This book is not quite what I was expecting. I picked it up anticipating a quasi-history of Roman Catholic spiritual traditions. In reality, it reads more like a self-help book (a la The Purpose Driven Life), with Jon Sweeney laying out his own opinions on Jesus and the Gospel and how he believes they should apply to everyday life. It might have helped had I known that Sweeney is some type of motivational speaker, and this book certainly employs the language I associate with those types of seminars (there's plenty of talk about your "true" vs. "false self").
I also found that in his infatuation with Catholicism, he was unfair with Protestant Christianity in many places. And I think I can judge this without bias - I'm not a Christian, just someone who's recently become interested in the matter, and reading lots of different texts lately on Jesus and those who follow Him. For instance, Sweeney criticizes Protestantism for its lack of imagination and its heavy focus on personal faith. For someone like myself, I can't help but simultaneously consider the many benefits of the Reformation. Luther's rejection of religious hierarchy paved the way for democracy, something I happen to like quite a bit. Also, for all the focus on Catholic mystery, I find that there's plenty among Protestants as well. What about Pentecostal charismatics, or the intense spiritual movements in African-American Baptist churches? I find them all equally fascinating.
The book has many chapters and each is intended to deal with a certain element of Catholicism, but they really don't. For instance, there's a chapter on the Rosary. But it's hard to explain what all of the chapters become. There is no history of the Rosary, or even any explanation of what it is. It's just more of Sweeney's personal musings and a story about the first time he prayed the Rosary. And then there's the chapter on Iconography, which, far from providing a defense of the practice, actually seems to provide a stronger argument for those who oppose such objects as idolatry.
This book is terribly difficult to describe, but I still find myself rating it rather highly for a couple of reasons. First, it's immensely readable. And maybe it is just a bunch of self-help mysticism, but, nevertheless, I wouldn't mind if he turned out to be right. While I personally would have liked more of a substantive assessment of Catholicism, Sweeney does excel in certain topics, such as the "sensuousness" of Jesus, which I thought was very well argued. I also admire his open-armed approach to Christian fellowship. In an atmosphere that seems dominated by those more concerned with who to exclude from the faith, it's nice to find a voice for moderates.
