There is a Season [Hardcover]

Joan Chittister (Author), John August Swanson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995

There Is A Season provides a glorious meditation in art and words on the famous passage from the Bible. There Is A Season shows how human fulfill-ment and true happiness come, not from getting and having more but from valuing that which we have.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 118 pages
• Publisher: Orbis Books; 1St Edition edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157075022X
• ISBN-13: 978-1570750229
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #325,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joan Chittister, OSB (1936- ) is a Benedictine Sister of Erie, PA. She is the author of over 40 books--ten of which have won Catholic Press Association Awards (the latest 2011: God's Tender Mercy). Her book, The Monastery of the Heart: an invitation to a meaningful life, is prelude to a movement for all seekers: Monasteries of the Heart, recently begun by her Benedictine community. Sister Joan is an international speaker who inspires both her audiences and readers with her passion for justice, for equality and for peace, especially for women in both society and the church. Her PhD is from Penn State University in Speech-Communication Theory. She serves as Executive Director of Benetvision, a research and resource center for contemporary spirituality.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book that helps understand contemporary problems, May 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: There is a Season (Hardcover)

This is a beautifully written and illustrated book that makes us see the world in a new light. The author explains issues such as intolerance, war and lonelines as immature reactions that can be understood and overcome by spiritual growth and reverence to the soul and to the natural world.

The book consists of 20 short essays, each pondering one of the seasons in the Book of Ecclesiastes, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to love and a time to hate,a time to plant and a time to sow, etc. and guiding us to meditate and to see life in a fuller and more gentle context.

This is a beatifully illustrated book that can be used as a special gift. I have read and re-read it, which I seldom do, because it always helps me focus on the real virtues of life. I have given it to my ( young adult) children who are now entering the time in their lives where living meaningfully will impact all that they do.

The simplicity of the style and the poetry of the images makes this a delightful book to be turn to time and again. Few authors can say so much in such few words.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written and illustrated verses of Ecclesiates., January 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: There is a Season (Hardcover)

Joan Chittister's reflections on the famous verses of Ecclesiates, 'to everything there is a season...' are not only articulate, suscinct, and penned in beautiful prose, they are also thought provoking and challenging in many ways. John August Swanson's art is simply breathtaking! The more you study the pictures, the more there is to be revealed. Included is a useful description of how the print was made by the artist himself. I have read some of Joan Chittister's works before and find her style to be interesting. It is deceptively easy to read. She is profound in her observations and astute in her assessments. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and found it to be one of the best I read all year.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS HUGE BOOK FROM THIS HUGE MIND AND HEART WELL DESERVES ITS MANY AND ONLY FIVE STAR REVIEWS, October 24, 2007

By 

C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: There is a Season (Hardcover)

I highly recommend this wonderful jewel as Christmas gift for those you most love, for those passing through trial and bafflement, and sadness, for those filled with great joy.

I had not noticed the large and generous size of this book, so favorably available herer on the amazon, before ordering it, and wondered at the large package in my mailbox. It was Sister Joan, speaking large, praying with me with an embrace as wide as all outdoors.

Perhaps we have heard the old song sung by the great American folksinger Pete Seeger, and by others including the Byrds. This book nevertheless brings our understanding, appreciation and entry into this Scriptural verse to a new level. Truly this book serves as lectio divina as Benedictine Sister Joan, winner of the 1992 US Catholic Award for her holy and wonderful work of ministry, meditates carefully on each phrase of this famous Holy Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Each brief phrase of a few words length Talmudically receives pages of commentary of great wisdom and holiness and strength, like a guided meditation.

In fact, this great book can edifyingly find use as a prayer meeting, sitting quietly in chapel, hearing its consoling words. BUt be aware in this context that you might only read a fifth of each chapter at a sitting. Each phrase truly receives many pages of text in this coffee table book sized volume, and each chapter is thick with wisdom and truth, and much to meditate. The chapter on war in particular, published in 1995 someight years before our current situation, breathes a prophetic prescience which speaks deeply to or hearts today. The chapter on restraining from embracing supports not only the mystery of celibacy but also examines the unrestrained consumerism His Holiness now condemns. Each chapter has so much to say; the more slowly you read it the more you receive.

A great gift for the RCIA candidate; a great introduction to the prolific and profound spiritual writings of Sister Joan, a great way to return to the careful contemplation of Holy Scripture in lectio divina.

As if this were not enough we have here the wonderful painting of John August Swanson, with whom Sister Joan also collaborated in The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Woman's Life. HIs beautifully detailed painting resembles the ancient medieval illuminations in the Books of Hours, as well as the beautiful Mexican folk art retablos. In a powerful way these iconic images bring home to our hearts the meaning of these verses.

A great gift for yourself. A great gift for everyone on your list, so favorably and readily available here upon the amazon.