Author HENRI J.M. NOUWEN
Publisher HARPER
ISBN 0-06-066326-X
Nouwen passed away in 1996, he was born and raised in the Netherlands and studied there. His varied life and ministry took him to teaching posts in the University of Notre Dame, Harvard and Yale and he spent many of his latter years sharing in the life of the L’Arche Community in Toronto, Canada, a community for the developmentally disabled. He wrote many books on spiritual life and these contain much that is edifying and helpful though the fact that he came from a Roman Catholic background may color some reader’s view of what he says. Most of his writings contain less than one hundred pages and can be read through in quite a short time, but the thoughtful reader will want to read more slowly, duly pondering some of his statements. Throughout this particular book the river of the truth of God flows gently. It is his attempt to present what it means to enter into and live a truly spiritual life with God in Christ by the Holy Spirit. He begins with a section on the anxiety and worry that dogs the human state. He defines it, showing how it produces anger and resentfulness, among other things. There is no mention of sin; this may offend some readers who hale from an evangelical background. From this delineation of the human state he moves to a central section as to what the spiritual life is. He uses Jesus as his example, living first in obedience to His Father in all things. The relationship of love between the Father and the Son, Jesus living from the Father and serving in all, to the Father, and all this by the Spirit of God Who is the Spirit of love. Actually, parts of this section are very, very beautiful, presenting the realities of what it means to be a Christian. Nouwen accomplishes this much better than many a writer of an evangelical persuasion. Having centered all upon “seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” and that Jesus exemplified this life with the Father Nouwen shows how this manner of living is utterly impossible without various disciplines and he emphasizes two that in his estimation encapsulate all others; the disciplines of solitude and community. The first where the individual makes space for God, to hear Him and enter into a life of obedience to Him, and second, the life of being amongst and with others who are centered around the Lord, creating space in their midst that they might corporately hear His voice coming through and obey. This book is simple, readable and, in a gentle way, penetrating. It does contain a Christ centered, God glorifying account of how we can become new creatures and live a life of true spirituality. True, it does not mention anything of a crisis conversion experience; rather, the emphasis is on a conversion to Christ that is a process.
