Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing and interesting
Review: This book comes a personal place in the author's journey back to Christian faith, and is not intended to be "theological" in an academic sense. This perspective must always be kept in mind while reading this book, so as to avoid knee-jerk negative reactions from the more conservative believers (like myself!) Norris does not attempt to give expanded dictionary definitions of religious terms, like some people may expect, but she reflects on the terminology in light of her own stuggles to come to grips with "scary" theologically-infused language. There is always danger of watering down certain concepts to make them more palatable, and that certainly occurs here more than once. But as Norris writes about these concepts from her own experience she sheds a different kind of light on them and enables the reader to add richness and real-world dimension to some rather esoteric concepts. I especially liked the short chapters: there is less meandering onto dubious topics than in her previous works.
Rating: 
Summary: Grace Upon Grace
Review: Like standing at the beach, "Amazing Grace" continues to hit me, wave upon wave, grace upon grace, sometimes with the shock of my own limited view of God, sometimes with renewed perspective of the vastness and wonder of God's love, sometimes caressing me with kindness and grace. Norris dances gracefully among the waves of God's grace, with one foot in Protestant grace of the local Church and the other in the Benedictine grace of the Cloister. For another book which explores these two realms of grace, look up "The Family Cloister: Benedictine Wisdom for the Home", by David Robinson (New York: Crossroad, 2000). Grace to you.
Rating: 
Summary: Israel Galindo
Review: If you've read other books by Norris and liked them, you'll probably like this one too. Though there were some gems here, most of the chapters were not. I found the book to be inconsistent in its depth. Too much of a mixed bag to be a book I'll come back to often.
Rating:
Summary: Trying to reach a state of grace...as are we all...
Review: A very thought-out book from a very thought-provoking lady. Kathleen Norris' reemergence as a Christian continues, but this time she's out of the monastery and back in the real world--where, one is tempted to say, her stories make a little more sense--I liked "The Cloister Walk" but found it hard to relate to given its setting. This book is a bit more accessible...she speaks quite frankly of the struggles both she and others have had with religion, and especially Christianity. Hearing her thoughts on such matters is at the very least entertaining and at the most rather insightful. Make no mistake, though--she's a no-bones wordsmith and can be quite acid-tongued in some of her more pointed observations. I would suggest that she intended this book primarily for a Christian audience, particularly an open-minded and road-worn Christian audience. She's quite open to other ideas and experiences, but she's got a burr under her saddle about quick fixes and what she perceives as warm, fuzzy, fake spirituality--hates 'em like the plague! However, one gets the impression that her opinions are well-meant; she seems to care more about self-honesty than anything else, and her pet peeves are those she considers to be spiritually and emotionally dishonest. That bizness about the Republicans...mmm, Kathleen, got any more wormwood to spread around? If you're a sporting person willing to listen to how the author dealt with her own "religious heritage" then it can be quite an enlightening book. When you get Kathleen Norris, you get all of her--both her redeeming qualities and those you might disagree with. True to her style, however, she does give the reader a complete picture of herself and a candid account of her own shortcomings. To the spiritual seeker, she will no doubt shed some light on Christian spirituality and why it can sometimes seem so obtuse.
Rating:
Summary: Reclaiming our vocabulary of faith.
Review: I am so grateful that I found and read this book of outstanding courage. Kathleen takes the thoughtful reader through a wonderful exercise of reclaiming what for her was a lost vocabulary of faith. Much of what she had to say about the Christian words I grew up with has been echoed in my own life, and while I have not gone back to my roots, I do feel much more comfortable with the old language after having read her book.Bringing the words of faith to life in our everyday living is certainly a struggle for most of us. Kathleen shows us some of the ways her own struggles lead her to at least temporary states of grace. This interesting and useful approach to defining her own theology was lively, engaging, and compelling in the sense that she faces her many shortcomings, celebrates her successes, and continually strives for meaning in her life. Personally, I find today's organized religion lacking any real meaning. But Kathleen has shown me how I can at least reclaim some of the vocabulary of faith that I had long ago thrown out with the other religious baggage of my early years. Thank you Kathleen.
Rating: 
Summary: Not about Grace and certainly not Amazing...
Review: I am sorry to say the best part of this book is the cover. There is very little about true grace in this book and the only amazing thing is how Kathleen Norris's definitions have so little to do with God's authoritative word of The Bible. This book is all about her own personal opinions, which are without authority. Lying underneath the cover of "Amazing Grace" is the psycho-babble of a misguided feminist seeking to exalt her womanhood disguised as Christianity. Kathleen states that one of the things that keeps her rooted in the Presbyterian Church is the fact that a "brilliant clergywoman is the president of one of our largest seminaries." While women can be good leaders, choosing your church based on the sex of the people in charge is hardly the sign of someone earnestly seeking the objective truth of God. You will find this underlying current of feminism throughout this book. As a sample, Kathleen's essay on "Grace" has stunningly little to do with actual grace. Kathleen devotes less than two pages to the term "grace" and never clearly defines the term, nor mentions Jesus Christ. The true meaning of grace is 'unmerited favor from God' - it is a gift of God and cannot be earned. Yet Kathleen implies that it can be earned by our human potential for good. She meanders on about God not punishing Jacob "as he lies sleeping because He can see in him Israel, the foundation of a people." She states that God didn't pour His wrath out on Peter or Saul because "God could see the apostles they would become." She even goes so far as to state that "We praise God not to celebrate our own faith but to give thanks for the faith God has in us." What does this have to do with Grace? This is all so Biblically incorrect it is irritating. And let's look at the true meaning of faith found in Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." God loves us, and created us. But why would God ever have faith in us? What could He be certain of that He could not see? What could He hope for when He directs our every step and knew every thing we would do before we were even born? He sees our innermost thoughts; He searches our hearts and minds. There are many scriptural facts to be found in the Bible about God's relationship with man, but I have never run across anything even remotely suggesting that God has faith in us. Amazingly enough, this definition of faith found in the book of Hebrews isn't mentioned even under the chapter entitled "Faith." About the only truth in this atrocity is that faith is a verb - it is action. Yet Kathleen rambles on about her encounter with a Lutheran bishop who was somewhat mean and unsympathetic to her and a letter from a monk that helped her greatly. It is hard to gain any true insight into what faith really is in this misdirected personal commentary. This is just a sampling of the Biblically unsupportable writing Kathleen has to offer under the title Amazing Grace. This is too bad, really, as the concept of this book had promise. Clearly identifying the true Biblical meaning of Christian terms would be helpful to many earnest seekers of Christian Faith. Let me say that Kathleen does seem sincere. But it is possible to be sincere and yet mistaken. The Bible tells us to test everything to the scriptures and this book just doesn't hold up. If you are looking for the truth, I would suggest this be one of the last places you look, and preferably not at all.
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Summary: From one pilgrim to another thank you for journeying.
Review: After reading Kathleen Norris, "The Cloister Walk", I was delighted to see the sequel "Amazing Grace". I am always searching for those persons who are willing to trust and take the risk of sharing their faith with others. It is not easy to go into the depths and find the simplicity of the heart and hope that others can recognize that this simplicity, this place of vulnerability is God communicating with us. You have to leave the cerebral for awhile to get to the heart of Christianity. There is far too much intellectualizing in this day and age. "Amazing Grace", comes not so much from the head as from "listening with the heart". I believe, this is where Kathleen Norris is taking us, on her journey. To the depths, sometimes of despair but with faith and trust that this is temporary and we will overcome the temptation to enter into the darkness. We have choices, Christianity is not a place of euphoria. We cannot box God into our way of thinking and your grace, that's enough for me". There is a hymn with the me".If only I could believe and live these words each and every moment, I would be at peace forever and ever. Amen.
Rating:
Summary: So glad I found and read this book
Review: I enjoyed every page of this book and I am reading it again--more slowly. I am now about to read A CLOISTER WALK. Thanks for this book. It meant a lot to me to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Eloquent, thoughtful, and nuanced--wonderful
Review: Kathleen Norris is my bedtime reading of late. She pokes--sometimes gently, sometimes with tough leather work gloves--at the words which mean so much in Christianity. Sometimes my own version of Christianity is affirmed; sometimes it is seriously challenged. I am thankful to Norris for both her intelligent thought and the eloquence with which she expresses it. This book would be a fine gift for anyone who appreciates a nuanced discussion of Christian faith. I'm thinking of giving a copy to my pastor for Christmas.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money on this one
Review: This book is theologically "lightweight." Don't waste your time and money reading it. Some of Norris's "definitions" are so outlandish as to be comical. This book is total spiritual fiction. She never goes to the source book, i.e., the Bible, for any help. Who cares what her experiences are? I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, particularly to someone who is "searching", because to do so would be directing them to the path that leads to hell.
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