Customer Reviews

Adam: God's Beloved

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This author really knows about God's love. Get it It is time to feel God's warmth again. I would also recommend the book An Encounter with a Prophet

For all of us who have ever wondered about the value of a life--what gives value to a life, what is a life worth living, what guidelines does our culture, our society, our nation put on life?-- Henri Nouwen, through his own search for the answer to those questions, provides the answer by laying down his success at Harvard, Yale and Notre Dame and caring for a man named Adam who can do nothing for himself. The story of the professor/priest who comes to look to Adam as his professor, his teacher, is what God's love can do when we mere humans listen to His voice. Of what infinite value we are to God, each and every one of us. Thank you, Henri Nouwen and all the people at L'Arche. It is a wonderful life-affirming book in the midst of a time when life is not affirmed much.

Henri Nouwen teaches from his personal experience. The lessons in this book go beyond head learning. Instead, the book explains how a broken, severely disabled young man can be an inspirational teacher to a Havard professor and theologian and to you and me. The book is written in easy conversational language and carries a very powerful, potentially life altering message about the Love of God made manifest through the broken body of the young man named Adam. A must read.

I'm the father of an eight-year old boy with Down Syndrome. I cherish and value the disabled. I wanted to love this book, which tells the story of the author's relationship with a severely disabled man. But, really, honestly, it isn't that good. It was unfinished at Nouwen's death and retains a half-baked, rushed quality. There is remarkably little description of Adam's everyday life: indeed, for every sentence about Adam, there must be three or four about Nouwen's interior life. At times, Nouwen sentimentalizes and "theologizes" the severely disabled, which is another way of obscuring their humanity. Nouwen meant well, the publishers meant well -- but "Adam" just ain't that great.

This is a good story. Maybe if I hadn't read so many of Henri's other books, where he recounts some of the same experiences as in this book, I would have been more moved. It was helpful and touching to read about this relationship Henri had which had such a profound influence on him, and in which his theology culminated. He had been realizing for several years that we are all called the Beloved independent of what we do, have, or how we look--but this was most pronounced for him through his relationship with Adam.

So it is worthwhile getting a fuller picture of how Adam taught Henri so many important things about God and himself, but if you have already read many of Nouwen's books (written after he went to L'Arche), much will be repetitive. But evenso, the story and concrete examples of Henri living out his theology are really beautiful. And as someone who works closely with and sees God in people with developmental disabilities, it is wonderful for me to see how Henri saw God in Adam. One of the other reviewers accuses Henri of romanticizing relationships with people with disabilities, but I do not find this to be the case. It was clear that Henri was writing a book about how he encountered Jesus in Adam, and of course focused on incidents that would show that. I did not find the book lacking just because it mainly talked about the peaceful and beautiful moments, because the purpose of the book is to show us how God is in every person, and in a special way in people with disabilities; and it comes across loud and clear. I recommend this short book, though it is definitely not my favorite by Nouwen; it could easily be read in one afternoon.

As a former professional carer for men and women with profound learning and multiple physical disabilities, I have a personal interest in the subject matter of this book. In Adam, Nouwen describes the life and death of a core member of L'Arche Daybreak Community in Toronto, Canada; one with whom he had a particularly strong relationship. Adam was disabled from birth and had lived at home until reaching adulthood when he spent five years in institutional care before joining the Daybreak Community. Adam was unable to speak, he suffered from epilepsy and was left unable to walk as the result of a drug error. He was also incontinent and unable to take control of his own personal hygiene, that is, washing, dressing etc. Devoid of the ability to do things which most of us take for granted, and, lacking anything in which society recognises status, he was, by every definition, a marginal person.

Nouwen describes his progressing relationship with Adam, which began with self-conscious attempts to meet Adam's physical and social needs, and deepened into a real relationship between two human beings that Nouwen describes as being like brothers. He compares Adam's life and ministry with that of Jesus: the fulfilment of his work on earth, like Jesus, was in his brokeness. Jesus died a failure and a marginal person yet it was through this that his mission on earth was accomplished. Adam, like Jesus, ministered to the spiritual and emotional needs of others through his weakness and through the lack of control that he had over his life. Anyone who entered into an honest relationship with him experienced his ability to connect them with what was really important on the human journey: love, faithfulness, integrity and acceptance. He represented, in himself, the importance of being rather than doing, of being faithful to one's own identity and purpose.

There is much of Nouwen's book that anyone in relationship with a person with learning difficulties could relate to: at the beginning of their relationship Nouwen saw a disabled person who happened to be called Adam, he couldn't see beyond his disabilities. As their relationship progressed, and as Nouwen himself integrated more fully into the Daybreak community, he reports that it became harder to judge who was disabled and who wasn't. What we define as disability became invisible.

Those who have come across Nouwen's work before can hardly be unaware of his intense and complex personality that bordered on self-obsession. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the focus of this book was more Adam than Nouwen. It does have its limitations: Nouwen's apparent discomfort with mystery and uncertainty I find disappointing; he still defines Adam in relationship to himself and his own beliefs. His view of people with learning difficulties also seems hopelessly idealistic, to read Nouwen one would think that they never lost their temper or became upset. There is also no recognition of the pain, anger, disappointment and guilt experienced by families with a disabled child; there is no recognition of the injustice of suffering seemingly inflicted on some people; there is no recognition of the hopes and dreams of the learning disabled themselves who may have social and sexual aspirations which because of their disabilities are often unlikely to be fulfilled. However, I welcome the book as a work which presents a positive image of people with learning difficulties and offers helpful insight into their immense potential and contribution to our Church and society. And for anyone who has not been privileged, as I have, to work alongside such people, its message could represent an important step on their own journey.

I have read Adam and other of Henri Nouwen's books. This book teaches us that life is value no matter what a person's condition in life. The message is clear to the church of today-bring more disabled people into full and active participation of the church for their gifts to shine and all of Christianity may benefit.

Adam, God's Beloved, by Henri J. M. Nouwen, is an excellent book for a family caring for a special needs person, for the friends of special needs people, and for anyone wanting to understand the special world of those that are "different" from them. We are parents of a very dear special needs boy, and this book offered me a much more positive outlook toward my son than this world tends to offer. I was blessed and touched by Henri Nouwen's identification of Adam with Jesus. This book is realistic and inspiring at the same time--par excellente!

Henri Nouwen was a Spiritual Author of almost 50 books, had taught at Harvard, Yale, and set up and taught in the Pshchology Department at Notre Dame. He had two Doctrates in Psychology plus he was degreed in Theology. What then could a retarded man who could not speak, walk only when assisted by others, and who never earned a nickle teach Henri? In this great book, Henri calls Adam "My Greatest Teacher." Adam teaches Henri: (1) Being is more important than doing (2) Heart is more important than mind (3) The weakest amongst us create community. Read this book to see how the poor in spirit confound the wisdom of this world.

ADAM: GOD'S BELOVED may not be Henri Nouwen as a writer at his best, but in many ways it is Henri Nouwen as a priest and a person at his best. I know that this sounds like a contradiction, but a reading of the introduction of the book by Sue Mosteller explains some of the difficulties of this book. First, it was a bit of a rush job and the version we have today may not have been the final version had Nouwen not died prior to its publication. Even his last editor Robert Ellsberg in an article called "Editing Henri" (part of a collection of articles in a book titled REMEMBERING HENRI, a volume celebrating the life and work of Henri Nouwen) wasn't sure what Nouwen wanted to accomplish in this book until he read the final version and thought about what it said about Henri Nouwen as a person. Ellsberg's approach may be the best way to approach ADAM.

ADAM tells the story of Adam Arnett, a severely disabled young man Nouwen met while living at Daybreak, a L'Arche community comprised of people of differing abilities, founded by Jean Vanier. In sum, Nouwen cares for Adam's personal needs and believes he comes face to face with the suffering Christ and sees through Adam that every life is important and has a purpose. This is basically a summary of the book and there are many writers, most notably Vanier himself, who speak eloquently about the role of the disabled in society and how the disabled reflect the life of Christ. Like many readers, as some other Amazon reviews will attest, I expected more, or at least I expected more as I read the book. I admired Nouwen for venturing into a place where too many look away, but I hoped for more profound insights from this person who shared so much with so many. I do not believe there is another spiritual writer who has shed light on so many topics, who can be deep and profound yet also simple.

After reading the book, I thought about what I read, which would makes Henri Nouwen happy since he always wanted people to stop and reflect, then I realized what may make this book so important in understanding Henri Nouwen. Nouwen spent his life feeding others spiritually, finding all sorts of ways people could find God and meaning in life. When he arrived at Daybreak, he was both physically and emotionally exhausted, knowing that so many expected so much from him. Adam, whose well being depended on the care of so many, needed Nouwen too, but in a different way than those who wanted to hear him speak or read his next book. As Nouwen served Adam's needs he felt something he hadn't felt before, namely unconditional love and experienced the presence of Christ. Nouwen finally experienced what he provided for so many in his care for Adam. He needed to share this story. No doubt it would have been different if he had lived longer, or another volume with deeper insights would have been published at a later date, but for readers who loved Nouwen's writing and believe we know the man through his works, realizing he was able to experience what he so freely shared with others makes this work indispensable in understanding Nouwen and left me with a good feeling knowing he experienced the riches he so generously shared with others.