Customer Reviews

Consolations for My Soul: Meditations for the Earthly Pilgrimage Toward the Heavenly Jerusalem

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1 star:		(6)

 

 

The wisdom of Thomas a Kempis is completely lost in this rather miserable translation. There is no reverence here, only a glib smoothness that I suppose the translator thought clever. If I could rate this with negative numbers for stars, I would.

The cover for this book should contain a warning label. It should indicate that this book is somehow based on the work of Thomas  Kempis as freely interpreted by William Griffin.

My wife picked this up for me in a Catholic book store pleased to see that Kempis had written other works. I had not been aware of this fact either. I was pleased to get it.

The cover announces that it is a "contemporary" translation. In a page labelled "About the Translator" we learn that Mr. Griffin has rendered the same free wheeling interpretation of other Kempis' works. We are told that Griffin has translated spiritual classics "into truly modern English."

Granted translators will differ. Often differing translations help the reader to get closer to the author's probable intent. But if this language is truly modern English I fear for the future of the language. Furthermore words such as "puke" have never been part of my vocabulary and I haven't heard the word spoken since I left the military many years ago. So much for modern.

I feel cheated and frustrated. It is the only translation of this Kempis work and it is written for, as another reviewer put it, "your inner flower child." I do not have a more conventional translation to help me determine whether Mr. Griffin has done some or no justice to the original.

Another reviewer writes that one has to "keep reading" and suggests digging deeper. Thanks for the tip but I'd feel much better digging if I were confident that I am looking at the real Thomas  Kempis.

Only for your inner flower child -- cutesy and somewhat embarrassing translation. How could anyone DO this to Thomas a Kempis???

With the resurgence of mystical writings and a real yearning in the Church for a devotional faith over a dogmatic one, to see writings from A'Kempis back on the shelves should be a real blessing. Sadly, with Griffin's translation of "Consolations of the Soul", we do not have A'Kempis, but rather a butchered moderist mess that reminds me of Eugene Peterson's, "The Message". Make no mistake, this book is not a translation, but rather a paraphrase. Even more sadly, it appears that this book is only the start of Griffin's attempt to bring A'Kempis to the 21st Century. One can only hope that the publisher comes to it's senses before A'Kempis is lost from us again. I have no problems with modernizing texts, but Griffin reduces A'Kempis to such drivel as:

"Even at this late date in my life, the Old Man of the Scriptures lives in me, brawling, wrangling, raising Cain, making my nights so drawn out and my days so draggy."

"So what am I supposed to do? Twiddle my thumbs? Consult my books? Climb the highest hill and haloo Him until He haloos back? There's one thing you shouldn't do dear soul. Don't stop your pious chitchat. From this sort of one-way conversation He can tell if your pain is real or made up. The reason I say this is that He sees you happy spmetimes; sad sometimes; sometimes puddle-jumping, other times standing right smack in the middle of the muck. The cause of these mood swings I judge to be precisely this, the to-ing and fro-ing, hithering and thithering of your Beloved Friend. He's hung you out to dry so many times over."

"How nice to find a place to roost! What a relief not to have to talk up a storm! How sweet it is to talk with God and not use words! Words without noise, noise without words - that's that way it is with God! How nice to enjoy a one-on-one with the One and Only, the Summum Bonum, the Bundle of all Bonums, the Boodle of all Bundles!"

There is little beauty to this book, and you will find yourself craving the real A'Kempis inside the maze of Griffin's words. If you want a homeboy translation of A'Kempis, then this is for you, if not, then pray that someone out there can take A'Kempis and give him back to us in a way that respects his own words.

This is supposed to be a contemporary translation that uses language relevant to our time and culture. It seems to me that the author must be using some sort of inner city street lingo that leaves out normal English-speaking people. I could not recognize Thomas a Kempis in this translation at all. I found it to be unreadable.

I really enjoyed this paraphrase of Thomas A'Kempis' "Consolations for my Soul." Fr. A'Kempis is difficult and intimidating out of context, and frightening to a spiritual novice. I received a copy for my confirmation as a eighth grader and one page was all I needed to know that if this was the spiritual life I was going quickly somewhere else. Eknath Easwarn's commentaries on the Imitation of Christ ignited my spiritual life. I enjoyed the humor and truth in this paraphrase. The further context is my time in a Catholic seminary for 10 years. We were very serious about the spiritual life, but the best spiritual directors injected humor into our path to God. The spiritual life and spiritual path is difficult, humor helps us home. I think people are attracted to God by people of joy and good heart. "Consolations for my Soul," as paraphrased, reflects a joyful heart.

A pretentious, flippant paraphrase, and hipster trite at that. I'd be happy to see an accurate, plain translation; but this was an unamusing waste. After reading this, I'd have no idea what the original said, nor why anyone would want to read Thomas a Kempis. It's also filled with silly apologetic editorializing, explaining the silly manner of translating.

It is labeled "A Contemporary Translation" on the cover. Oh, really?

This book is not to be taken in the same context as 'Imitation of Christ'. This book is for the average reader who needs a little help finding how God can give consolation to the soul. God has a sense of humor, heck he created it. The book is facinating if you have the spirit and the intelligence to follow it. It is a hidden treasure much like St. Therese's (The Little Flower) Story of a Soul. No one understood her book either when it first came out. Keep reading this one dear readers, the treasure will come the farther you dig. God Bless!