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About this book
'An absolute gift to mind and soul.'
Phyllis Tickle, author of Emergence Christianity
Henri Nouwen's legacy of spirtual writings drawn from his own experience of loneliness, depression, exhaustion and struggles with discerning God's calling on his life, continues to offer guidance and reassurance to the prodigal heart seeking the road home to the Father God's ready acceptance and loving embrace.
From his life alongside the disabled in the l'Arche Daybreak community, Toronto the world-renowned spiritual guide and counsellor learned to understand the spiritual life as a journey of faith and transformation that is deepened by accountability, community, and relationships. Though Henri counselled many people during his lifetime, his principles of discernment were never collected into a single volume.
Now, in association with the Nouwen Legacy Trust, Michael Christensen - one of Nouwen's longtime students - and Rebecca Laird his coursework, journals, and unpublished writings are collected to create the definitive resource on spiritual discernment. In these pages, Henri Nouwen emphasizes listening to the Word of God - in our hearts, in the Bible, in the community of faith, and in the voice of the poor as a way to discern God's plan
'For most people, the very word discernment implies something heady, private and maybe even elitist. Henri Nouwen, as always, makes seemingly complex things personal, practical, intelligent and very readable - all at the same time! This is a rich and helpful book.'
Richard Rohr, author of Falling Upward
'Nouwen artfully explores how nature, our neighbours and our own hearts reveal God's active presence all around us. Life-giving and beautiful, yet practical and wise, he invites all those who doubt, feel lost, wounded or broken to discover the beating heart of love at the centre of the world.'
Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity After Religion
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title page
- Imprint
- Table of contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface: What This Book Is About
- Foreword: Henri’s Way of Discernment by Robert A. Jonas
- Introduction: When There Is Darkness, Light
- Part One: What Is Discernment?
- Part Two: Discerning Guidance in Books, Nature, People, and Events
- Part Three: Discerning Vocation, Presence, Identity, and Time
- Epilogue: Discerning the Hidden Wholeness
- Appendix A: We Drink from Our Own Wells: Discernment and Liberation by Henri Nouwen
- Appendix B: Henri Nouwen on Hearing a Deeper Beat by Michael J. Christensen
- Appendix C: Spiritual Friendship and Mutual Discernment by Robert A. Jonas
- Primary Sources and Notations
- Notes
- Credits