The Ironic Christian's Companion - Softcover

Henry, Patrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 157322782X ISBN 13: 9781573227827

Publisher: Riverhead Trade, 2000

Synopsis

A prominent religious scholar who isn't afraid to shake our assumptions and probe our imaginations, Patrick Henry has written a guide for the "ironic Christian"—one who strives to integrate truth with faith, to let an expanding knowledge of the world translate into an expanded understanding of God. Drawing on the works of a diverse group of writers and thinkers, from C.S. Lewis and Julian of Norwich to Anne Sexton, Yogi Berra, and Dr. Seuss, he explores the ways in which we can maintain our belief in a God defined by mysteriousness. With humor, humility, and courage, he asks us to join him in this spiritual quest—and in the dizzying, thrilling leaps that faith invites.

About this title

Review

Patrick Henry is a scholar of early Christianity who taught at Swarthmore College and now runs an ecumenical institute in Minnesota, yet he can't say exactly what his book's title means. In other circumstances, imprecise authorial intent might be annoying. But in The Ironic Christian's Companion, such imprecision is actually refreshing. And even though Henry can't quite bring himself to say what "ironic Christianity" is, he's quite articulate when describing what it's like. Ironic Christians, he says, have "an instinctive, abiding suspicion of no-loose- ends answers." They "inhabit a world that is more 'as if' than 'just like,' a world fashioned by a God of surprises."

Henry, who writes like a grandfatherly Kathleen Norris, calls his grab- bag book of autobiographical sketches, literary anecdotes, and spiritual meditations a "field guide" for Christians who seek amazing expressions of grace. With passages such as the following, Henry begins to build a reputation as a latter-day Audubon of the spirit:

Over and over again grace has come off as irony: an off-balance deflating of my pride, sometimes as funny as vaudeville slapstick; a gentle dismantling of my despair (when I'm really hopeless nothing is scarier than hope, so grace has to be indirect, sneaky; clarity when I'm too confused and confusion when I'm too clear.

--Michael Joseph Gross

About the Author

Patrick Henry was a professor of religion, specializing in early Christianity, at Swarthmore College for seventeen years. He is now executive director of the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at Saint John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He is the author of The Ironic Christian's Companion: Finding the Marks of God's Grace in the World, Benedict's Dharma and co-author with Donald Swearer, of For the Sake of the World: The Spirit of Buddhist and Christian Monasticism.

About this edition

• Publisher: Riverhead Trade
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 157322782X
• ISBN 13: 9781573227827
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288