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Title: Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace by Kent Nerburn, Harpercollins Harper San Francisco ISBN: 0-06-251581-0 Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.43 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: an interesting dilemma
Comment: I reread this book after reading Uberflavn's review. I think I know what he/she is missing. Francis met people where they are. This book meets people where they are. That is its genius. This book brings the prayer into an ordinary life. Maybe it's not doctrinally pure. Leave that to the curia. I want a book that shows me how the prayer can help my struggles in everyday life. This book does so better than any other. If you live in the world and not in a school of doctrinal theology, read this book. Francis would understand.
Rating: 1
Summary: Kent misses the boat
Comment: There's a lot of good content in here, but there's a big problem, as I see it. Specifically, the chapter on the line "Where there is doubt, let me sow faith" is just completely off base. There is no way Francis would have espoused the postmodern universalist nonsense that Mr. Nerburn puts in here. He would never have thought that all religions, whether buddhist, muslim or whatever, lead to the same God. There's no way you can read Francis' writings and come away with that without some seriously revisionist thinking.
In general, the author strays way too far from the Christian Gospel that Francis espoused and epitomized. What Francis was about was pointing to Christ, not just some new age rhetoric about how to live our lives, or some fuzzy feeling about the unknowable God. He pointed to Jesus who is the living hope, and the worship of whom is the chief end and aim of man. So if this is your first encounter with St. Francis, skip this book and read Englebert's or Green's biography instead.
Rating: 5
Summary: Not-so-saintly man and St. Francis write a winner.
Comment: Kent Nerburn's books are always filled with intelligence and compassion, and "Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace" is an excellent example of just how much head and heart can be beautifully installed into 129 pages. Nerburn's reflections on the Prayer of Saint Francis teach us more about ourselves than about the famous saint, and that is probably just fine with Francis.
Nerburn always emphasizes the practical. "I would rather try to manifest my belief in God than to profess it," he writes. In this way, Saint Francis and the self-admitted not-so-saintly Nerburn make a wonderful team. They teach us that we cannot successfully hide from the dark side of our world or of ourselves; that instead we must face even the "most frightening human emotion" --- hatred --- head on. The goal is not to become a saint, thank goodness, but to accept responsibility to do what we can to manifest, and not just profess, our own beliefs.
Congruent with its contents, the physical book itself makes an excellent gift. I keep several copies in my office to give away whenever I may be so moved --- by the spirit of Saint Francis perhaps. (Although I doubt that Francis is involved in book promotion)
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Title: Simple Truths: Clear & Gentle Guidance on the Big Issues in Life by Kent Nerburn ISBN: 1880032929 Publisher: New World Library Pub. Date: 01 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Small Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life by Kent Nerburn ISBN: 1577310721 Publisher: New World Library Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Calm Surrender: Walking the Path of Forgiveness by Kent Nerburn ISBN: 157731218X Publisher: New World Library Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Letters to My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Life, and Love by Kent Nerburn ISBN: 1577310314 Publisher: New World Library Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads With an Indian Elder by Kent Nerburn ISBN: 1577312333 Publisher: New World Library Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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