated, tedious writing style drowns the book. If you want to read an intelligent, yet graspable, account of Reincarnation and Christianity -- this isn't it. Don't waste your time.