Customer Reviews

Altogether Gift: A Trinitarian Spirituality

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ronald Rolheiser has referred to Michael Downey's "Altogether Gift: A Trinitarian Spirituality" as an "important, seminal work." I agree but would add that many may find reading this metaphorical and subtle work a difficult task. Perseverance is worth the effort, however, and readers who stay the course will be rewarded with a richness of discernment and understanding.

Using the Trinitarian theology of the late Catherine LaCugna as his starting point, Downey attempts to make the mystery of the Trinity accessible to spiritual lives. He rejects a "dialogical" view of divinity (that is, the dialogue of a solitary human with a remote God) in favor of a more communal and relational approach. In Downey's view, prayer communion in the mystery of Trinity leads us to a fuller understanding of our share in the divine life and of our participation in the mission of word and spirit.

The second chapter of this book was its apex. Arguing that Christian life is Trinitarian life yet noting how hard pressed Christians are to articulate this central truth, Downey introduces his readers to a new "grammar" of speaking of God. These poetical "rules of grammar" are not meant to be barriers but are intended "to invite meaningful and truthful communication about God as well as participation in the mystery about which this language speaks." Embracing Downey's grammar leads to a new perception of Trinity as "Giver, Given, Gift/ing."

Another interesting part of "Altogether Gift" was its last chapter. Downey ends with fifteen prayers, points for prayerful reflection. He intends his readers to approach these points in the spirit of "lectio divina" and use them for prayerful consideration of "the mystery of three in one Love."

Ah! What a swim! The ocean of God's mystery as described by Michael Downey is refreshing, and invigorating. Like jumping into a cold pool, there is often a knee-jerk reaction of intimidation and vacillation when one finds oneself having to study or explain the mystery of the Trinity. Downey takes the suffocating technicalities that characterize many works on the Trinity, and creatively constructs beautifully compact yet poetically loaded sentences. With careful accuracy, and deep reverence of the infinite mystery, Downey explains the Trinity as a doctrine ultimately about Love. Downey paints for us the economic Trinity - God who is active, alive, and very present among us and in us. He places the Trinity in the center of everything in the everyday. The Trinity expresses a God who desires, through his very essence, to be related to us, in unconditional love. After all is said and done, Downey encourages us to simply receive the gift. God is love, and that is what this book is about.

Michael Downey's new book, "Altogether Gift: A Trinitarian Spirituality," offers extraordinary and penetrating glimpses into the profound Mystery of God. Gracefully written, thoroughly rooted in classical Christian theology and spirituality, and shaped by the author's own obvious passion, Downey's compelling treatment of the Trinity affects the reader. At the level of intellect, his insightful interpretation of Trinitarian doctrine lends clarity and fresh perspective to complicated, dusty concepts. At the level of heart, his sensitive insight into the mystery of God's life generates moments of release from the aching desire to experience God's loving presence personally and certainly. This important religious classic is an essential read for Christian academics and for persons of faith who crave theological insight and spiritual enrichment.

In "Altogether Gift - A Trinitarian Spirituality" Downey has made a remarkable contribution in the ongoing struggle to engage the Mystery of the Trinity. After a gentle, subtle fashion, Downey challenges his reader to move beyond dismissal of Trinity as superfluous in the lived Christian life and to recognize the Mystery as the very ground of our being as Christian people.

In a work which radically abrogates the isolation of Trinitarian doctrine within the theological and lived tradition of the Church, Downey succeeds in presenting the ancient tradition of the Church anew. Using contemporary language in creative and poetic ways, the author challenges us to allow our lives to be reshaped by a God who reveals God's self as God is. In Downey's authentic expression of the Christian theological tradition, the language recovered is that of Giver, Given and Gift/ing, and it is in the simplicity of this language that Downey's radical subtlety is revealed.

The third chapter of this marvelously accessible text has to be one of the most challenging I have read in some time. Here, the author uncovers/recovers the ancient understanding of the intimate character of the Divine/human relationship. This chapter is not for the faint-hearted or for the lukewarm Christian. In the gentle style of one who has plumbed spiritual depths, Downey articulates a clear understanding of the nature of the human person in terms of the perichoretic. That Downey soundly clarifies the theonomous nature of the human person will at once strike awe and mystery in the heart of his readers.

My only concern upon reading this book is that Downey's language is so accessible and his style so poetic, that one could easily be lured into believing that his challenge is not as profound as it is. He has rendered the doctrine of the Trinity so accessible as to make possible the ultimate, unwritten challenge. Do we continue to live lives that are nominally Christian, professing faith in an abstract mystery which were it removed from the theological tradition would not alter our lives one whit? Or, do we dare to engage the mystery and live truly Christian lives, lives firmly rooted in the Trinity as the ground of our very being?

Dr. Michael Downey's book, "Altogether Gift," is not a book that can be read in one sitting; nor should it be. In fact, it is one of those rare publications that occasionally comes along that needs to be savored in small portions. There is too much compacted into one sentence for the average person to ponder. Downey often does this in his books. To plumb the depth of what he is saying takes reflecive time and solitude. One often has to struggle to make the connections between what he is saying about the Christian faith and exactly how that applies to one's personal experience. I use as an example one sentence (p.86): "Our gift and task is to cultivate, to nurture and sustain the great variety of the manifestations of the magnitude of God's love in all forms of expressivity and creativity." This one sentence is packed with a multitude of questions, questions that can be asked of ourselves as we delve into the depth of our being in our search for the One Love.

This book can be used on many levels, but I can see its real importance and value as a spiritual tool for anyone, especially those exploring the Catholic Christian journey.

I would like to see this book used not only for individual reflection but also in growth groups with women and men who are serious in being challenged in their spiritual life.

In "Altogether Gift" author Michael Downey eloquently reminds the Christian reader that relationship is the key element in understanding God's nature and purpose. God is the Mystery we experience through our everyday relationships. As I read Downey's book I find myself savoring the text, committing some phrases to memory, writing other passages in a journal. They are words of wisdom for one's journey, probing the depths of the eternal Mystery. "There never was a time or place when or where God was not Love loving."

Downey has made a great contribution to both laity and religious by addressing a central truth about authentic Christian living. "In our dealings with one another there is to be always and everywhere a willingness to embody a spirit of equality and mutuality, true independence grounded in the equal dignity of each one."

Downey clarifies what it means to be made in God's image and likeness. "Perichoresis describes the active mutual, equal relations between the Father, Son, and Spirit, without subordination. This also articulates what human persons are called to be and become."

"Altogether Gift - A Trinitarian Spirituality" is altogether inspirational and altogether challenging.

This book caused me to pause in wonder on every page. Michael Downey, in language at times poetic, sets forth a spirituality of the Holy Trinity that is intensely relational and vividly personal. His gift is taking theological abstraction and making it more accessible to the educated lay reader. This is not an easy read, but the language is so rich, it is a meditation unto itself and totally worth the time to savor each sentence. While Downey writes from an obviously Catholic perspective, several Protestant friends read it and subsequently bought their own copies.

The 15 Trinitarian meditations at the end are excellent but take some time to explore.

This small but spiritually powerful book is a gift to anyone, theologian or lay person, who seeks to know God in a deeper and more personal way. Reading "Altogether Gift" is more like engaging in prayerful reflection than reading an academic treatise on the subject. As a layperson, I found Downey's explanation of the Trinity a refreshing and inspirational approach to a doctrine often dismissed as "mystery" in homilies and adult discussion groups. As Downey writes, "...all too often, talk about the Trinity takes the form of lofty speeches rather than plain words." In "Altogether Gift," Downey developes a grammar for exploring the Trinity which helps take the "mystery" out of this doctrine.