Paul writes – Thanks to Maggi Dawn for directing me to the fact that Kathleen Norris has a new book out (Sept 08). Specifically she directed me to Dennis Okholm’s review of Norris’ Acedia & Me: Marriage, Monks, and a Writers Life. I’ve been a fan of Norris since the publication of the excellent The Cloister Walk in 1997 - Read on the heals of my first encounter with Merton and his Seven Storey Mountain. From there I went backwards to the beautiful and haunting Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, then forward to Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith.
Okholm concludes his review with these words:
“…We urgently need such reminders amid the "restless boredom, frantic escapism, commitment phobia, and enervating despair" of contemporary life, particularly in the context of a marriage such as the one that unfolds in this book. In a society where acedia results in relationships that are recycled more often than aluminum cans, Norris insists that what is most likely to maintain a marriage is not giddy romance but discipline, martyrdom, and obedience (which, at its etymological root, refers to hearing): "The very nature of marriage means saying yes before you know what it will cost. You may say the 'I do' of the wedding ritual in all sincerity, but it is the testing of that vow over time that makes you married…"
You can read his whole review, here.
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