Henri Nouwen, Writings Selected, by Robert A. Jonas

 For any reader who does not know Henri Nouwen, one of the most popular spiritual writers of our day, this small book would be an excellent one to begin with.  In the first 79 pages the author, who is a close friend and a psychotherapist, gives a detailed biographical sketch of Henri Nouwen, not only his life and career, but with insights into him as an extraordinary person, deeply spiritual and also plagued with inner turmoil.

Henri Nouwen was born in Holland in 1932.  As a child he was unique, restless and active, always “on the go.” Even at an early age he was entranced by the Roman Catholic Mass, especially the Eucharist.  Jesus became his life-long mentor and model.  He studied in Jesuit schools and later in a Dutch seminary, where he studied the usual theology and Scripture and also psychology, at his request.  After his ordination he spent two years at the Meninger Institute in Topeka, Kansas, exploring human psychology.  He then returned to Holland, obtained a doctorate in theology, taught for a time in a Dutch university and went back to the U.S., where he was a professor at Notre Dame, Harvard and Yale.  He was a gifted teacher, and his lectures and seminars were always given to a packed audience.

Nouwen was also interested in social justice.  He mourned the death of Jack and Robeet Kennedy, attended the funeral of Martin Luther King, marched with the Blacks in Atlanta, and with Buddhist monks in protest of the Vietnam War.  In the 1970’s he felt called to Latin America, where he lived for two years in a poor barrio in Lima, Peru, later spent some time in Mexico and in Nicaragua, where he spoke with the Sandinistas.

He lived intensely, kept close contact with countless friends (including a family of trapeze performers he met in Europe), sent gifts and answered every letter he received.  His love for people, his need for friendship and sharing of ideas, and his inability to say no to any request kept him at a dizzying pace, often with 18 hour days.  He often suffered from exhaustion and felt spiritually drained.  In 1988 he spent 7 months of recuperation     in Winnipeg after a severe emotional collapse.

Besides being a popular speaker, Nouwen was a gifted writer, authoring some thirty books, plus essays, journals and countless letters.  Despite his lofty education and many years of teaching on the university level, he wrote in a simple style, heart to heart, avoiding theological terms or vocabulary beyond the scope of the majority of adults, around the themes of blessedness, brokenness, death and resurrection.  His readers included people of all faiths. In a recent survey asking 3,400 Protestant church leaders who had most influenced them, he ranked second, ahead of Billy Graham.  His own study included Hindu and Zen sources besides Sacred Scripture and Catholic documents.  Most of his books are small, with the exception of his masterpiece, The Return of the Prodigal Son,  which he wrote after contemplating for hours the massive original painting done by Rembrandt of the same title, in an art museum in Russia. The book is as remarkable as the painting.

After a frenetic but fruitful life, and after disregarding a warning to slow down, he died of a massive heart attack in 1997 in Canada, at age 65.  Not having learned to pace his activities or to say no to any request, he literally worked himself to death. 

I invite you to do yourself a favor, and read this book or any others by Henri Nouwen. You will find him spiritually enriching and inspiring.