Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith
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Overview
Struggling with her return to the Christian church after many years away, Kathleen Norris found it was the language of Christianity that most distanced her from faith. Words like "judgment," "faith," "dogma," "salvation," "sinner"—even "Christ"—formed what she called her "scary vocabulary," words that had become so codified or abstract that their meanings were all but impenetrable. She found she had to wrestle with them and make them her own before they could confer their blessings and their grace. Blending history, theology, storytelling, etymology, and memoir, Norris uses these words as a starting point for reflection, and offers a moving account of her own gradual conversion. She evokes a rich spirituality rooted firmly in the chaos of everyday life—and offers believers and doubters alike an illuminating perspective on how we can embrace ancient traditions and find faith in the contemporary world.
Synopsis
From Kathleen Norris, the author who "writes about religion with the imagination of a poet" (Chicago Tribune), comes this unusual, accessible, and profound investigation of Christian faith. Taking as her starting point the "scary words" that can intimidate and distance us from our religious heritage — words like judgment, faith, dogma, salvation and sinner, Norris blends history, theology, storytelling, etymology and memoir to help us reflect on their meanings. Always entertaining, and thought provoking, Norris awakens us to the possibility of belief. Through this exhilarating journey, readers will come to know more about the gradual conversion and the daily struggle for faith that Norris described in her bestseller The Cloister Walk. Amazing Grace will grant an illuminating perspective on how we can embrace ancient traditions and find faith in the contemporary, everyday world.
The Women's Review of Books - Irene Elizabeth Stroud
. . .[A] collection of meditations on Christian themes with names as intimidating as salvation,. . .[and] judgment. . . .These short pieces on words are interspersed with brief personal narratives that gradually share a little more of . . .Norris' journey from skepticism to faith. . . .If you're curious, if you already feel drawn toward the language of faith, come and visit.
Editorials
Boston Globe
A unique and glorious voice.Irene Elizabeth Stroud
. . .[A] collection of meditations on Christian themes with names as intimidating as salvation,. . .[and] judgment. . . .These short pieces on words are interspersed with brief personal narratives that gradually share a little more of . . .Norris' journey from skepticism to faith. . . .If you're curious, if you already feel drawn toward the language of faith, come and visit.— The Women's Review of Books
San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle
One of the most eloquent yet earthbound spiritual writers of our time...frequently irreverent and funny...She makes us converts to her simple faith.San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle
One of the most eloquent yet earthbound spiritual writers of our time...frequently irreverent and funny...She makes us converts to her simple faith.Publishers Weekly
When poet Norris (The Cloister Walk) found her way back into church in the early 1980s, she was unsettled by what she calls the "vaguely threatening and dauntingly abstract" vocabulary of the church. Many of the words, like "Christ," seemed to her code words churchgoers used out of convenience when they could not find other words to use. Other wordslike "salvation," "conversion," and "dogma"seemed to Norris to be too abstract to reflect meaningfully her own experience. In this "vocabulary of faith," Norris draws upon her considerable poetic skills to refashion the vocabulary of the church into her own religious vocabulary. In each of these meditations, Norris uses anecdotes and humor to invest these words with fresh meanings. On "Salvation," for instance, she tells the story of an acquaintance who had become relatively successful in a new venture with his business partner. But, when Norris's friend realizes that his partner will go as far as committing murder to succeed, he leaves the partnership and returns home. Norris describes this victory as the beginning of salvation, "to make sufficient," because her friend "realized the road he was on was not sufficient; it could lead nowhere but death." In "Conversion: The Scary Stuff," Norris retells the story of Jacob's wrestling with the angel to demonstrate the struggle we all undergo in seeking the face of God. Norris's lyrical prose rings with clarity and grace as she brings life to her experience of the church's vocabulary.Chicago Tribune
[Kathleen Norris] writes about religion with the imagination of a poet.Francine Prose
It's hard to imagine less off-putting or pious writing about religion than this sublimely commonsensical lexicon of words and concepts that, as Norris explains them, have rarely sounded less frightening — or quite so simple to understand.— Elle
Irene Elizabeth Stroud
. . .[A] collection of meditations on Christian themes with names as intimidating as salvation. . .[and] judgment. . . .These short pieces on words are interspersed with brief personal narratives that gradually share a little more of . . .Norris' journey from skepticism to faith. . . .If you're curious, if you already feel drawn toward the language of faith, come and visit.— The Women's Review of Books
Michael Milburn
An engaging meditation on the language of faith.— The New York Times Book Review