[Book Review]; Walking Home with Henri J.M. Nouwen

Home Tonight: 

Further Reflections on the Parable of the Prodigal Son

Henri J.M. Nouwen

Doubleday, 2009

This book, the text of which is written by Henri J.M. Nouwen, is the follow up to what is commonly known as his masterpiece, "The Return of the Prodigal Son...A Story of a Homecoming. In both books, Nouwen is fascinatingly open about his journey with the Lord, and particularly about his coming to the Lord through the experience he had with Rembrant's depiction of the return of the prodigal son.

The reflections which are contained in this book are originally from a series of talks which he gave at a conference late in his life. The text of these talks was preserved through some not professional recordings as well as his notes, and some editors did their best to put it together as the best possible reflection of the heart of the man who shares his story of learning what it means to truly come home. All in all, I would say, these editors have done a fantastic job of putting together Nouwen's story in a way that is easy to read, convicting, and very much in line with profound wisdom with which he wrote and, I would venture to say, spoke.

In this particular book, Nouwen takes us on a three-part journey: "Leaving and Returning Home," "The Invisible Exile of Resentment," and "Home is Receiving Love and Giving Love." These three parts, as you might guess if you know the story of the Prodigal Son (found in Luke's Gospel, Chapter 15), follow the three main characters of the story: the son who left home and returned, the older son who stayed, and the father who loved them both. For Henri, these three characters are all typical of parts of his own spiritual journey, and he shows us how they are probably typical of ours as well. With this setup, the book is easy to read; each chapter (about 3 per section) contains his reflections as well as guidance on a time of listening, a time of journaling, and a time of 'communing.' Finally, each chapter ends with "A Wisdom Practice for those on a Spiritual Journey."

With this layout, the book reads much more like a prayer than anything else. You read one man's story, but always do so in the context of the story of the Prodigal Son and the way that the Lord might want to speak to you through that. You can fly through this book, but you would miss the chance to stop and to pray with the things he reflects on and says. While his language and way of talking about God might be different than many of ours (for me it absolutely was), what he has to say is worth taking the time to read and to pray through.

Throughout his book, I think Nouwen has a theme which is expressed in this quote from the book: "Coming home is claiming the truth. I am the beloved child of a loving Creator. We no longer have to beg for permission from the world to exist" (pp. 38-39). This, I think, is the central theme: despite what lies we may have believed, despite what pain we may have felt or may currently feel, despite whatever way we have physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually "left home" or turned away from our Creator, our journey is all about claiming the Truth that we are made out of Love by the One who loves with an infinite love. Whether, like the youngest son, we have "squandered our inheritance" through sin, or, like the older son, we've done so by thinking we can somehow earn our inheritance or comparing ourselves to others, the whole journey is learning how to claim that identity as a Son of the Creator, and to give that love back to those we encounter just as the Father did in this story.

Whether we realize it or not, we can probably relate to the experience of at least one of the people in the Gospel story, as well as to the experience of Nouwen living out that story in his own life. If you are on the journey of reclaiming your identity as a Son or a Daughter, your journey of realizing that you are loved by One who will never forsake or abandon you, this book could be a great tool along that path. Like I said, some of Nouwen's language and understanding of God differ from the way that I would state things, and yet it was all easy enough to move past to allow him to help me understand a little better the truth of my sonship, allowing me to continue on my path of coming home.

If you want to find out more about this book, you can get more info at Image Books' website here, as well as follow these links for Chapter One or the Author's Bio.


"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as a part of their blogging for books program; you can learn more about this by visiting the program's website here Blogging for Books."  

[Book Review]: The Word in Scripture and the Word in Flesh

This book review is on one of Dr. Scott Hahn's newest books, Consuming the Word. You find Dr. Hahn's personal website at www.scotthahn.com, where you can see a list of all of his works, as well as learn more about his work, his ministry, his wife, and having him come to speak at your Parish or event. You can also find the direct link to purchase this book on Amazon through this link: Consuming the Word, and you can learn more about the book on his website or through this link Image Books: Consuming the Word. 

Consuming the Word:

The New Testament and the Eucharist in the Early Church

Dr. Scott Hahn
Image Books, 2013

If you don't know anything about Dr. Hahn, you are in for a treat with this book; if you've read everything he's ever written, you are once again in for a treat with this book! Dr. Scott Hahn is a professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, where he is the Fr. Michael Scanlan Chair of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization, as well as being the founder and president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Studies.

All of that aside, though, let's get on to this book, where you can see a great example of what made Dr. Hahn so popular. In this book, Dr. Hahn continues his look at the Eucharist in Scripture and what it is that made the Eucharist the center of the Catholic faith. Specifically, this book looks at the New Testament and the Eucharist in the early Church, and the way that they took their form. In the way that Dr. Hahn is so skilled at doing, he takes this incredibly difficult and dense topic and presents it in a way that scholars will benefit from; even more impressive, though, is that he presents it in a way that the ordinary and more or less uninformed Catholic can also benefit from. This book goes through the New Testament texts and the writings of the early Church fathers, explaining how the Eucharist became, or, as he explains, always was, the central part of the Christian life. 

One of the most beautiful things that Dr. Hahn does throughout this book is to talk about the way that the New Testament (as we know it) took the name Testament. This word, he explains, comes from the word covenant, meaning an extension of kinship. or bringing a person into one's family through a relationship. What does this mean? What Dr. Hahn shows throughout a large portion of this book is that what that means is that the idea of the New Testament was to show the covenant which Jesus Christ had established with His Church in the Eucharist. For the Early Church, he shows, it wasn't about a group of texts which were known as the "New Testament," but rather it was about the Sacrament of the Eucharist, where these texts would be proclaimed to the people. The texts we know as the New Testament weren't a Testament to them; they were a Person, the Word, the person of Jesus who lived on through the writings of His followers. Testament, the word we use, came to be through the idea of this being a covenant, a relationship of the Word of God, the person of Christ, with His people. 

The other main point which stuck out to me in Dr. Hahn's book was the very idea of the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ, and the way that we encounter Him in the Church today. In a beautiful way, Dr. Hahn spends a portion of this book explaining that for the early Church, and still for the Church today, the Mass is the place where the faithful receive the Word through Scripture and through Sacrament. What this amounts to, he explains, is to lead us to the full communion between God and man, the "marriage supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9), where "the human family is 'divinized,' made to dwell with God, made full participants in the life of the Trinity." The Mass, Dr. Hahn shows us, is the place where this is lived out on earth, where we are brought into communion with the Father through His Son, the Word, whom we receive at each and every Mass. 

If you are Catholic, Christian, or otherwise interested in the Eucharist and the way that it plays into the life of the Catholic Church, this is the book for you. At 146 pages it took me only 2 days to read this book, so if you don't have a lot of time it is perfect for you. If you are more theologically minded, parts of this book will be a review, but there will certainly be parts of this book which are new will help you in your journey of faith. If you are not theologically minded, this book, along with most of the corpus of Dr. Hahn's work, is a perfect way to bring you into deeper relationship with Christ through the renewal of your mind (Romans 12:2). 

To close, I want to finish with the quote that Dr. Hahn finishes his book with, speaking of the way that we receive the Word made flesh, the promise of the Old Testament, explained in the New Testament, and alive in the Church today. May God bless any of you who read this! 

"We live the dream of the prophets and the seers, we live the promise of the divine covenant, we are given the bread of angels, whenever we consume the Word." 

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as a part of their blogging for books program; you can learn more about this by visiting the program's website here Blogging for Books."  

The Everlasting Man

For any of you that have ever read anything by this man to the left, you know that it is a wonderful (as well as, at times, challenging) experience. The man, for those of you who don't know, is G.K. Chesterton, one of the very greatest authors in the 20th Century, if not in all of history. The book which I want to comment on a bit here today, called The Everlasting Man, is one of his most influential works. Many (if not all) of you will have heard of C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia, Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, etc.)--what you may not know is that Lewis largely attributes his conversion process to this book from Chesterton. Knowing that, I knew that this book would be something special-and probably especially difficult. While it was, at times, difficult to process, it was worth every second of the struggle.

I will not try to give an overview of this entire book, because Chesterton himself took ten very dense pages to summarize the book in conclusion, and I won't pretend to have the ability that he himself had. Rather, I want to give an explanation of the overall point he tries to make briefly, and then spend the majority of this post commenting on one particular idea he presented.

The Point

As Chesterton himself explains in the book, The Everlasting Man is primarily a historical look at man. Chesterton, a Catholic, says that this is not about defending Catholicism against Protestantism, but against the various Pagan religions which can tend to be the light through which we view history. Rather than seeing Christianity as the next step in the development of man, as some people in his time wanted to say, Chesterton spends this volume of work explaining that Christianity, and specifically the person of Christ, are unique and new. The first half of the book is on "The Creature Called Man," and the second half is on "The Man Called Christ." I cannot summarize this book in any way better than this, and so I present what Chesterton himself says is the goal: the book's "thesis is that those who say Christ stands side by side with similar myths, and his religion side by side with similar religions, are only repeating a very stale formula contradicted by a very striking fact." The book, then, takes this as its basis; weaving through the process of the development of the various myths, stories, and religions of world history, Chesterton shows the way that Christianity cannot simply be another myth. I will not attempt to sketch his argument; for that, you must dive into this book headfirst, allowing yourself plenty of time to think through the points he makes. I will, though, assure you that it is worth the effort. 

The Uniqueness of Christ

Here, from the third chapter of the second part of The Everlasting Man, is a passage which lays out a point I would like to reflect on a bit: 

For in that second cavern [the tomb of Christ] the whole of that great and glorious humanity which we call antiquity was gathered up and covered over; and in that place it was buried. It was the end of a very great thing called human history; the history that was merely human. The mythologies and philosophies were buried there, the gods and the heroes and the sages. In the great Roman phase, they had lived. But as they could only live, so they could only die; and they were dead. 

On the third day, the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realised the new wonder; but even they hardly realised that the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but of the dawn.

Go ahead and read that 2, 3, 17, 12938 times if you'd like; it's still going to be beautiful. What Chesterton is getting at in this point of the book is something so incredible that even this beautiful prose can't possible capture it. The person of Christ is not simply another god in another myth or religion. He is, in so many varied ways, totally new and unique. The uniqueness of this person is captured in the boldness of the claim He made: He was a man who was killed, and yet rose again from the dead because He was not just a man, but He was also God. And when the God-man died, He died not to stay dead, but to bring about a new creation. This new creation is lived out here and now in the Church of Christ which has endured 2,000 years and is still here today.

One of the most beautiful parts of what Chesterton shows of this is his reflection on the endurance of the Church, but I will let you read the book for that. For now, I will leave it with that passage above, reflecting on the fact that God, who created everything, came as man into that creation, ushering in a new creation by His death and Resurrection so that we didn't have to live in brokenness but could have new life.

In modern times, the arguments of this book will be even more offensive than they were 100 years ago. In a day and age when the popular view of world religions is a bunch of different ways to be a 'good' person, Chesterton's assertion that Jesus Christ and the religion which bears His name are utterly unique would offend many people, and yet that seems to be the point. Chesterton is not trying to offend, and yet the boldness of the claim, a claim for which countless men and women have died and are still dying every day, is by its very nature offensive. Christ came and ushered in a new creation, offending our human sensibilities because no one but Him would dare claim that God became man. No other religion has nor will claum this, because it is such a bold claim that it is nothing short of ridiculous and offensive if it is not true. And yet, Christianity has endured 2,000 on a Truth which is so crazy that it can only be true to have survived.

With Chesterton, then, we can have confidence in this Church by the virtue of its ability to withstand all manner of trial and difficulty for these years. We can stand in confidence on the Church which Christ established that lives on in the world today.

"Had Christianity merely appeared and disappeared, it might possibly have been remembered or explained as the last leap of the rage of illusion, the ultimate myth of the ultimate moo, in which the mind struck the sky and broke. But the mind did not break. It is the one mind that remains unbroken in the break-up of the world." 

If you are looking to pick up a copy of The Everlasting Man, here is a link to get it on Amazon! The Everlasting Man

You can see other book reviews that I have done by going to this link: My Library . 

[Book Review]: At the Heart of the Gospel

At the Heart of the Gospel:

Reclaiming the Body for the New Evangelization.

Christopher West

Image Books, 2012

Christopher West, a very well known speaker and writer on the Theology of the Body, wrote this book in 2012 after taking a significant amount of time away from speaking and writing. This time away, he explains in the endnotes, was as a result of over-exerting himself in teaching on the theology of the body. In this book, he returns from the sabbatical with a 200 page summary of his teachings in a detailed explanation of the way that the body can be re-claimed for the new evangelization. This book is also, in many ways, a response to the many, sometimes very harsh, criticisms he has received over the years. 

I have always been a fan of West's work and speaking, and I particularly enjoyed reading this book. In this work, West sets about explaining, in good detail, many of the main aspects of his teaching, which all come from the beautiful Theology of the Body of John Paul II. As West explains, his goal in writing this book is "that all who read this work will enter more deeply into the 'great mystery' that lies at the heart of the Gospel and come away all the more compelled to 'go into the main streets and invite everyone to the wedding feast' (Mt 22:9)" (p.6). For me, that was the great beauty of this work: it not only presents many of the main points of John Paul II's teaching, but it does so in a way that it encourages all readers to use this teaching to reach out to others and present them with the Gospel message. 

In the way that West has been known for (and also widely criticized for) doing, he presents the Christian ethos, or worldview, as the remedy to the world's two extremes. Whether it is materialism versus spiritualism, puritanism versus sexual deviancy or idolatry versus iconoclasm, West explains that the proper answer to the two extremes is always the Incarnation. "The Incarnational view of reality--the authentically Christian view--," he says, "recognizes that, for man, there is no reaching the 'higher' without pondering the 'lower'" (p.56). This is the basis for the work of John Paul II, which was continued by Pope Benedict XVI, that West has spent his life's work explaining: the mystery of the incarnation gives a particular value to the human body that we as Christians cannot ignore. As John Paul II said in his audience on Feb. 20, 1980 (TOB 19:4 in the most common translation) "the human body, and it alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine." This statement by John Paul II, which is more or less a thesis statement of his 129 weekly audiences now known as the Theology of the Body, is in many ways what West is trying to show in his work: the human body shows us a particular part of the Lord's relationship to His people which we cannot see if we ignore the body. 

If you are someone who has grown critical of the work of Christopher West, this book would be important for you to read, as he gives a particular glimpse into his motives that you won't find elsewhere. With more poise than one might expect, West responds to his critics through his theology, but also by explaining his personal faults. While not backing down from his arguments, West spends much time in his footnotes explaining his errors in explanation and the way they affected the response to his work. West uses this criticism as the springboard to see where his explanations may have been wrong and led people away from the truth, repeatedly apologizing for any time when pride or zeal may have hindered his ability to teach properly. If you are one of those who was once offended by anything West said, take the time to read this book and its footnotes, and I think your opinion of him or his teaching will improve.

As you might guess from reading my review, I strongly recommend this book. If you have never been exposed to John Paul II's Theology of the Body, this book is for you (don't stop with this book, keep learning about this wonderful teaching, but this would be a fine place to start). If you are vaguely familiar with the Theology of the Body but would like to know more, or would like to see how it all applies to our lives, this is for you. If you are very familiar with the Theology of the Body, this book is for you as it will inspire you to use TOB as a springboard for the new evangelization, and it will help you to concretely see what all you have learned means. 

This book was a fairly easy read, but don't rush through it; take the time to carefully read this book and learn more about the way that the Lord has shown Himself to us through our experience of the body. To end with a quote from Gaudium et Spes which John Paul II took as a sort of anthem in his discourses on the body, we can see that with its spousal imagery the body (speaking particularly about Ephesians 5, where Paul tells us that the love of man and wife reflects the love of Christ and the Church) "reveals--in a particular way--man to man himself and makes his supreme vocation clear" (GS 22). I encourage you to learn more about the way that the human body shows God's love, allowing that to reveal to you more of yourself as well as your supreme vocation, that of being loved by God as a precious son or daughter. 

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as a part of their blogging for books program; you can learn more about this by visiting the program's website here Blogging for Books." This book is written by very well known author and Theology of the Body speaker Christopher West; if you want to learn more about him or find his other books you can visit his website at http://www.christopherwest.com/, and you can also read a bio of him here. You can find more info about this book from Random House publisher's website here; you can read the first chapter of this book here. The direct link to purchase this book from his website is here. You can also check out more book reviews I've done by clicking the "My Library" tab or clicking on this.

[Book Review]: Forming Intentional Disciples

This review is on a book called Forming Intentional Disciples by Sherry A Weddell; you can find the book on Amazon here. You can find the website for the Catherine of Siena Institute, an Institute dedicated to helping lay people learn to live as Disciples in daily life at this link. If you want to read reviews I've done of other books, you can find those under the "My Library" tab or by clicking this link. 

Forming Intentional Disciples: 

The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus 

Sherry A. Weddell
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division 2012

As you can probably guess from the title, this book is about the call of the lay person to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and how you can follow this call. The author, Sherry A. Weddell, is a lay Catholic woman who started an institute called the Catherine of Siena Institute with a priest named Fr. Michael Sweeney, O.P. in order to address the issue of the lack of discipleship in Catholics in the United States. What she has found in her time traveling the country to teach on discipleship is contained in this book, where she lays out the problem of the normal Catholic in today's world and then the solution to help that normal Catholic become an intentional disciple of Jesus Christ.

The Basics of the Book

Sherry starts this book with an entire chapter on statistics, showing the fact that Catholics in the U.S. are leaving faster than they are coming, and that even those who are sticking around are not actively engaged in living their life as Disciples. After giving the statistics, which in many cases are quite shocking, she starts to lay out what she thinks is the problem. The crux of this problem, Sherry says, is that cultural Catholicism isn't working anymore, and until we start calling our people to intentional Catholicism, and specifically intentional discipleship, we won't stop these trends. The key, she rightly observes, is that discipleship is not seen as normal; what is seen as normal is the cultural norm of going to the Church you were raised in, and yet this is not enough to sustain a person in times of difficulty or even simply times of curiosity. 

After laying out the problem, she does a wonderful job of showing the quest that most people will go on to eventually deciding to become disciple, through the various thresholds they need to experience and finally into them choosing to be intentional disciples. After walking through the thresholds, Sherry spends the last few chapters of her book talking about what those trying to evangelize others can do well, from the big picture of presenting the Gospel to the programs which have worked in various parishes and might work for yours too. 

What I Really Liked

This book does some incredible things which I think will be VERY helpful for any person who wants to spread the message of the Gospel in the modern world. I think she says a lot more than I could ask anyone to listen to me explain, so I will simply choose a couple of things I really liked, and encourage you to read the book to find more!

One thing which I think is very helpful in any difficult situation is to understand what you are up against, and Sherry does a great job of explaining the problem she is addressing. We have all seen what she is talking about as the big problem: even the people going to Church see just going as the end of their relationship with the Church, and don't ever think about living their life for Christ. If the people inside the Church don't live their lives for Christ, than why would someone from outside the Church want to join? Why would people inside the Church who have a genuine hunger for truth want to stay? The call to discipleship must be talked about and reinforced, and the people must learn who Jesus is and be given the chance to accept Him and start to live for Him. 

The other thing which I specifically want to mention is her continued emphasis throughout this book on the need to tell the Kerygma, the story of Jesus, the Gospel message. She quotes Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, who stated that "Faith as such flowers only in the presence of the Kerygma, or the announcement," and explains that announcing the Gospel has to be the start of all of our evangelistic efforts. This, I think, is what will help any person who wants to evangelize others; start with the story of Jesus, help that person see how the story of Jesus applies to them, and let that be the reason the person starts to think about the faith. When people in our parishes seem disinterested, it is because this story hasn't taken root in them; if we allow it to, then something will begin to change! 

My Main Critique 

I know that saying anything negative about this book is kind of crazy because everyone loves it, and for very good reason, but there was one specific thing which I think could be improved/changed. I should preface this by saying that I enjoyed reading this book, and I learned a lot, but I was a bit distracted by this one thing which came up a couple of times. 

The issue that I have centers around the Eucharist and the Sacraments, which she describes, as "central moments in the relationship with Christ" (p. 66). While I get the point of that part of the book, which is calling for the Gospel message to be central, what scares me is the thought of the Sacraments as moments in our relationship-I think they are much more than that. The Sacraments, and most specifically the Eucharist, should be where our life as Catholics comes from and goes to. In another part of the book, she speaks about a parish where the observation is that the central call of Discipleship brings people back to the Eucharist, and I think this is exactly right-the Sacraments aren't there as moments on our path to relationship, but they are the living out of our relationship. In an attempt to call people to really appreciate the Sacraments and to go after a relationship and not just assume that the Sacraments will take care of it, I think she misses a big part of what the Sacraments, and specifically the Eucharist, do. 

Sherry wants to make the point that we need the proper interior disposition in order to properly make the Sacraments, something for which she finds support in many Church documents, and so of course I won't argue with that. Where I grow weary, though, is in her presentation about the Eucharist as "Source and Summit" (Lumen Gentium 11); this is of course very true, but my issue is that she seems only interested in it being the summit. Since it is a summit, she says, we need to understand that in order to get to the summit we need proper preparation. While I again obviously agree, I think it is important to not that Lumen Gentium also said that the Eucharist is the source to show us that in even our preparation and growing in our faith the Eucharist has to be central. The Eucharist is not something that we have to somehow work up to being ready for-if we do, none of us could ever get to that great mystery. We do need a proper belief in order to have reverence, but the journey of our faith is not only a journey to the Eucharist, but also a journey from and with the Eucharist. I think that Sherry might agree with this, but I found it lacking in her presentation on the Sacraments, and thought it was worth noting. 

Please Read this Book

If you are someone who works for the Church, loves the Church, and wants to bring souls to Christ, this book is well worth reading. Sherry helps us to see something which truly is a problem in our world-we are not actively calling people to the Discipleship that is what Christ wants from us, and we are even surprised when people decide to live as Disciples. Instead of being surprised, she helps us see here how we can train ourselves and those we work with to understand Discipleship, and therefore be able to trust that the Holy Spirit will work, that God will call people to Discipleship, and that their lives will be radically changed. 

Again, go pick up this book-if nothing else, it will rejuvenate you in your desire to win souls for Christ and His Church. Buy the book from her website by clicking this link.

[Book Review]: "Yours is the Church"-What Modern Man Forgets

This post is a Book Review on "Yours is the Church: How Catholicism Shapes Our World" by Mike Aquilina. You can read more book reviews that I have done My Library. If you want to learn more about the Author of this book, Mike Aquilina, you can visit his website: http://mikeaquilina.com/. You can see more of his books here, and you can find this particular book on Amazon here. 

"Yours is the Church: How Catholicism Shapes our World"

Mike Aquilina

Servant Books, 2012

134 Pages

I have read one previous book by Mike Aquilina, and I heard him speak recently on the persecutions of the early Church, and so I was very excited to pick up this book (this is the other book I read of his). Mike is a devout Catholic man who is also a very honest intellectual, a man with a breadth of knowledge of Catholic teaching and most specifically the way that those teachings played out historically. Mike's love for the truth of the history of the Church comes out in a particular way in this book, where he examines the Church's impact on nearly every major aspect of modern culture in a thorough while also readable and brief way. His ability to tell a story in an interesting way, even if it is a story from a culture which we can hardly imagine, makes this book not read like a history lesson, but rather like a very enjoyable trip through 2,000 years of developments, highlighted by some of the more interesting ways that culture grew over that time. 

As you can tell, I was very pleased with this book. From the beginning, it has no problem being blunt and probably offensive to people who don't want to hear about the Church's important impact on culture: "Everything about our modern world we think is good is there because of the Church. The only reason we care about the poor is because Christianity has won. The only reason the rights of women and children are important is because the Church has made them important. The only reason we have science is because the Church taught us how to think" (Introduction, pp. vii-viii). After this opening claim, which to modern sensibilities seems ludicrous, the book jumps right into backing it up; from art to music to literature, science to the dignity of the person, and finally to peace and the future of the world, the argument that the Church is the basis of modern culture is defended in a skillful and brilliant way. I will be honest: his bluntness took me back at first, I am sure mostly because I have been trained to subconsciously think that the Church couldn't possibly be behind all of this. When reading, though, I was convinced of this fact: the historical evidence clearly shows that the world would not look the same had the Church not been a part of it. 

If the idea that the Catholic Church is responsible for the intelligence of modern science, the beauty of music and art, and the dignity of women and children sounds wrong to you, you owe it to yourself to read this book. This book does not shy away from some of the mistakes that people in the Church made throughout history, but it points out something which is often ignored: all people were making the mistakes (and still are), both inside and outside of the Church, but it was only within the Church that people were seeing them as mistakes and fighting back against them. Even in the Dark Ages (I had a professor in college who would take offense at them being called that, so I apologize to Dr. G, but I think she would agree with what he says about the time), a time when it is assumed that no learning or advancement took place, the Church still held a light. As Aquilina says in this book, this was a time when "it goes without saying that all those [speaking of the people who took the ideas of Aristotle that the Muslims brought in his works to Spain and applied them in a way we still look to today] great thinkers were in the Church. There simply wasn't anywhere else where thinking was done" (p. 16).  In the times that people see as dark, the Church held a light; in the times that people see light blazing forth, the Church was the one carrying the torch. In Ancient Rome, the darkest of times for women and children (and most people, for that matter), it was the Church that changed sensibilities to see all people, regardless of age, sex, or color, as people worthy of dignity. 

What Aquilina does here is tackle the breadth of culture, explaining that it all owes a debt to the Church. The things that we see as being wrong in modern culture, often asserted against the Church, we can only see are wrong because the Church taught us values of right and wrong. If we are to truly evaluate culture, then, we have to look to the basis of it, the Church, and see the way that the Church holds us to what culture should look like. 

I could talk all day about some of the points in this book, but instead I will encourage you to read it and find out for yourself why the culture owes a debt of gratitude to the Church. Until you have the chance to read it, I will leave you with his conclusion about what the Church might look like going forward, based on what it has looked like for the last 2,000 years: 

"It will look like the human race--colorful, infinitely diverse, but all one family of God's children. It will be truly Catholic--a word that means 'universal.' It will be enriched by beautiful traditions from all over the planet. Like the living body that it is, the Catholic Church will continue to grow and learn. But it will always be the same Catholic Church, always true to itself, and always faithful to the teachings of the apostles. Yours is the Church." (p. 130)

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this review, start by picking up his books (http://mikeaquilina.com/), and then please comment below and/or share this with your friends. God bless you. 

[Book Review]: On Heaven and Earth-A Dialogue in Unity of Truth

This book, On Heaven and Earth, by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) and Rabbi Abraham Skorka, is released by Image Books and includes conversations by these men on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century. You can find more info on the book and purchase it on ImageBooks' website here; you can also read Chapter One of the book to get a feel for it here, and you can find the book on Amazon here. You can also read more book reviews that I have done by going here: My Library. 

"On Heaven and Earth"
Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Abraham Skorka
ImageBooks 2013

Like many others, I am sure, I was most interested to pick up this book because it was our new Pope in his own words. When I heard that this book was out there, I was intrigued; rarely do we get an insight into a Pope's mind like this, where it is not teaching but rather simply discussion. From the outset of this book, you get a good idea of what the the book will be like: friendly, intriguing dialogue which is not about debate but rather about finding common ground and looking at life from one's own perspective. As the Pope says in his introduction to this book, "Dialogue is born from a respectful attitude toward the other person, from a conviction that the other person has something good to say" (p. XIV). With this in the introduction, one learns a lot about how the actual dialogue will play out: a dialogue which involves truly listening to the other and discussing the things which the other person has to say on the world. 

Due to the nature of this book as a personal conversation and not a theological analysis, it is quite readable for nearly any audience. While both of these men have deep convictions about their faith and the world, they do not allow their convictions to destroy conversation, but rather they are used to further dialogue. Whether the reader is Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist, or of any other belief system, this book is one that would be an interesting read about the state of world affairs and two well-learned men's opinions on dealing with current issues. In reading this book you will learn a lot about what is happening and has happened in Argentina over the last half-century, as well as a lot about the way that a Catholic or Jewish worldview would go about dealing with these specific problems. On top of reading the opinions, what you will also experience in reading this book is a personal look at the man who is the new Pope; whether you are Catholic or not, he is an important man in the world, and it is good to know a little bit more about him. 

Dialogue in Respect and Love

Since the book has 29 unique chapters touching on subjects from God to guilt to fundamentalism to science to the family and including nearly everything in between, it will be impossible here to discuss any of their thoughts in a profound or really worthwhile way. What I want to look at, instead, is the way that the whole book is framed in conversation, and what we can learn from reading the way that these two men interact. One of the most fascinating encounters of the book, for me, was in the Chapter "On Death" (Chapter 10), in which the two men's views differ quite drastically. Often in this book, one will notice that the basis for viewing the world is very similar in Judaism and Christianity; here, however, we find that this is not the case. Cardinal Bergoglio's understanding of death and the afterlife comes from the Catholic understanding of original sin, which he explains is what leads to death (cf. p.77). Rabbi Skorka, in his response to the Cardinal, lays out the Jewish point of view when it comes to the Garden of Eden, heaven and hell, and sin and death, which are all very different from the Catholic perspective on these things. When it is time for the Cardinal to respond, he does not spend time laboring these points in debating theology, but immediately finds common ground by picking out the topic of "inheritance" which Rabbi Skorka had mentioned and discussing this point. For me, this was a perfect example of what the whole book was about: he didn't need to argue or debate here, as these are points of intricate theology which would be difficult to discuss in a cursory way as they do with many topics, but rather he wants to find common ground, and allow his point of view to come across in a way that the Rabbi can relate to. This, I believe, is something which is often missing in the dialogue which we experience today; today, we will argue our point of view vehemently, without finding common ground. What our new Pope does here has a profound point: if you ever want to get somewhere in argument, you can't start by trying to destroy their points, but rather you must start by showing an understanding of common ground and building from that point. 

Impressions

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. For someone who wants to understand the mind of Pope Francis, this is a great place to start. It is important to note, however, that more time in many parts of this book is definitely given to Rabbi Skorka's words as compared to the length of responses given by Pope Francis. If you are simply looking to read Pope Francis, then, this might catch you off guard; the Rabbi, though, is a brilliant man, and his insights are worth the time to read. I would encourage anyone, no matter where they are on their journey in life and in faith, to take the time to read this book. Whether or not you agree with the arguments, you will learn something; if nothing else, Americans can learn a lot from this book about recent history in Argentina and the way that it has affected those who are from there. 

Unity of Truth

As a final note, I would like to draw back to what I think is the most important and concrete thing I have taken from my reading of this conversation, the importance of dialogue based on respect and care for the other. In Chapter 27 of this book, which is on Israeli-Palestinian conflicts and other conflicts, Cardinal Bergoglio has a section where he talks about an idea presented by German theologian Oscar Cullman. Cullman's idea is that in dealing with conflicts we need to start by affirming the things which are the same between the two parties, and using that sameness to begin moving forward hand-in-hand instead of throwing rocks at one another (cf. p.217). I would like to close this review with a quote from Pope Francis which concludes his comments in this section, which to me wraps up the way that we see these two men interact. This interaction involves much respect for the other person as an individual worthy of love and respect, an individual who is seeking truth and needs to be respected before they can be encountered in dialogue. In this quote, Pope Francis tells us that when dealing with others who think differently, we always need to go forth with "(e)ach one, from their identity, in reconciliation, seeking the unity of truth" (p.218, emphasis added). 

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as a part of their blogging for books program; you can learn more about this by visiting the program's website here Blogging for Books."

[Book Review]: The Great Gatsby

This post is the first in hopefully a long series of book reviews. You can read more here: My Library

"The Great Gatsby does not proclaim the nobility of the human spirit; it is not politically correct; it does not reveal how to solve the problems of life; it delivers no fashionable or comforting messages. It is just a masterpiece." 

-Matthew J. Bruccoli, Preface to The Great Gatsby 

Click on image to get this book on Amazon; it's well worth it if you don't own a copy. 

I am quite unashamed to admit that this reading of The Great Gatsby was neither my first nor (hopefully) my last. This great novel, if you have never read it, is a work that is worth reading, if simply for the beautiful way in which F. Scott Fitzgerald writes. While this book was written in 1924/25, it is not one of those books that we find impossible to relate to; Fitzgerald allows the reader a window into the past while also creating a story  worthy of the time spent reading it. 

For me, as I'm sure is the experience of many of my generation and even previous generations, my first experience of this book was in a high school English class in which I probably read spark notes and never even thought about opening the book. Possibly, you could say, this was Fitzgerald's idea, as in 1920 he (quite famously, I might add) stated: "An author ought to write for the youth of his generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters ever afterward." It seems, however, that Fitzgerald crafted something in The Great Gatsby which does not fit this mold; not only do the schoolmasters of today love this book, but young and old alike can pick this book up and enjoy it simply for the masterpiece of storytelling that it is. Proof of the staying power of this book is that here in 2013, almost a century after Fitzgerald's writing took place, a major Hollywood movie will soon be released based on this novel.  

What is it, you might ask, that makes The Great Gatsby a masterpiece? What about this work of literature is so fascinating that we are still intently reading it today? You might say that it is simply a powerfully written story which captivates you because of the writing style, use of language, and fascinating characters. While these things are truly enticing aspects of the book, I believe that there is more to it than simply being fun to read. I believe that this story has something to offer to us in that it can teach us about the human condition, about the way that we live and seek after our goals in life, and this is what captivates us the most. 

In order to limit the scope of this analysis, I want to focus on two main quotes from The Great Gatsby, or at least set out with those as the framework. To begin the book, we meet our narrator and central figure Nick Carraway who has recently picked up his life and left the Middle-West to venture out East and make a career in selling bonds. Carraway, from whose voice and perspective Fitzgerald writes, has a difficult time adjusting to a new world at first, but when an encounter with a stranger changes his mood, he has this thought: "And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees--just as things grow fast in movies--I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." 

With this, then, the story takes off. Carraway is now settled out East, and he is ready to begin his career selling bonds and his new life in this new place where he now feels at home. For many of us, this experience is something with which we can relate: Carraway is in a new place and experiencing a somewhat new reality, and yet he becomes aware of the beauty that this new thing has to offer and he quickly sees the newness as good instead of simply scary.

This statement from Carraway has long fascinated me; in this most recent reading, however, I was struck by a similar and yet somewhat contradictory statement from another character. Later in the summer, Nick is at his cousin Daisy's home, where she lives with her husband Tom Buchanan. At the house on this particular day is Nick's sort of girlfriend-professional golfer Jordan Baker-and the man whose name lends itself to the title of this book, Jay Gatsby. It is a very hot day outside, and all of the characters are taking turns complaining about the heat. Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin, complains that it is too hot, and in her dramatic way wonders what they will do that afternoon, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?" Jordan, possibly the most intriguing character in the story outside of Gatsby, responds in a quite simple way by stating: "Don't be morbid. Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall." 

While these two statements from two different characters may simply be seen as statements about different experiences given at different times, Fitzgerald's inclusion of two characters speaking of life "starting/beginning all over again" was almost certainly not an accident. It seems to me that these characters' desire to have life begin again, or statement that it was already beginning, shows one of the central human conditions, that of rarely being satisfied with one's experience of life at that moment. At another point in the story, we see Gatsby's similar feelings in his "incredulous" response to Nick's statement that you can't repeat the past when he exclaims "Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!"

For the characters of this story, it seems, there is never a moment which is 'good enough.' Gatsby and Daisy, at times, want to dwell in the past; Nick and Jordan both speak of new beginnings and life starting over; Tom repeatedly commits to being better in the future; Myrtle Wilson, a minor character in terms of appearance but major character in terms of plot development, has a similar experience to Gatsby in dwelling on the past and continually having regret. Whichever the character, the present is not enough, and the hope is simply that the future might be better, quite often meaning that the future would look a lot like the past had.

Fitzgerald, a masterful writer, worked diligently in this novel to capture the human condition of the 1920s, and it seems in his work he has captured the state of persons long beyond that time. In today's world, we can constantly see that people are unsatisfied which often leads to dwelling on the past or dreaming of the future. Fitzgerald sums up this existence, this day-to-day living of a life with which we are not satisfied, when he says in the final sentence of this novel what we "beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

The lesson of this theme in The Great Gatsby is one that it seems the characters of the novel may have missed, aside from possibly Nick. That theme seems to be that life is not enjoyed or lived well if we simply "beat on" and allow ourselves to be "borne back ceaselessly into the past." Rather, a life lived to the full is one where we don't "lead lives of quiet desperation," as Thoreau asserted that we do, but where we make the most of each moment and love all of the people we have in our lives.

For now, my analysis of this wonderful book will stop there. I may decide to write on another topic this novel caused me to think about, or to speak about the character of Jay Gatsby and the anomaly that he seems to be, or possibly to talk about the movie's interpretation of this masterpiece, but for now this will suffice. I look forward to the movie which will be out this Friday, and for your viewing pleasure I've put the preview for it below.

May our experience of reading a masterpiece of literature like this draw us closer to Truth, to Beauty, and to Goodness. May God bless each of us this day.