The Ironic Christian's Companion: Finding the Marks of God's Grace in the World

by Patrick Henry

Book Overview

A prominent religious scholar who isn't afraid to shake our assumptions and probe our imaginations, Patrick Henry has written a guide for the "ironic Christian"--one who strives to integrate truth with faith, to let an expanding knowledge of the world translate into an expanded understanding of God. Drawing on the works of a diverse group of writers and thinkers, from C.S. Lewis and Julian of Norwich to Anne Sexton, Yogi Berra, and Dr. Seuss,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 157322782X
• ISBN13: 9781573227827
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Book highly audience dependent

The primary thesis of this book - that a Christian has not logical certainity but must balance opposing views - was a suprise to me. Not because it was new but rather that it was to me self-evident. For example, I had been taught with regards to God's omniscience and man's freewill that the two concepts framed a mystery we could not understand but could perhaps pull the frame together a bit to point at the truth we cannot fully know.I was similarly caught off-guard by the seeming suprise with which the author confronted the myriad of world calendars - Jewish, Islamic, Thai etc. The effects on one's Christianity of either assuming the 2nd coming is near or that it is far off in cosmological time had interest.Of more interest to me, is the author's growth in understanding the issues related to gender based language.If one has a faith based on certainities, if one has not confronted the issues with which the author deals in a universal and transcultural way, then this book has a great deal to offer. It will help place your faith in the real world - with all the real word messiness.If one has a faith based on uncertainities, thought out in universal, transcultural and across multiple faith, then this book has a great deal to offer in learning how the other side thinks and grows.

Becoming A Born-Again Reader

As a college professor who teaches courses in Christianity and Islam and as a Presbyterian Minister, I have read a wide variety of books on Christian theology and spirituality. There is no work which I have read that addresses the relationship between the life of the spirit and the mind better than Henry's _Ironic Christian's Companion_. He lucidly combines his personal experiences as a Christian and his life-long intellectual interests in crafting a book which addresses some of the deepest concerns that people have in leading their lives. In a thoughtful and nuanced yet very direct manner Henry shares his thoughts on issues as diverse as death, suicide, divorce, friendships, romance, beauty, time, place, paying attention and the processes involved in finding meaning in the most difficult of life's circumstances. One riveting aspect of the book is that it resists simple answers to life's complex questions. The _Ironic Christian's Companion_ is not a ''how-to'' or ''self-help'' book which attempts to provide a simple solution to life's hardships. Rather, it invites readers to raise new questions about their position in the universe and provides them with a rich set of suggestions regarding how they can begin viewing their humanity and their relationships with the Divine differently. The fact that Henry handles observations about life's meaning from cab-drivers on an equal footing as those from Pope John Paul II is indicative of the freshness in his approach. During the past several years, I have been very embarassed by the narrowness and myopic simple-mindedness of books authored by various Christian writers. The _Ironic Christian's Companion's_ attention to life's multifaceted ambiguities and its propensity to evoke novel perspectives about some of the deepest mysteries we face make it a sophisticated and straightforward volume for religious and non-religious persons alike. It is one of the few works that I would recommend with equal confidence to Christians and non-Christians alike.

Report on God's Grace

Patrick Henry is an author whose wisdom combines insights into Saint Thomas Aquinas, Dr. Theodore Seuss Geisel, Fyodor Dostoievski, Milan Kundera, and many other authors from past and present, resulting in a vademecum for Christians of the XXIst century. Henry provides his readers with an excellent summary of his book: "I can't tell you what the grace of God is. The most I can do is report what trusting it is like." (p. 237) Congratulations and thanks to Patrick Henry for his ironic report on God's Grace.

A Book for the Ironically Faihtful

The title of this book got me to buy it. I sort of always held myself in the category of Ironic Christian and finally someone acknowledged that we existed. There are hundreds of books that present faith in that most holy unshakeable way. Patrick Henry presents faith as not-so-absolute. It is hard to describe. I read this book and felt more confirmed in my faith because I was allowed to be Ironic. This book is a gift. Some will find this book completely distasteful, but then those people aren't Ironic Christians. More power to them, but for those of us for whom irony is a way of life, this wonderful book gives us a greater love for God and a greater understanding of why we belong to Patrick Henry's group of Ironic Christians.