Harold Ivan Smith

Smith writes a short bio of a single individual for each day of the year.

He includes a "relevant" (in his opinion) verse for each day, as well as a "key point." The verses were often taken way out of context, and the key points seemed to be more "self help" and moralistic in nature than truly Christ-honoring musings.

His method of choosing people to write about is questionable… he found singles whose birth dates matched each day of the year, so he acknowledged that some dates, he had to choose between ten interesting people and other dates, he was hard pressed to find even one person to talk about.

Many of the people profiled are not clearly Christians, and a few he decides to include as cautionary tales. I would rather have seen all positive stories of people who explicitly gave their lives to God to direct.

He includes some people who are married for much of their lives, but died single - I just don't think this counts!

He purposely excludes those in religious orders who took vows of celibacy, but then includes Jesus Christ.

I'm giving this 2 stars only because I learned of a couple people whom I want to read about a bit more.… (plus d'informations)

I received this book as a gift right after our son's suicide in 2015. I have been given a lot of books on surviving grief, understanding grief, handling grief, coping with suicide, losing a loved one, etc, etc. and have found that the majority of them, at least for me, were boring and no help at all.A Decembered Grief, by Harold Ivan Smith is the first book I have found interesting and quite helpful. His book offers suggestions on how to handle every type of situation that arises during what he calls, "the three holidays." I wish I had read it sooner.
This is an excellent book (which is available in a gift edition) to give to anyone who has lost a loved one within the last year. The best time to read this is in October to prepare for the holiday season starting with Thanksgiving.… (plus d'informations)

Priscilla and Aquila will experience love and untold challenges in marriage, and not only for matrimonial reasons. They'll join others in the forging of a new way of faith in a Roman world in Priscilla and Aquila, a novel by Lois T. Henderson and Harold Ivan Smith.

I've enjoyed other novels by the late Henderson about biblical figures, namely, Miriam, Ruth, and Abigail--whose stories are rather popular material for fictional retellings. I think it's safe to say that novels about Priscilla and Aquila are on the much rarer side, which may be what I appreciate most about this novel.

I also like how the man/woman and husband/wife relationships are not "copy and pasted" here: copied from the twentieth century the book was written in and pasted into 48-54 A.D. The characters don't just automatically "get" how to handle the gradual shifts in gender roles in the early Church, but both the men and the women have to grapple with new ideas.

The book became a bit dull to me at some points after Priscilla and Aquila's exit from Rome. It's as if the plot isn't quite sure what to do with itself at times. Upon the arrival of the apostle Paul and the telling of his story, Priscilla and Aquila (especially Aquila) seem to fade somewhat into the background. Aquila becomes a more minor figure toward the end, cutting his character development short. Paul essentially takes over the story's leading role opposite Priscilla.

This was Henderson's final novel. It's apparent that she passed before it was published, and maybe before she'd finished writing it, since this particular novel of hers has a co-author. This could be one explanation for the disjointed feel of the plot toward the end. The rather last-minute characters like Faltius and Demetrius didn't interest or evoke much feeling in me, as they show up when the novel is ready to wrap up.

Yet, all in all, it was an enjoyable read for me, one that other Biblical Fiction readers may think worthy of seeking out.… (plus d'informations)