The Ironic Christian's Companion: Finding the Marks of God's Grace in the World [Paperback]

Patrick Henry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2000

A prominent religious scholar who isn't afraid to shake our assumptions and probe our imaginations, Patrick Henry has written a guide for the "ironic Christian"-one who strives to integrate truth with faith, to let an expanding knowledge of the world translate into an expanded understanding of God. Drawing on the works of a diverse group of writers and thinkers, from C.S. Lewis and Julian of Norwich to Anne Sexton, Yogi Berra, and Dr. Seuss, he explores the ways in which we can maintain our belief in a God defined by mysteriousness. With humor, humility, and courage, he asks us to join him in this spiritual quest-and in the dizzying, thrilling leaps that faith invites.

"Witty...intelligent...[a] field guide for those who long to integrate their faith with their understanding of modern science, contemporary social theory, and everyday life."-Kathleen Norris

"This is a thinking Christian's book, a series of essays on questions with no easy answers...uncommonly candid and well-written."-Dallas Morning News

"As in The Canterbury Tales, the reader will meet an uncommon mix of seekers....The blend of the spiritual with the rational will delight many readers, some of whom may meet a God full of surprises."-Library Journal

"I'm happy to report that I've found the third in a series of recently published books that takes up the study of God and his grace and does it in a readable and inspiring fashion. (The other two are Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris and Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott.)"-Jon Hassler, The Minneapolis Pioneer Press

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Patrick Henry is a scholar of early Christianity who taught at Swarthmore College and now runs an ecumenical institute in Minnesota, yet he can't say exactly what his book's title means. In other circumstances, imprecise authorial intent might be annoying. But in The Ironic Christian's Companion, such imprecision is actually refreshing. And even though Henry can't quite bring himself to say what "ironic Christianity" is, he's quite articulate when describing what it's like. Ironic Christians, he says, have "an instinctive, abiding suspicion of no-loose- ends answers." They "inhabit a world that is more 'as if' than 'just like,' a world fashioned by a God of surprises."

Henry, who writes like a grandfatherly Kathleen Norris, calls his grab- bag book of autobiographical sketches, literary anecdotes, and spiritual meditations a "field guide" for Christians who seek amazing expressions of grace. With passages such as the following, Henry begins to build a reputation as a latter-day Audubon of the spirit:

Over and over again grace has come off as irony: an off-balance deflating of my pride, sometimes as funny as vaudeville slapstick; a gentle dismantling of my despair (when I'm really hopeless nothing is scarier than hope, so grace has to be indirect, sneaky; clarity when I'm too confused and confusion when I'm too clear.

--Michael Joseph Gross --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Henry, executive director of the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St. John's Abbey and University in Minnesota, writes in a breezy, conversational style that is likely to have considerable popular appeal. He describes his book as a "field guide," an allusion that should tip readers both to its exploratory tone and to its inherent invitation to exploration. Those who can comfortably meander among ambiguity, puzzlement and questions posed with varying degrees of clarity will find the approach congenial. As the title implies, "irony" is the guiding metaphor, both influencing and influenced by Henry's "conversation partners," ranging from Edwin Abbott (author of the science fiction classic Flatland), Lewis Carroll, Erasmus, Keats, and Milan Kundera to Mark Vonnegut, who was a student of Henry's. The range is dazzling. The experience of reading this book is something like sitting at the kitchen table with a garrulous uncle: connections and significance aren't always clear, but many of the stories are entertaining. And the sitting is therapeuticAfor Uncle Patrick as well as his audience. Particularly in recurring references to the suicide of Henry's father, there is a sense of working through a constant experience of loss and ambiguity: "All that is solid melts into air." For the author, this calls not for despair but for exploration motivated by wonder. Henry identifies sources as "conversation partners," and he includes an "index" for pointers to God presented in the order in which they appear in the book. Those who require "neat, brief" answers rather than fieldwork are well advised to stay at home and heed Henry's warning that "this book is not for you."
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade; 1st Riverhead Trade Pbk. Ed edition (February 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157322782X
• ISBN-13: 978-1573227827
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,061,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Becoming A Born-Again Reader, January 11, 2000

By 

Jon Armajani, Assistant Professor of Religion... (Northfield, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ironic Christian's Companion (Hardcover)

As a college professor who teaches courses in Christianity and Islam and as a Presbyterian Minister, I have read a wide variety of books on Christian theology and spirituality. There is no work which I have read that addresses the relationship between the life of the spirit and the mind better than Henry's _Ironic Christian's Companion_. He lucidly combines his personal experiences as a Christian and his life-long intellectual interests in crafting a book which addresses some of the deepest concerns that people have in leading their lives. In a thoughtful and nuanced yet very direct manner Henry shares his thoughts on issues as diverse as death, suicide, divorce, friendships, romance, beauty, time, place, paying attention and the processes involved in finding meaning in the most difficult of life's circumstances. One riveting aspect of the book is that it resists simple answers to life's complex questions. The _Ironic Christian's Companion_ is not a ''how-to'' or ''self-help'' book which attempts to provide a simple solution to life's hardships. Rather, it invites readers to raise new questions about their position in the universe and provides them with a rich set of suggestions regarding how they can begin viewing their humanity and their relationships with the Divine differently. The fact that Henry handles observations about life's meaning from cab-drivers on an equal footing as those from Pope John Paul II is indicative of the freshness in his approach. During the past several years, I have been very embarassed by the narrowness and myopic simple-mindedness of books authored by various Christian writers. The _Ironic Christian's Companion's_ attention to life's multifaceted ambiguities and its propensity to evoke novel perspectives about some of the deepest mysteries we face make it a sophisticated and straightforward volume for religious and non-religious persons alike. It is one of the few works that I would recommend with equal confidence to Christians and non-Christians alike.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book for the Ironically Faihtful, June 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ironic Christian's Companion (Hardcover)

The title of this book got me to buy it. I sort of always held myself in the category of Ironic Christian and finally someone acknowledged that we existed. There are hundreds of books that present faith in that most holy unshakeable way. Patrick Henry presents faith as not-so-absolute. It is hard to describe. I read this book and felt more confirmed in my faith because I was allowed to be Ironic. This book is a gift. Some will find this book completely distasteful, but then those people aren't Ironic Christians. More power to them, but for those of us for whom irony is a way of life, this wonderful book gives us a greater love for God and a greater understanding of why we belong to Patrick Henry's group of Ironic Christians.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Report on God's Grace, January 4, 2000

By 

Gonzalo T. Palacios - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ironic Christian's Companion (Hardcover)

Patrick Henry is an author whose wisdom combines insights into Saint Thomas Aquinas, Dr. Theodore Seuss Geisel, Fyodor Dostoievski, Milan Kundera, and many other authors from past and present, resulting in a vademecum for Christians of the XXIst century. Henry provides his readers with an excellent summary of his book: "I can't tell you what the grace of God is. The most I can do is report what trusting it is like." (p. 237) Congratulations and thanks to Patrick Henry for his ironic report on God's Grace.