And Now I See . . .: A Theology of Transformation

by Robert Barron

Book Overview

"All I know is I was blind, and now I see." These words from the Gospel of John--spoken by a man born blind after being healed by Jesus--guide this rich theological investigation from Bishop Robert... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0824517539
• ISBN13: 9780824517533
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Herder & Herder
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Blending scholarship and passion, fabulous introduction to Christ

This book briefly and compellingly introduces Christianity and its value. Christianity, Barron, argues is not defined by a set of beliefs. Instead, it is above all else a new way of seeing. There is something very wrong with our nature, Barron argues, and Christ heals it. I thought the book was absolutely wonderful. Barron is a professor of theology, and he is clearly a very learned man. He is, of course, deeply familiar with scripture and theology, ranging from the Church fathers to the classics of both Catholic and Protestant theology. He knows modern theology very well. He also has a deep knowledge of, and interest in, literature. When making a point, he tends to range from the Gospels to Dante to Flannery O'Connor. In the course of the book, Barron explains a great deal of Church theology. He gives a very nuanced explanation of the nature of the soul and the nature of God. Teaching theology, however, is not his concern here; he is not trying to teach a system of thought. Rather, he is trying to share the transforming power of the Word. That is what is so absolutely extraordinary about this book. So much of the time, Catholics and other mainstream religious tend to approach religion as a matter of abstract intellectual thought. We tend to leave the passion and the fire to change souls to the Evangelicals. Above all else, Barron wants to set Christ free from the libraries. He wants Church teaching to stop being a dry discipline for specialized scholars. He wants to set it loose in the world, to transform lives. His writing is a great force for Catholic evangelicizing. I recommend this book very highly. I think it is a very good book to introduce Christianity to people. Ratzinger/Benedict, of course, wrote his very well-received Introduction to Christianity, and it is a very good book. Ratzinger's focus in that book, however, was not really on Christ but on religion as such. He was trying to address a modern secular audience, who finds the entire idea of God to be bizzare and incomprehensible. Barron, in this book, is not concerned with proving the existence of God or of arguing with modern philosophy. Instead, he is interested, in presenting the Lord, simply, directly and in all his power. This is not religion, in the abstract; this is the message of Jesus Christ, presented as the soul-transforming force that it is.

A Remarkable, Very Readable Work

Robert Barron's aptly titled book, "And Now I See: A Theology of Transformation" is a work that will potentially change your life, if only you invest the effort in its very readable, yet "dense" pages. They are to be pondered and incorporated into your heart. He synthesizes saints and sages, poets and writers, philosophers and theologians into a remarkable "symphony of voices" -- each enriching the others -- with Jesus Christ as the Conductor. The result is a mind- and heart-opening work, the likes of which you are unlikely to find anywhere else. This is not a book to be read or taken lightly, although a likely outcome is that your own heart will become lighter; and with time and grace, it will soar like a hawk. Our salvation is Fr. Barron's only interest. Chapter 13, "Jesus the Revealer of the True God: Christmas, Chalcedon, and the Cross", is itself worth the price of the book, even more. And while Fr. Barron has been extended deserved accolades (as on the front cover we see that he has entered the front ranks of contemporary American Catholic theologians), he writes for us -- the faithful. I cannot recommend this work highly enough. If it was possible, I would give it a sixth star.

I can see clearly now

Barron's writing is beautiful, almost at times poetic. His use of well known fiction to explain theology is unique.

A truly enlightening theology for today's Christian

Barron draws on religious writings ranging from the Old and New Testament,Augustine, Thomas Aquinas (the subject of one of his previous books),Martin Luther and Dante to more contemporary writers like Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Paul Tillich, Hans Kung and Thomas Merton to position the story and meaning of Jesus' life in a profound new way. This book gave me, a lifetime seeker, powerful new insights into why Jesus really is the way, the truth, and the light. The writing style is intelligent, brilliant, yet wholly readable. You'll want to savor and underline many of the thoughts and observations. For example, the succinct interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount is reason enough to get and read this book. Barron, a priest who is a theology professor at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois, provides us with a fresh way of viewing the Trinity which gives new meaning to the divine love it represents and what the Trinity says about how we can make love, and thereby personal fulfillment and happiness, integral aspects of our lives. If your looking for a book that will invigorate your faith and spiritual life, then get and treasure this book. It's a reference manual that you'll go back to often for encouragement and counsel. You'll keep it handy alongside books by Richard Rohr, Anthony DeMello and Thomas Keating. If anything its brilliance, scholarship, and insights exceed any of these authors. This book may well be for you the next best thing to having your own spiritual director. It could be the basis of a turning around, a metanoia, that will change your life!

Going Beyond Our Mind and Religion to See Reality

I picked this book up knowing nothing about its content. As a reward, I received the most readable, sensible and well-supported view of Christianity I have ever read. This is not a religious book in the sense that it does not about Church or religions. (In fact, the author, Catholic Priest, seems to recognize that churchs and religions can be of the most difficult obstacles to understanding Christ.) Rather it is a book that focus on a multi-level interpretation of scripture and its call to transform our view of ourselves and our place in creation. This is done in part by reference to literary works be Dante, Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor and others in a successful effort to show a common search for the real Christ in us and in our midst. This book about transformation can transform the way you view the Bible and your place in and beyond the world. I set it aside to reread in two weeks and will probably do so several times. As an aside, Barron is very similar to Richard Rohr in many of his views. (He quotes Fr. Rohr's works at least once.) If you find Fr. Rohr interesting, Barron, intentionally or not, follows and expands many of his themes.