Movement 105

,
o
You're pushing the boundaries of Celebrity
Iheologian again, I see...
Not necessarily. Henri Nouwen may be first and
foremost regarded as a Christian writer or
Christian thinker, but he was a proponent of a
theolog that was as radical as it was simple.
Do tell.
Nouwen in 40 books over a 30 year span
encouraged people to embrace their humanity in
all its frailty, and to use that as the basis by which
they engage in ministry with others.
Ho-hum. Been there, done that, have the T-Shirt
Certainly this approach to ministry is now
regarded as old hat, but Nouwen was one ofthe
first, and the finest, proponents of this approach.
When he wrote in his book Ihe Wounded Healerin
1972: "Compassion is born when we discover in
the centre of our own existence not only that God
is God and man is man, but also that our
neighbour is our fellow man." lt was, to use a
clich6, like bringing fresh air into a stale room.
And just how did he get to this point?
Nouwen grew up in the Netherlands and became
ordained as a Catholic priest in the 1950s. He
was interested in pastoral ministry and studied t0
become a Psycholo$st - quite a radical path to
take in an age when the discipline of psychology
was frowned upon ln Church circles. He
developed and taught courses in pastoral
theology that reflected this background. He wrote
two highly regarded texts on the subject in the late
sixties.
Sounds pretg academic.
It was at first. But Nouwen was offered a teaching
position at the Yale Divinity School and
demanded as part of his acceptance that he
would not be required to do any academic writing.
Ihe tone of his work became much more
accessible, more contemplative. Duringthe 10
years at Yale, he wrote some of his finest work.
Someone who wouldn't let a thought go
unpublished then?
Sometimes it seemed that way. Nouwen tended to
write slendervolumes and so he tended to have
books published with a frequency that seemed
sometimes disconcerting. Some of his books are,
admittedly, a bit light in content. But much of his
work uses its pithiness as a strength, and is able
to communicate simple but powerful ideas.
Such as?
Nouwen exhorted people to acknowledge their
loneliness, their frailties and their brokenness.
That only by acknowledging these things can we
best engage with people and find a sense of God.
He also wrote simply and passionately about the
need to live contemplatively, dwelling in the lonely
places thatJesus did, as itwere, to find strength
and hope.
Where did he go from there?
He made an abortive attempt t0 live in Peru
among the poor, but this did not seem to work for
him (although he did write two books on the
subject). ln the mid eighties, he became involved
with Jean Vanier, the founder of L'Arche, an
internati0nal movement of communities where
people with developmental and physical
disabilities and their friends live together. Nouwen
moved into Daybreak, a L'Arche community in
Canada, nearToronto. He lived and worked with
the residents in this community for the next ten
years.
A million miles away from the lvory Tower, then.
Nouwen was hardly cloistered, but L'Arche
affected his work profoundly. His bookAdam,
Gods Belovedlalks about his relationship with
one of the community members, Adam Arnett, a
severely disabled man, and how simply helping
him with his morning routine changed the way he
saw himself and so much of his work. When he
wentto speaking engagements, he always
brought a member of the Daybreak community
with him. He wrote duringthis period, We are not
healers, we are not reconcilers, we are not givers
of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people
who need as much care as anyone we care for.
Died?
Yes he did. He died in 1996 while he was visiting
his native Netherlands. He was buried not far from
the Daybreak community.
ls there a list of recommended reading?
You are keen. His bestworks areTheWounded
Healer: Ministry in Contemporary SocieU 9972),
Outof Solitude (L974),ln Memoriam (abook
about his bereavement over his mother, 1980),
Ihe Road to Daybreak ( 1986), ln The Name of
Jesus (1987)
Any last words?
Nouwen said it best "The mystery of ministry is
that we have been chosen to make our own
limited and very conditional love the gateway for
the unlimited and uncondiUonal love of God.
lherefore ministry must be mutual. And, For a
compassionate (person) nothing human is alien:
no joy and no sorrow, no way of living and no way
of dying."
GRAEME BURK
movement 13
Mea
Culpa
A GUIDE TO THE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
OF A MOVEMENT EDITOR
(1) The pout
used when
begging for
food (or pay
cheques or
late copy)
(2) The fear
grin displayed
when approaching
an animal
of higher rank
(usually in
Editorial Board
meetings)
(3) Dang it! Another typo
The last issue of
Movement carried
more than its normal
quota of mistakes.
Some gremlin crept
into the t6te-d-t6te
piece so that the
lettering was so huge
on the end credit that
half of it fell off. lt
should have read: "Craig Russell is an artist
involved in the Art and Spirituality Network
and the newly formed United Religion
lnitiative. Matt Bullimore is a theology
student, formerly of Cambridge SCM and
currently studying at Harvard."
However two typos that cannot be
blamed on a gremlin is misspelling of Claire
Horsnell as Clare Horsneer and Ellie
Mensingh, who became Mensigh - and that
is exactly what this man does, very deeply,
whenever he spots a typo. Sometimes he
pulls the expression known as 'editor's
grimace' - shown in picture 3.
There was no excuse except an addled
brain and too many late night editing
sessions. These
were probably the
best mistakes since
the mix up with the
spot colour cover on
M103 when lime
green became
mushy pea green.
Tasty!