The Gospel According to Martha, Ivan Kushner, author
In this troubled world, there are many who are looking for an alternate way to view their lives and their values. As they search for meaning, they question religion, faith, politics, medicine, family values, Christianity, etc. This book seems to me to be an attempt to do just that. It will not be a book that everyone will accept. The premises are often what would be considered blasphemy or heresy in religious orders. For me, it is a difficult read. I read several pages and realized I had to skim the rest because it shattered too many of my core beliefs. I think many people will feel the same way, so although I think the author’s intentions are filled with good will, ultimately, that may not be the message that all will receive. Those with a more open and forgiving mind will be better able to read this through and take whatever message they will from its words.
The author takes the reader back to the days of Egypt’s hierarchy. He seems to be hoping to prove that we are meant to accept each other in broader terms, with more truth, love and perhaps optimism, instead of always finding the depths of despair and disaster in most of our assumptions, the assumptions that lead to our values, the assumptions we make because of the messages we receive from varied sources, sources that may or may not be telling us the whole truth.
I don’t know if I am correct, but I find that this is the only way I can interpret the book without being overly judgmental and negative. Perhaps there is a greater meaning that I am missing because of my background, upbringing, education and faith. In essence, the idea of Christianity is being rewritten in the broadest sense of that word. Faith is being challenged as the old ideas are deconstructed and reconstructed.
Ivan Kushner, the author, has a message he wants to impart. I believe that it is ultimately one of hope, one that explains that regardless of outside forces that attempt to destroy what is right and true, those forces will not succeed. The route that he takes, however, is circuitous and long. In the end, I think his message is that no matter how forces try to destroy all that is good, there will always be another seed to sprout, one day, so there is always hope for the milk of human kindness.
This book is not for the faint of heart, it is for the daring and the pathfinder, of which I may not be one.