Henri Nouwen

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Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen (Nouen), (Nijkerk, January 24, 1932 - Hilversum, September 21, 1996) was a Dutch-born Catholic priest and writer who authored 40 books on the spiritual life.

Nouwen's books are widely read today by Protestants and Catholics alike. The Wounded Healer, In the Name of Jesus, Clowning in Rome, The Life of the Beloved and The Way of the Heart are just a few of the more widely recognized titles. After nearly two decades of teaching at the Menninger Foundation Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, and at the University of Notre Dame, Yale University and Harvard University, he went to share his life with mentally handicapped people at the L'Arche community of Daybreak in Toronto, Canada. He died in September 1996 from a sudden heart attack.

His spirituality was influenced by many, notably by his friendship with Jean Vanier. At the invitation of Vanier he visited L'Arche in France, the first of over 130 communities around the world where people with developmental disabilities live and share life together with those who care for them. In 1986 Nouwen accepted the position of pastor for a L'Arche community called "Daybreak" in Canada, near Toronto. Nouwen wrote about his relationship with Adam, a core member at L'Arche Daybreak with profound developmental disabilities, in a book titled Adam: God's Beloved. Father Nouwen was a good friend of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.

The results of a Christian Century magazine survey conducted in 2003 indicate that Nouwen's work was a first choice for Catholic and mainline Protestant clergy.[1]

One of his most famous works is Inner Voice of Love, his diary from December 1987 to June 1988 during one of his most serious bouts with clinical depression.

There is a Father Henri J. M. Nouwen Catholic Elementary School in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Contents

[edit] Themes

 Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (April 2008)
"Die Rückkehr des verlorenen Sohnes." by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. Nouwen wrote a short book, The Return of the Prodigal Son, based on his contemplation of Rembrandt's painting of the same name.

Nouwen put his stamp on Christian spirituality by conveying his understanding of the belovedness of God, that we are the beloved sons and daughters of God. Books such as the Return of the Prodigal Son, Adam, Compassion and Life of the Beloved all emphasize this. One of his major ongoing themes involved his struggle reconciling his depression with his Christian faith.

In Return of the Prodigal Son, for example, Nouwen describes love and forgiveness as unconditional. Though this is not a novel idea, Nouwen's approach is arguably unique as he approached this theme from the angles of the younger son, the elder son, and the father. Each captures the unconditional quality of love and forgiveness in their own way. The younger son's life shows how the beloved lives a life of misery by thinking he can be loved only by meeting certain qualifications of the lover (which he fails to meet). The elder son's actions shows how the beloved can be depressed because he thinks he should receive greater love because he has done all the right things (i.e., that he has met these qualifications). The father alone understands how to love and forgive and is able to do so and be happy. Nouwen explains that we are the younger son at times (when we think we don't deserve the love or the forgiveness) and the elder son at times (when we think we deserve love or that another doesn't deserve it more than us), but that we are all called to be like the father (and that only by being like the father can we come closer to being loved as we should be loved).

Nouen also wrote several essays on the necessity of peacemaking. He used God's Love as a justification for the preservation of life, as well as saying "No" to both Vietnam and Nuclear War.

Nouwen also wrote, in part, about his struggles reconciling his priestly vows of celibacy with his human desire for physical and emotional intimacy.

[edit] Sexuality

Nouwen struggled with his sexuality.[2] "Although his sexuality was known by those close to him, he never publicly claimed a homosexual identity."[3] Although he never directly addressed the matter of his sexuality in the writings he published during his lifetime, he acknowledged the struggle both in his private journals and in discussions with friends,[4] both of which were extensively referenced by Michael Ford in the biography Wounded Prophet, which was published after Nouwen's death. Ford suggests that Nouwen only became fully comfortable with his sexual orientation in the last few years of his life, and that Nouwen's depression was caused in part by the conflict between his priestly vows of celibacy and the sense of loneliness and longing for intimacy that he experienced. Ford wrote, "This took an enormous emotional, spiritual and physical toll on his life and may have contributed to his early death."[2] There is no evidence that Nouwen ever broke his vow of celibacy.[2][3]

[edit] Bibliography

  • {Nouen, Henri. “Resisting the Forces of Death.” In Liberating Faith: Religious Voices for Justice,

Peace, and Ecological Wisdom. Ed. Roger S. Gottlieb. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. 467-475. }

[edit] References

  1. ^ Carroll, Jackson W. (2003-08-23). "Pastors' Picks: What Preachers are Reading". Christian Century 120 (17): 31. ISSN 0009-5281. 
  2. ^ a b c Gibson, David (2004, page 191, ISBN 0060587202). "The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful Are Shaping a New American Catholicism". HarperCollins. http://books.google.com/books?id=c4J9MLLSjgwC&dq=%22Henri+Nouwen%22+gay&lr=&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0. Retrieved on 2008-03-31. 
  3. ^ a b McGinley, Dugan (2004, page 185-186, ISBN 0826418368). "Acts of Faith, Acts of Love: Gay Catholic Autobiographies as Sacred Texts". Continuum International Publishing Group. http://books.google.com/books?id=Wz2akt9mPVAC&pg=PA185&dq=%22Henri+Nouwen%22+gay&sig=VJ9Zk5R5VX5xY8KAZDZwUop4VXc. Retrieved on 2008-03-31. 
  4. ^ Elford, R. John (2003, page 72, ISBN 0853235198). "The Foundation of Hope: Turning Dreams Into Reality". Liverpool University Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=7Embf-JhjnIC&pg=PA72&dq=%22Henri+Nouwen%22+gay&sig=puENsZduT_KbeA0Vu8oOIoHaXv0. Retrieved on 2008-03-31. 

[edit] External links

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