This gripping book tells the largely unknown story of longtime Russian dissident Alexander Ogorodnikov -- from Communist youth to religious dissident; in the Gulag and back again. Ogorodnikov's courage has touched people from every walk of life; including world leaders such as Bill Clinton; Ronald Reagan; and Margaret Thatcher.In the 1970s Ogorodnikov performed a feat without precedent in the Soviet Union: he organized thousands of Protestant; Orthodox; and Catholic Christians in an underground group called the Christian Seminar. When the KGB gave him the option to leave the Soviet Union rather than face the Gulag; he firmly declined because he wanted to change "his" Russia from the inside out. His willingness to sacrifice himself and be imprisoned meant leaving behind his wife and newborn child.Ogorodnikov spent nine years in the Gulag; barely surviving the horrors he encountered there. Despite KGB harassment and persecution after his release; he refused to compromise his convictions and went on to found the first free school in the Soviet Union; the first soup kitchen; and the first private shelter for orphans; among other accomplishments.Today this man continues to carry on his struggle against government detainments and atrocities; often alone. Readers will be amazed and inspired by Koenraad De Wolf's authoritative account of Ogorodnikov's life and work.
#455145 in Books 2002-08-03Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .74 x 6.00l; .96 #File Name: 080283972X289 pages
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful. Yahweh and his wife and his child sacrificesBy Peter S. BradleyIn The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel; Mark S. Smith looks at biblical texts and the Canaanite background on a variety of different topics to puzzle out the early development of "Yahwism." According to Smith's reconstruction of the data; early Israel - in the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age; the period of the Judges - was essentially polytheistic with a limited range of divine beings; including El; Yahweh; In the Judges period; Israelite divinities may have included Yahweh; El; Baal; and perhaps Asherah as well as the sun; moon; and stars. During the monarchy; Yahweh; Baal; Astarte; and the sun; moon; and stars were considered deities in Israel. Then; came the Babylonian exile; and at the lowest ebb of its political fortunes; the Israelite priestly class "morphed" Yahwaism from a polytheistic religion with monolatrist tendencies to pure monotheism. The mechanism by which this development was accomplished was the vehicle of writing in which polytheistic references were largely suppressed and monotheistic concepts were promoted. Thus; there is an evolution of sorts from polytheism to monolatry (a devotion to a particular god) to monotheism which denies the existence of gods other than the One True God.This is obviously not the history that the average person gets taught on Sunday; nor is it what the Bible teaches. In the Bible; of course; the Monotheistic Revolution happens with Moses; who learns that there is one God. God enlists Moses to free the people of Israel from Egypt. Thereafter; although there is a creeping temptation of kings and the people to worship strange gods; there is no question that the moral force is against them and in favor of monotheism; as prophets condemn backsliding kings and judges deal harshly with idolatrous foreigners.So; how does Smith turn the Bible on its head? Basically; he assumes that Israel was a Canaanite culture. By knowing what the norms were for Canaanite culture - largely from the texts preserved at Ugarit - he then gleans the Bible for clues and indications of normal Canaanite culture. Then; by reading the text; and the inferences in the text; he finds that Canaanite culture was being practiced in Israel. Thus; for example; condemnations of "high places" and statements about taking the Asherah out of the Temple are indications that Israelites were following Canaanite norms by worshipping at high places and that Yahweh was associated with the symbols of a goddess; the "asherah" - a pole sacred to the goddess Asherah - which then implies that Yahweh may have had a consort; namely Asherah. Smith notes:>>>>Biblical texts provide a few indications for the cultic context of the asherah. According to two passages it was a wooden item erected next to the altar of a god. In Judges 6:25-26; Gideon is commanded to “pull down the altar of Baal which your father has; and cut down the asherah that is beside it.†Deuteronomy 16:21 forbids the “planting†of “any tree — an asherah — besides the altar of the Lord your God which you shall make.â€463 The asherah was a religious symbol within Yahwistic cult in both northern and southern capitals. It is indicated in 2 Kings 13:6 that the asherah belonged to the cult of Samaria. The Jerusalem temple was expunged of cultic objects considered unacceptable according to 2 Kings 23. The list includes the asherah; but there is no indication that the asherah was related to a cult of Baal.Smith; Mark S. (2010-04-12). The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (Biblical Resource Series) (Kindle Locations 2015-2022). Eerdmans Publishing Co - A. Kindle Edition. The question of Asherah as an Israelite goddess constitutes a major issue in understanding Israelite religion. Does the biblical and extrabiblical evidence support the view that Asherah was a goddess in pre-exilic Israel and that she was the consort of Yahweh? Or; alternatively; does the data point to the asherah as a symbol within the cult of Yahweh without signifying a goddess? The first position constitutes a majority view; represented by the older works of H. Ringgren; G. Fohrer; and G. W. Ahlström; and the studies in the 1980s by W. G. Dever; D. N. Freedman; R. Hestrin; A. Lemaire; and S. Olyan and more recent works by J. M. Hadley; J. Day; M. Dijkstra; O. Keel; and Z. Zevit.500 A minority position; held earlier by B. Lang; P. D. Miller; J. Tigay; and U. Winter and recently by C. Frevel and M. C. A. Korpel; maintains on the paucity of evidence that ’ăšērÄh neither referred to a goddess nor symbolized the goddess in Israel.Smith; Mark S. (2010-04-12). The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (Biblical Resource Series) (Kindle Locations 2130-2137). Eerdmans Publishing Co - A. Kindle Edition.Sometimes; the indication is a little more direct; such as the case with child sacrifice. Smith observes:>>>>Ezekiel 20:25-26 provides a different type of explanation for the otherwise forbidden practice of child sacrifice. In this passage Yahweh describes child sacrifice as divine punishment: “Moreover; I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not have life; and I defiled them through their very gifts in making them offer by fire all their first-born; that I might horrify them; I did it that they might know that I am Yahweh.†Similarly; Jeremiah 7:21-22 dismisses the divine authority for child sacrifice by denying that Yahweh ever commanded it.
