03/17/2001

Reviewer's choice

The Spiritual Legacy of Henri Nouwen
by Deirdre LaNoue
(Continuum, 194 pages, $22.95)

If you have read Henri Nowen, you know him. The Dutch Catholic priest, who died in 1996, revealed almost everything about himself in his many books on spirituality. It was his total honesty ("painful transparency"), even about his shortcomings, that probably drew so many readers to him the past few decades.

What this biography does is inform you "about" Henri Nouwen, effectively putting all the pieces together, linking what was happening in his personal life with his maturing faith and what books he was writing at the time. The result is a well-researched revelation of his North American odyssey from marching in Selma to working with L'Arche, a community that cares for the disabled.

But this is more than a biography. Ms. LaNoue, who teaches at Dallas Baptist University, goes deeper. She draws from Father Nouwen's literary works one overall message. She finds a spiritual guide whose uniqueness lay in bringing two ancient Christian concepts – that God loves you and that the path to spiritual maturity lies in detachment from the world's "busyness" – to the use of psychology.

Others have found that Father Nouwen's essays on peace and justice "stand at the center of his thought." Ms. LaNoue disagrees. Father Nouwen's is a legacy of inner growth, she argues, in a Christian life that was "not about 'shoulds' and 'oughts' " but about hope and, above all, a life free of the restraints of fear. R.P.

Conversations at the Girlville Diner: Finding God in the Hairdos and the Hash Browns
by Kim Bolton and Chris Wave
(Harold Shaw Publishers, 165 pages, $11.99)

The diner device is a clever way for Ms. Bolton, a force in Christian music, and Ms. Wave, a writer and church publication editor, to serve up stories about their experiences. Short and simple in the extreme, these tales are powerfully affecting. The tellers write God into situations where most would see only fear, suffering and unhappiness. Surviving a storm, putting a good face on a house break-in, adjusting to circumstances not at as advertised or expected – in these situations and more, the authors tell of a positive force far beyond coincidence or individual human effort. "God is in the restaurant business," they write, "cooking to feed the soul of the community. He uses daily trials and occurrences of life to grow us in professional ways." Examples are grouped in chapters that deal with growth, contentment, love, children and holidays. Conversations is definitely a "girl thing." H.P.G.

Celebrating the Seasons
by various authors
(Morehouse Publishing, 578 pages, $34.95)

Here's a day-by-day devotional that won't make you wince. It features short reflections by ancient and modern writers. On the first Tuesday in Lent, St. Augustine wisely advises not to assume you're leading a good, sin-free life. Six weeks after Easter, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrestles with the meaning of redemption in a letter written from Tegal prison. You'll find nuggets from Basil the Great and Bernard of Clairvaux. John Donne's meditation on "for whom the bell tolls" is found during the third week of Advent. On the Monday after Epiphany, St. Ambrose reflects on how the sun never sets on holiness. The readings follow the liturgical seasons. There are snippets of poetry, commentary, sermons and much more. In bite-size portions, you can relish the writings of the Desert Fathers, medieval mystics and Thomas Merton. Seldom has a devotional gathering had such a rich array of readings. S.H.A.

GQ
(March)

"God's Moviemakers," a brightly written piece by assistant managing editor Jim Nelson, opens with: "The Antichrist is ready for his close-up." (It's Michael York, in a sequel to The Omega Code.) Mr. Nelson goes on location to the filming of one of the new "Evangelical Christian thrillers." Producer Matt Crouch, son of TV evangelists Paul and Jan Crouch, got them to finance the first successful venture. His foot-in-the-door in Hollywood was serving as marketing consultant for The Prince of Egypt. Canadian brothers Paul and Peter Lalonde, makers of Left Behind and other low-budget End-Time movies, have not been lucky in getting big-name stars. They've got a dream, though, and it involves a Rapture movie with Jack Nicholson as the Antichrist. R.P.

Brill's Content
(March)

"Nice TV" spotlights Johnson & Johnson advertising chief Andrea Alstrup. She asks, "Do we really need to ... support ... a barrage of media that appeals to the lowest common denominators of values?" Friends is held up as a target and example of sexy content in the evaporating "family hour" in prime time. Ms. Alstrup and other advertisers are trying to regain control of content. And they've bankrolled the Family Friendly Programming Forum to finance the writing of pilots that would have a higher moral stance. Gilmore Girls is held up as one successful result. The thorough report says that networks might go for this new approach because script-development is the riskiest part of their business. Which is to say: "It isn't because they're great churchgoing people." R.P.

American Spectator
(March)

This issue has a cover article on Wall Street pundit Lawrence Kudlow, who recently converted to Christianity. He talks about alcohol and cocaine addiction. "One of the things I learned from my own crash and burn is it's good to fail. You learn a lot." The piece probes his thoughts on "Faith, Freedom and the 35,000 Dow." Mr. Kudlow, who wasn't raised in a religious family, became Catholic. "This journey is really about is changing along Christian principles," he says. "I still do stupid things, but I also go to confession." He says young cradle Catholics in his 12-step program stand up and talk about the church and its rules. "I say, well, you don't understand how wonderful those rules are. Take it from me. I came to it late in life, but that's exactly the way it was supposed to be." R.P.

Here's an online version of the labyrinth, an ancient devotional tool whose popularity has risen in recent years. Latin students at Southern Methodist University and the Bridwell Library invite Web pilgrims to wend their way on a Lenten journey that begins at the Chapel of the Anunciation in Nazareth and ends with the garden encounter between Mary Magdalene and the risen Jesus.

Bridwell, part of the university's Perkins School of Theology, provides Holy Land images by the 19th-century painter David Roberts, who visited the region in 1842. The students provide fresh translations of ancient and medieval texts. They're mostly from St. Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible, the Vulgate. But there are excerpts from the poetry of Ovid and the prayers of St. Anselm of Canterbury, too. No doubt this isn't the same as walking a real labyrinth, but it's a likable diversion. P.R.B.

Contributors are Susan Hogan/Albach, Paul R. Buckley, Harriet P. Gross and Robert Plocheck

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