Henri Nouwen: His Life and Vision

Overview

Catholic Press Association Award Winner!

With more than 140 photos, the amazing story of one of the most popular--and complex--spiritual figures of our time.

Through his more than fifty books Henri Nouwen, the Dutch priest and writer, touched countless people with his compelling interpretation of Christian faith. His immense impact came in part from his willingness to draw deeply on his own experience, inviting readers to share a spiritual journey that included teaching at Yale and Harvard, living with Maryknoll missioners in Latin America, stays at a Trappist monastery and with a traveling circus, and finally at L'Arche Daybreak community in Canada, where his restless search found the deepest answers.

As Michael O'Laughlin shows, Nouwen's life was itself a spiritual text that reflected the very themes he shared in his books: the struggle between intimacy, community, and solitude; the gospel challenge to follow Christ in "downward mobility;" the question of how to make our life and death a gift to others; and realizing in the end what it means to be beloved of God.

Richly illustrated with previously unpublished photos, Henri Nouwen provides the best introduction to the life and message of one of the most beloved spiritual writers of our time.

Michael O'Laughlin served as Henri Nouwen's teaching assistant at Harvard Divinity School. He is the editor of the award-winning Jesus: A Gospel, and the author of God's Beloved: A Spiritual Biography of Henri Nouwen. He is a spiritual director at the Healing Center in Arlington, Massachusetts.