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The Good News According to Luke: Spiritual Reflections

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Richard Rohr in this book has been able to develop reflections on the Gospel of Luke that are personanally challenging but also consistent with contemporary scholarship. In fact, Rohr is able to use the findings of scholarship as a basis for many of the reflections. Luke presents a Jesus whose message of simplicity and love and faith contradict the world as it was in 80 AD and in 1998. Rohr comes back again and again to Jesus' statements and stories concerning inclusiveness and justice. Rohr reflects on a kingdom that is now. Only our lack of faith keeps it "not yet." The author also has some unique perspectives about some of the stories. In the story of the cure of the centurion's valued servant, Rohr suggests that there is scholarship that maintains an intimate relationship with centurion and servant, which is why the centurion begs Jesus not to enter his house. Unfortunately Rohr only makes the suggestions and does not follow through. He does this in the context of inclusiveness, which is one of the major emnphases of Luke's Gospel. Rohr points out many times that the leadership in Christian denominations would suffer from the stories of Jesus and the parables he told. And yet Rohr does not castigate these authorities. Jesus' challenges are not meant to be divisive. They are invitations to come to the Lord in simplicity and love. Rohr maintains that Luke's main question in this Gospel is "Can God be trusted?" The answer is the resurrection. This is a book that one can come back to many times. The reflections are powerful and require some time to appreciate them.

Rohr's deep exploration of Luke's Gospel is profound, challenging and inspiring, but a large part of the book is him directing the same attention towards Scripture in general: What is it? What is it not? How did it come to be this way? His reasoning and research are an encouraging mixture of more mainstream theology and scholarship mixed with insights into more 'radical' territory such as the place of the Feminine in the Christian story. A very balanced book that is not afraid of tension and paradox in the religious life.

Father Richard Rohr is known for his talks all over the country. Many of his books are taken from his talks. This is one of his better texts. Very easy read, and it really gives you a closer, more accurate look at the man known as Saint Luke of the Gospels. Many of Father Rohr's views are considered "radical" by many "typical" Catholics. In my opinion, he knows more about our faith than most priests in America. I would honestly say that I learned what the true gospels meant from Father Rohr's books. He is a true Franciscan priest, and every Catholic should understand what that means. Two other personal favorites are "Everything Belongs" and "Simplicity".

Robert Calixto
(Author of "The Cloud Seekers", a children's picture book series)
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