[Scholar's Corner]
[Fall 2004]
Paul Elie. The Life You Save May Be Your Own (An American Pilgrimage), Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2003.
One of our professor-members recommended Elie's account of the lives and spiritual search of four leading Catholic writers (Dorothy Day; Thomas Merton; Flannery O'Conner; Walker Percy). Their life stories could well inform our and our client's quest for a living encounter with God.
These life stories seem a gorgeous mosaic of strong, stubborn faith: Although imperfect in a human sense, each individual demonstrated faithful intent to follow his or her calling; each came to fruition as a unique, spiritually maturing and influential voice in our culture; each one's work took shape in totally unpredictable,
meandering ways; each one's pilgrimage sheds a wide, bright light on how we ourselves may ramble along faithfully on some spiritually meaningful path, only to end up in unpredictable places, passionately engaged with strangely wonderful -- unexpected -- work provided we, too, simply follow the leading of the Spirit within. Inspiring. Encouraging. Educational.(Generic and/or Catholic spirituality)
Hargreaves' metaphysics is influenced by Mary Baker Eddy (founder of Christian Science) and if readers are not already familiar with his Christian Science Revolution or As I See It, those books are probably a reasonable entry point to his ideas. Now producing a series of bite-sized pamphlets through Mulberry Press, Hargreaves gives those of us who love advanced "scientific" metaphysics a rich sampling of further ideas about, say, Man as a conscious identity; generic man; no "otherness;" Christian Science "mind-healing;" Christian Science versus Mental Science and much more. Deftly, Hargreaves drives home his critical points. For example: "The only fact is present divinity. The human does not become divine, but limited human sense yields to it [i.e., divinity.]" (p. 35, italics ours, for emphasis)
(Advanced Metaphysics; Christian Science)
No sooner did one of our therapist-members tell us of Elie's book, then another (knowing our fondness for the garden as spiritual sanctuary) sent us Streep's beautiful essays and photographic treatment. The principle photographer, John Glover, gives us pictures that uplift and liberate and may give readers a much needed break from the often ultra-saccharine sentimentality (or, conversely, too chilly over-intellectualizing) of so many of us spiritual writers.
The photography celebrates gardens as self-styled sanctuaries and sacred spaces -- places where hopefully those with a cultivated aesthetic (spiritual intelligence) will discerningly see themselves in a mirror of beauty. The garden images are a breath of fresh air -- nearly, but not quite, as refreshing as our own contemplative garden.
Out of print for several years, this book has been revised. It's a tough, sometimes inhospitable, read, yet we felt worth the effort. Torrance's epistemology describes God's revelation (i.e., as His Word made flesh) as "quite independent of what he has made [as the free, creative source] and ground of all finite being." This chewy read seems ideal for those theologically inclined intellectual readers seeking to understand the infinite reciprocity -- or seamless blending -- between God and man, and the controlling basis "for the folding out" (i.e., "unfolding?") of the self-witness of Christ.
Possibly of essential, continuing use for those seeking traditional frameworks, and vocabularies, for a living God-consciousness (or Mind of Christ.)
(Traditional Christian)
Wustenberg seems to love Bonhoeffer's prison correspondences, interpreting him in ways that underscore the Christian martyr's relevatory encounter with Christ (one might say experiential, were it not for Bonhoeffer's love and loyalty of Scripture). We who choose consciously to remain "unchurched" for want of religions that forget they have "no right to exist" unless they "perpetually [suspend themselves]" (to quote Bonhoeffer) may well find in these selections of Bonhoeffer's ideas, the mentor's spirit of "the actuality of that which is actual in no religion, the actuality of the unapproachable, unfathomable, incomprehensible." (p.31, italics ours, for emphasis.)
(Lutheran/Christian)
[Center] [Center News] [Garden] [Library] [Scholar's Corner] [Q & A/Letters]
[Center Members] [Contact Us] [New Books] [Your Comments]
Copyright © 2000-2008 The Sinetar Center. All rights reserved.