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Summary: Our Identity Is Found In God's Love For Us
Review: "I am God's beloved. I am the one Jesus loves." This is the truth which Henri Nouwen carefully articulates in this book with a wonderful artistic style.The narrative centers around Nouwen's experience with Rembrandt's painting by the same name. After seeing a poster of the painting in a friend's office he begins a journey of meditation on the painting, and on the parable from Luke's gospel. His attraction to the painting and the ideas which it invokes lead him to seek out the original in a Russian Museum where he sat for hours contemplating the content, message, and meaning of the painting and the parable. The central spiritual truth upon which Nouwen elaborates in this book is that we are valuable BECAUSE God loves us, and that this 'belovedness' is the core of our identity. The answer to the question "Who am I?" for Nouwen is "I am the one Jesus loves." Perhaps the most personally striking idea in this book is that when we are truly grounded in the truth of God's love for us, then we are free to do ministry or service "without using it as proof of our goodness." Ministry becomes a response to God's love based on an acceptance of our value in his sight rather than a frantic assertion of our value to God based on some other reason. God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because he loves us. While we are tempted to derive our value from our abilities, our performance, or from other people's perceptions of us, God invites us to simply accept the fact of our value based on His enduring love for us. Buy this book. Read it slowly, and share it with others.
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Summary: Our heavenly Father pours out his love on us.
Review: This book has shown me the extent to which
my heavenly Father loves me, his prodigal
daughter. My Abba runs to greet me when I
return to Him. He welcomes me with an
embrace, kisses, and a party to celebrate my
arrival.
If you, like me, struggle with wondering how
much you are loved by God, read this book,
and wonder no longer. Nouwen's words are
beautifully crafted to be applied as a balm for
hurting hearts that have been crushed by the
imperfect love of our earthly fathers. You will
be comforted by Nouwen's piercing yet tender insights.
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Summary: spiritually redeeming book about a place we all have been.
Review: A captivating book. It causes you to reread passages to insure you get the true meaning. We all have played the parts. Now we can know why and the value that comes from each part, which is our life.
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Summary: My lifetime epiphany.
Review: A profoudly meaningful work that gives rich life to one of Rembrandt's greatest works. Every aspect of my relationship with my family and my Lord has been altered through this Nouwen's most touching interpretation of Christ's parable. I could not rest until I had a reprint of this artwork hanging in my office to remind me daily of true grace, forgiveness and love. No heart should be without it!
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Summary: No classic here!
Review: After reading this book and then checking the reviews here on Amazon[.com], I have to say that I'm very disappointed. I'm disappointed that so many people find this book worthwhile. I had the hardest time working through this book because of unfounded ideas, extreme extrapolation, and emotional "gushiness." I'm glad that some people find value in this book, but I have read tremendously better "spiritual classics" (as another reviewer commented). If you are looking for spiritual classics, try C.S. Lewis, Francis Shaeffer, R.C. Sproul, and even Max Lucado. These authors base their ideas on truth (gasp!) and logic (gasp, again!) instead of extrapolation from a painting and the feelings resulting from viewing the painting. Nouwen has an amazing ability to pull emotional garbage out of thin air and apply that to the Christian life. I'm sorry, Nouwen, have you perhaps read the Bible? The Bible is not based on emotion. The Bible and the Christian life are based on truth. Speaking of reading the Bible, Nouwen says on page 107: "but now I realize that the real sin is to deny God's first love for me, to ignore my original goodness." Romans 3:23 pretty clearly says "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Looking for a worthwhile read? Don't waste your time. More helpful, intelligent, Bible-oriented books have been written by many fine Christian authors. Nouwen isn't one of them by any definition of the phrase.
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Summary: Simple on the surface, yet challenging
Review: Amazing how someone can get so much out of a single painting, yet Henri Nouwen does so, and does so credibly. We can see ourselves as the Prodigal son easily enough -- the sinner who must find our way back to our Father. But Nouwen challenges us, calling us to see Jesus as the Prodigal Son, then calls us to see ourselves as the elder son, and then as the father, to forgive others as well as to accept forgiveness. I found this book both challenging and comforting, and a book I wanted to buy for others.
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Summary: A Classic Meditation on Both Art and Scripture
Review: As the title suggests, this book is a reflective and meditative story of homecoming drawing upon Henri Nouwen's contemplation of Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son. The basis of this painting, is Jesus' parable contained in Luke 13: 11-32. This parable is the story of two sons and their relationship with their father as well as their relationship with each other. As such, the biblical passage can be seen as metaphor for mankind's relationship with God. Using the painting and the underlying story, the author examines his own life within the context of each of his own relationship with God, as well as with his own family, how he is at once, both the younger and the elder son and how he seeks to be the father. Lastly, the parable is seen in the context of Jesus as both the younger and elder son and the Father in a relationship of ultimate and perfect love. The structure of this short book appears to be tripartite on several levels. There are three primary sections: The Younger Son, The Elder Son and The Father. Within each of these sections, Nouwen's narrative is further divided into three subsections, for example, the section dealing with the younger son, there is: Rembrandt and the Younger Son, The Younger Son Leaves and The Younger Son Returns. Within this structure, Nouwen examines each facet from the three perspectives of "relationship" as first described above. The author, Henri Nouwen, was a native of the Netherlands and had a brilliant career as an academic with the University of Notre Dam, Yale Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School. In addition, he was the author of a number of books including The Wounded Healer and Creative Ministry, while traveling extensively as a speaker to a variety of audiences. In the early 1980's, while Nouwen was in the midst of discernment over his ongoing and future ministry and had just concluded an exhaustive lecture tour when, during a visit to L'Arche, a community devoted to care of the handicapped, he first experienced Rembrandt's painting. He was struck by the tender embrace of father and son, " . . . indeed, the son exhausted from long travels; I wanted to be embraced; I was looking for a home where I could feel safe." In the short years thereafter, Nouwen resigned his teaching position and entered into a year of transition to discern whether or not he was called to live a life ministering to mentally handicapped people. In the time that followed, his contemplation of the painting was from the perspective of "coming home," toward "the One" in finding the meaning and purpose of his life. He examines each of the characters, beginning briefly with the four mysterious characters in the painting, including three observers (the seated man and the two women receding into the background). Nouwen begins from the perspective of an observer in life, the outsider looking in, and his distance not only from other people, but from God. As he explores in great depth the images of the younger son, the elder son, and lastly, the father, Nouwen reflects upon not only each character in the painting and parable, but also how he has, at times, experienced himself as each character, whether it is the repentance and return of the younger son, the alienation and resentment of the elder son, or his ultimate and growing understanding of his need to become the compassionate loving father. The prevalent themes of the book include homecoming, acceptance, forgiveness, generosity, all within the context of the unconditional love of our heavenly father. The conclusion that we "become" the father is unique in that we are invited to transcend the limitations of our own humanity to approach the boundless love of the divine.
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Summary: the "other" son
Review: Best part: the chapter on the elder son, the one stayed, the one who demands penance from his little brother, the one who doesn't understand his father's tremendous compassion and forgiveness
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Summary: The Folly of Misinterpretation
Review: Each reviewer has a perfect right to his opinion, both of the author and of the book. However Mr. Landrum's critique of both rings hollow in that he entirely misses (or chooses to miss) the central theme of the book. THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON, by Henri Nouwen, is not a biblical commentary on a scripture passage. The purpose of the book is not to offer a stiff, fundamentalist, doctrinaire, word-by-word, line-by-line, biological dissection of one of the most beatiful passages in scripture. There are plenty of bible dictionaries, commentaries, concordances which are sure to please those who feel compelled to move in such direction. What the author offers are his personal reflections upon both the painting and the parable as it relates to his life and experiences. He relates his direct experiences as to how the beauty and inherent truth of Jesus' words in this wonderful story spoke directly to him in his life. The reviewer, seeking something obviously different, castigates the author for not citing appropriate scriptural references which purportedly would correspond with the former's belief system, in effect, for not writing a book that regurgitates the reviewers own interpretation of Christianity. Had Mr. Nouwen reflected upon the magnificence of a beautiful sunset as evidence of God's handiwork, I am sure that the reviewer would criticize him for not offering the appropriate information concerning atmospheric, barometric and refractory factors which combine to produce the thing.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful meditation
Review: For Christians, the parable of the prodigal son is very familiar, perhaps even boring. Nouwen's meditation on Jesus' parable offers insights into God and ourselves that make the story new again and simultaneously free and challenge us. Further, one can learn from Nouwen's meditation techniques for meditation in order to glean insights from virtually any story ever written. Nouwen was a master, and this book is a masterpiece.
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