A Table in the Desert: Making Space Holy

In his previous book, A Season in the Desert, W. Paul Jones developed a richly imaginative approach to "Making Time Holy." In his companion volume, A Table in the Desert, he applies the same creative Christian approach to "Making Space Holy." From the maternal wombs of the Appalachian coal mines of his upbringing, to his life-changing pilgrimage into the Grand Canyon, he shares how the sacredness of space shapes our very understanding of God. Using architectural examples from Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater" to the Vietnam Memorial wall, Fr. Jones portrays Christain spirituality as the call to shape public and private spaces into beauty. The seamless melding of his earlier Protestant life with more recent experiences as a Catholic monk and priest, makes this volume thoroughly ecumenical and provides clues to a reconciling approach to the sacraments. Presenting erudite theological ideas in earthly, spirited prose, Fr. Jones invites our senses to enter into a "carnal spirituality," ecstatically experiencing God by falling in love with Life and living.

Jones, a long-time Methodist minister recently turned Roman Catholic priest, Trappist, and hermit in the Ozarks, has written a kind of sequel to Season in the Desert. Where that book treated time and how to make it holy, this one addresses space. A profoundly Christian and truly ecumenical thinker, Jones has produced a challenging, thoughtful work that pushes Christians toward seeing, finding, and creating spatial beauty. His assertions are grounded not only in his own experiences, including a life-transforming pilgrimage into the heart of the Grand Canyon, but also in his broad and profound reading. Highly recommended; this book should find and deserves a wide readership.
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