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Title: The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris, Kimberly Schraf ISBN: 0-7366-3511-4 Publisher: Books on Tape Pub. Date: 10 October, 1996 Format: Audio Cassette List Price(USD): $64.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.44 (48 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Reflective Journal of Personal Discovery
Comment: The Cloister Walk
by Kathleen Norris
Calling to mind the writings of Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen, Kathleen Norris writes a deeply personal journal of spiritual self-rediscovery. Although a lifelong protestant, Ms. Norris explores the cultures and traditions of a Benedictine Monastery as she searches for deeper meaning and communion with God in her life. This is a book of great reflection, a story of a soul's journey in the midst of contemporary doubt and turmoil.
The book takes place within the context of monastic life throughout the Church's liturgical year. It explores the rituals, ceremonies, liturgies of this life as well as the everyday existence of monastic life. Ms. Norris is strangely drawn to the cloistered community, one which is at once both apart, yet deeply (if somewhat obliquely) connected to life in general. The themes of liturgical renewal, ritual, contemplation, meditation and prayer speak directly to the hearts of all of us. In that life, the author addresses the sacredness of all life and its ability for renewal and spiritual growth.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Author's Spiritual Journey Defined By Creative Thought
Comment: This book received excellent reviews; I had to satisfy my curiosity and read it. I slowly read, hoping to discover some great truths I may have missed these past 6 decades.The book is unique in that the author explains how monks and nuns live, work, and worship together in communities and also how she had the freedom to come and go as she pleased, worshipping in her protestant church as well.
This is a nice book for tolerant people of any faith. Everyone can benefit from quiet reflection, from reading scripture, from singing hymns, and from praying. We all have the freedom to worship God in different ways. Kathleen Norris was curious about the catholic faith, although she remains a protestant. Her experience within the monastery is beneficial to her soul and she describes how, as a poet and writer, the rituals, liturgy, and hospitality within the monastic setting further her own understanding of spirituality.
Rating: 2
Summary: Disappointing
Comment: I was expecting this to be a book about the monastic experience, but instead, it is a book mostly about Kathleen Norris and her social theories. There are a few nuggets of wisdom sprinkled here and there, but not enough to justify reading all the surrounding dross. Worse, there is no humility in the book at all.
There is a hard edge to Norris's writing, almost like an an underlying anger and vulgarity. For example: "[N]ow we sigh, discouraged, hearing only the seeds of our well-worn, ludicrous sexual double standard which dictates that women must be either virgins or whores, either blessed or cursed, while men are simply sexual athletes." I, for one, don't think like that.
And: "That we all begin inside a woman and must emerge from her body is something that the male theologians of the world's religions have yet to forgive us for." This is far too broad and sweeping. Does she really believe that all male theologians are sexists?
There is far too little introspection in this book. Norris too easily criticizes others while failing to look at herself and while rationalizing her own behavior. Perhaps I have been spoiled by reading Henri Nouwen, who seemed to always analyze the nature of his own feelings instead of criticizing someone else who may have brought those feelings about. But then again, Nouwen was a person of admirable humility, a quality Norris needs to work hard to develop.
Norris has plenty of personal issues to deal with, as do we all. This book would have been much better if she had spent more time honestly wrestling with these issues instead of commenting on externals, offering social criticism and justifying her life as a poet.
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Title: Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris ISBN: 1573227218 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris ISBN: 0618127240 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 06 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and "Women's Work" (Madeleva Lecture in Spirituality) by Kathleen Norris ISBN: 0809138018 Publisher: Paulist Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The Virgin of Bennington by Kathleen Norris ISBN: 157322913X Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict (Second Edition) by Esther de Waal, Kathleen Norris ISBN: 0814613888 Publisher: Liturgical Press Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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