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by Ken Bazyn (Author)
The late Second Temple period in Judaism and the early Christian era witnessed the rise of apocalyptic literature, its zenith being the New Testament book of Revelation. Among its prominent features are the disparity between this world and the next, a vision of God as coming judge at history's culmination, and the call to perseverance during times of adversity. Bazyn's poems are introduced by an elaborate fantasy of what heaven might be like, citing a number of Christian writers throughout the centuries as well as sources from other world religions. Then you'll encounter verse on the macabre dance of death; Orwellian tremors of totalitarianism; premonitions of madness; visits from an alien world; a house of the Lord utterly destroyed; lingering ambivalence regarding a loving, but holy, God; a triumphant baaing lamb; the cavortings of a holy fool; a final gaze at earthly life from eternity's shore; believers undergoing continuous divinization. Bright 35mm color slides deepen the surreal atmosphere, enabling you to feel the thin boundary between the ephemeral and eternal. Qualms of conscience and mortality take center stage as the entire book turns into a searching exercise for the reader's spiritual formation.
Author Biography
Ken Bazyn is long-time editorial director of Religious Book Club. He has written The Seven Perennial Sins and Their Offspring and Soul-Wrestling: Meditations in Monochrome. His articles/photographs have appeared in forty-five magazines. His poetry books are Gospel Midrashim: Poems on the Life of Jesus, Jesting Angels: God's Lighter Side, Artistic Alchemy: Transmuting Cinnabar into Gold, Humanity: The Fallible Amphibian, Nuptial Favors: Assorted Scenarios, Creation Groans On: Nature Images, and The Poetic "I" Alternate Voices.
