Rating: 
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: "Altogether Gift" is an extraordinary book. I happened upon a hardbound copy in a used bookstore earlier this week. I was struck at once by the beautiful cover. So I started browsing, wondering how Downey could pull off a "trinitarian spirituality" in such short compass. After several minutes, I grew more and more convinced that I'd stumbled upon a gem. That was confirmed later that evening, when I sat down and read it through, quite easily in one sitting. This book is truly a masterpiece, in many ways. First, I was impressed by Downey's graceful writing style. Fluid and clear, he interweaves spiritual insight, personal experience and deep theology -- profoundly and accessibly. Second, he is a model theologian in the way that he presents classical notions of Trinitarian doctrine (nature, person, relations, economy) in a truly revitalized manner. Third, his "grammer of the Trinity" offers a beautiful vision for translating our beliefs into real life situations. Fourth, his insights are illustrated by some unforgettable examples (especially Jean-Dominique Bauby). Two days after finishing "Altogether Gift," I re-read it. Even better the second time. I've also ordered another copy to share with friends and students. My only regret, hardback copies are no longer available. Alas.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful work on the Trinity
Review: Ah! What a swim! The ocean of God's mystery as described by Michael Downey is refreshing, and invigorating. Like jumping into a cold pool, there is often a knee-jerk reaction of intimidation and vacillation when one finds oneself having to study or explain the mystery of the Trinity. Downey takes the suffocating technicalities that characterize many works on the Trinity, and creatively constructs beautifully compact yet poetically loaded sentences. With careful accuracy, and deep reverence of the infinite mystery, Downey explains the Trinity as a doctrine ultimately about Love. Downey paints for us the economic Trinity - God who is active, alive, and very present among us and in us. He places the Trinity in the center of everything in the everyday. The Trinity expresses a God who desires, through his very essence, to be related to us, in unconditional love. After all is said and done, Downey encourages us to simply receive the gift. God is love, and that is what this book is about.
Rating:
Summary: A Spiritual Tool for the Journey
Review: Dr. Michael Downey's book, "Altogether Gift," is not a book that can be read in one sitting; nor should it be. In fact, it is one of those rare publications that occasionally comes along that needs to be savored in small portions. There is too much compacted into one sentence for the average person to ponder. Downey often does this in his books. To plumb the depth of what he is saying takes reflecive time and solitude. One often has to struggle to make the connections between what he is saying about the Christian faith and exactly how that applies to one's personal experience. I use as an example one sentence (p.86): "Our gift and task is to cultivate, to nurture and sustain the great variety of the manifestations of the magnitude of God's love in all forms of expressivity and creativity." This one sentence is packed with a multitude of questions, questions that can be asked of ourselves as we delve into the depth of our being in our search for the One Love. This book can be used on many levels, but I can see its real importance and value as a spiritual tool for anyone, especially those exploring the Catholic Christian journey. I would like to see this book used not only for individual reflection but also in growth groups with women and men who are serious in being challenged in their spiritual life.
Rating:
Summary: A Spiritual Tool for the Journey
Review: Dr. Michael Downey's book, "Altogether Gift," is not a book that can be read in one sitting; nor should it be. In fact, it is one of those rare publications that occasionally comes along that needs to be savored in small portions. There is too much compacted into one sentence for the average person to ponder. Downey often does this in his books. To plumb the depth of what he is saying takes reflecive time and solitude. One often has to struggle to make the connections between what he is saying about the Christian faith and exactly how that applies to one's personal experience. I use as an example one sentence (p.86): "Our gift and task is to cultivate, to nurture and sustain the great variety of the manifestations of the magnitude of God's love in all forms of expressivity and creativity." This one sentence is packed with a multitude of questions, questions that can be asked of ourselves as we delve into the depth of our being in our search for the One Love. This book can be used on many levels, but I can see its real importance and value as a spiritual tool for anyone, especially those exploring the Catholic Christian journey. I would like to see this book used not only for individual reflection but also in growth groups with women and men who are serious in being challenged in their spiritual life.
Rating:
Summary: Love Shines Bright in Nature and Person
Review: I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Michael Downey lecture on this particular book before I ever touched it. I was blown away by his lucid and methodical description of that simple verse from St. John, "God is Love." I bought the book with high hopes. I'll tell you, my hopes were fulfilled! "Altogether Gift" truly is a masterpiece. My Christian faith has been transformed. I always felt that 1 John 4:8 as well as 1 Corinthians 13 and John 15:9-17 were entirely overrated. I believed in them, but thought they didn't do God full justice. What a folly! How impious I was, for these verses are the key to understanding God's creative and salvific activity in the universe--particularly with mankind! Downey's work permeates with the precious and transforming love that God bestows on those who acknowledge Him. The words God spoke in Isaiah 43:4 become crystal clear through Downey's treasure of theological and spiritual reflection ("For you are precious in my eyes and glorious, and because I love you"). During the course of my reading, I was frequently moved to tears as I realized how much more I (we) can love God if I (we) only allow His love to reach me (us); how much more I (we) should love my (our) brothers and sisters in this world. Wow! Buy this book. Read this book. Live this book.
Rating:
Summary: Love Shines Bright in Nature and Person
Review: I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Michael Downey lecture on this particular book before I ever touched it. I was blown away by his lucid and methodical description of that simple verse from St. John, "God is Love." I bought the book with high hopes. I'll tell you, my hopes were fulfilled! "Altogether Gift" truly is a masterpiece. My Christian faith has been transformed. I always felt that 1 John 4:8 as well as 1 Corinthians 13 and John 15:9-17 were entirely overrated. I believed in them, but thought they didn't do God full justice. What a folly! How impious I was, for these verses are the key to understanding God's creative and salvific activity in the universe--particularly with mankind! Downey's work permeates with the precious and transforming love that God bestows on those who acknowledge Him. The words God spoke in Isaiah 43:4 become crystal clear through Downey's treasure of theological and spiritual reflection ("For you are precious in my eyes and glorious, and because I love you"). During the course of my reading, I was frequently moved to tears as I realized how much more I (we) can love God if I (we) only allow His love to reach me (us); how much more I (we) should love my (our) brothers and sisters in this world. Wow! Buy this book. Read this book. Live this book.
Rating:
Summary: God's Gift of Self
Review: In "Altogether Gift" author Michael Downey eloquently reminds the Christian reader that relationship is the key element in understanding God's nature and purpose. God is the Mystery we experience through our everyday relationships. As I read Downey's book I find myself savoring the text, committing some phrases to memory, writing other passages in a journal. They are words of wisdom for one's journey, probing the depths of the eternal Mystery. "There never was a time or place when or where God was not Love loving." Downey has made a great contribution to both laity and religious by addressing a central truth about authentic Christian living. "In our dealings with one another there is to be always and everywhere a willingness to embody a spirit of equality and mutuality, true independence grounded in the equal dignity of each one." Downey clarifies what it means to be made in God's image and likeness. "Perichoresis describes the active mutual, equal relations between the Father, Son, and Spirit, without subordination. This also articulates what human persons are called to be and become." "Altogether Gift - A Trinitarian Spirituality" is altogether inspirational and altogether challenging.
Rating:
Summary: A Dare to Live As Christians
Review: In "Altogether Gift - A Trinitarian Spirituality" Downey has made a remarkable contribution in the ongoing struggle to engage the Mystery of the Trinity. After a gentle, subtle fashion, Downey challenges his reader to move beyond dismissal of Trinity as superfluous in the lived Christian life and to recognize the Mystery as the very ground of our being as Christian people. In a work which radically abrogates the isolation of Trinitarian doctrine within the theological and lived tradition of the Church, Downey succeeds in presenting the ancient tradition of the Church anew. Using contemporary language in creative and poetic ways, the author challenges us to allow our lives to be reshaped by a God who reveals God's self as God is. In Downey's authentic expression of the Christian theological tradition, the language recovered is that of Giver, Given and Gift/ing, and it is in the simplicity of this language that Downey's radical subtlety is revealed. The third chapter of this marvelously accessible text has to be one of the most challenging I have read in some time. Here, the author uncovers/recovers the ancient understanding of the intimate character of the Divine/human relationship. This chapter is not for the faint-hearted or for the lukewarm Christian. In the gentle style of one who has plumbed spiritual depths, Downey articulates a clear understanding of the nature of the human person in terms of the perichoretic. That Downey soundly clarifies the theonomous nature of the human person will at once strike awe and mystery in the heart of his readers. My only concern upon reading this book is that Downey's language is so accessible and his style so poetic, that one could easily be lured into believing that his challenge is not as profound as it is. He has rendered the doctrine of the Trinity so accessible as to make possible the ultimate, unwritten challenge. Do we continue to live lives that are nominally Christian, professing faith in an abstract mystery which were it removed from the theological tradition would not alter our lives one whit? Or, do we dare to engage the mystery and live truly Christian lives, lives firmly rooted in the Trinity as the ground of our very being?
Rating:
Summary: An Essential Read
Review: Michael Downey's new book, "Altogether Gift: A Trinitarian Spirituality," offers extraordinary and penetrating glimpses into the profound Mystery of God. Gracefully written, thoroughly rooted in classical Christian theology and spirituality, and shaped by the author's own obvious passion, Downey's compelling treatment of the Trinity affects the reader. At the level of intellect, his insightful interpretation of Trinitarian doctrine lends clarity and fresh perspective to complicated, dusty concepts. At the level of heart, his sensitive insight into the mystery of God's life generates moments of release from the aching desire to experience God's loving presence personally and certainly. This important religious classic is an essential read for Christian academics and for persons of faith who crave theological insight and spiritual enrichment.
Rating:
Summary: An Essential Read
Review: Michael Downey's new book, "Altogether Gift: A Trinitarian Spirituality," offers extraordinary and penetrating glimpses into the profound Mystery of God. Gracefully written, thoroughly rooted in classical Christian theology and spirituality, and shaped by the author's own obvious passion, Downey's compelling treatment of the Trinity affects the reader. At the level of intellect, his insightful interpretation of Trinitarian doctrine lends clarity and fresh perspective to complicated, dusty concepts. At the level of heart, his sensitive insight into the mystery of God's life generates moments of release from the aching desire to experience God's loving presence personally and certainly. This important religious classic is an essential read for Christian academics and for persons of faith who crave theological insight and spiritual enrichment.
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