Henri Nouwen, with Thomas Merton, were the first 20th century Catholic writers on Christian Spirituality to be widely read among non-Catholics. (And each of them was criticized for 'never having an unpublished thought.' 'Like Merton', says this biographer, [Nouwen] seemed to feel that, unless he was writing things, he wasn't fully experiencing them. There was a gravitation in both men towards writing too much.'). Many evangelicals, after reading some of Nouwen's books, didn't know they were exposing their minds to the spiritual theology of a Roman Catholic! 'It was possible for him to speak in the morning to a group of left-wing Catholic liberation theologians, lead a lunch-time seminar with Nonconformists, and in the afternoon exhort members of the Religious Right'.
I had assumed he was a Dutch Protestant rather than an American Roman Catholic.
2 comments:
Nouwen was a very stimulating writer. Unfortunately, his books are terribly over priced. Otherwise, I would read more of his works.
Why do publishers tend to exploit the readers of good religious writers?
Thank you for this. I have long admired Nouwen not only for his work but also his ability to speak to a wide group of people. Tiny correction, though he lived much of his life in the States, Nouwen (like that other great Catholic import to the States, Fr Adrian van Kaam)was Dutch.
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