Henri Nouwen - What do you think?

[whosebob]

I have seen the late Henri Nouwen described as a “darling of the religious left” and some have said that his book The Wounded Healer helped a lead a generation of seminarians and priests astray.

I have also seen him praised greatly by other conservative Evangelicals and Catholics who state that they appreciate his emphasis on grace.

Lots of people seem to be reading his books. My mother is interested in reading a book on the liturgical year that is put together from his writings (it was advertised in the parish bulletin this past weekend).

What do ya’ll think?

Was he one of those writers/thinkers that published a mix of “good” and “bad” Catholic books over his lifetime, e.g. Thomas Merton, Raymond Brown, Karl Rahner, etc. ?

Or is he solid and just misunderstood by a few outspoken critics who don’t like anything written after 1950?

Or maybe his writings are to be avoided altogether?

Thanks for your time and insights.

In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

 

[bengal_fan]

“return of the prodigal” is one of the best books i’ve ever read when dealing with grace and the different roles we play in life. haven’t read anything else, but i know that in his personal life he was extremely devoted and gave of himself to others even when it hurt (which is rather rare).

 

[Mike_C]

I know he wrote a book about icons, which I never read. I was turned off about him when I read his book “Genesee Diary” which is a complete rip-off of Thomas Merton. He should have been hit with plagerism.

 

[Shoshana]

I have not found anything off the wall with Nouwen as of yet. But I haven’t read all of his books neither. It seems if you read one of them you have read them all.

‘The prodigual son’ book was my first experience of him. It was given to me by my priest/confessor for my birthday and I brought it with me to Israel/Greece. I was able to read most of it during that period of time.

Little did I know how prophetic it was. The book helped form my mentality/spirituality/ambiance coming back home because I found out then that my daughter was pregnant but not married. (she was only 17). She was able to tell me, with me being totally at peace and I even gave her a big hug. I had her realize that I was not happy because she had a long difficult road ahead (which she did). Nonetheless, it wasn’t the babys’ fault. This is when I felt my daughter coming home…she started going back to church (she has stopped since). My grandson is almost 9 now…, our relationship improved greatly and I thank God…He had brought good out of such bad news. Praise His holy name.

The book is excellent and is to be encouraged on all bookshelves!

His other books ‘Can you drink from this Cup’ and ‘Beloved’ are wonderful renditions of spirituality and portrays his own suffering…suffering transformed into the light of Christ…

In other words, until I have read all of this books, I reserve judgment. But for the 6-7 or so books that I have read, they are alright in my point of view, and very inspiring to boot!.

Blessings,
Shoshana

 

[vince2paul]

I’ve read many of his books and most of them are very comforting and touched me deeply. His writings are easy to understand and whenever I read it I feel that he’s writing the book personally to me.

I know some of his belief aren’t very Catholic. Whenever He celebrated Mass, he believed that everyone should receive body of Christ. He’s also a person with SSA, but he followed Catholic teachings closely and there is no evidence that Nouwen ever broke his vow of celibacy.

Nouwen’s books are widely read today by Protestants and Catholics alike.

 

[PadraigPearce]

I find his books are in a similar vein to those of Jean Vanier, with whom he was good friends. He deals a lot with our wounded natures, and how we should use our woundedness as a way of connecting with other people. After reading three or four of his books in a row, I found myself looking for something a little more “masculine”, for want of a better term. I don’t mean that in a negative sense at all, because I liked him enough to read four of his books in a row. They are pretty touchy feely, though.