Comments on Orthodox Christian Books: BOOK REVIEW -- Mystic Street: Meditations on a Spi...

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2009-11-21T07:58:46.110-08:00

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Dear Mr. Matt Karnes,Peace and all good.The book M...

2008-03-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. Matt Karnes,
Peace and all good.
The book Mystic Street is certainly written after the genere of Classical Literature Journals, Thomas Merton's "Sign of Jonah" and Imitation Of Christ by Thomas a Kempis are examples. The authors of these books skip around because they are trying to find God in the ordinary stuff of ordinary days. The contemplative life lends itself to finding God in places where most of us forget to look. This is one of the things of Georgiou's book that I liked. I have been living the contemplative cloistered life for 33 years and this book taught me to look and see God everywhere. This is no small feat.
Another aspect of the book is that Georgiou writes like a mystic and in order to understand him one has to open one's heart and view them in this light.
What I really wondered at in your review is how you closed off the traditions of other religions. When one reads other Religions it only makes one richer and doesn't take away from one's own faith. As one Hindu told me " We go to God by all roads- by hook or by crook. God is one.
Well, this may sound like rambling to you and I am skipping around but isn't it very hard to communicate on all levels without skipping around-a little thought here, a little thought there all wrapped up in the one Word.
As one country song by Allan Jackson(yes I even listen to country music because God speaks everywhere) says,"I know Jesus and I talk to God and this I learned when I was young,
Faith, Hope and Love are some of the good things he gave us and the Greatest is Love.
All that matters in the end is that we love.
May God be with you and may you always be with him
Sister Florence Vales OSC
www.poorclaresnj.com

You giveth in the end, Mr. Karnes, but you had alr...

2008-03-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

You giveth in the end, Mr. Karnes, but you had already taken too much away. I have rarely read a more mean spirited review. I have never met S.T. Georgiou, but I know that he is both a student and a teacher of Comparative Religion and the Philosophies of Religion. I think that adds context to his work that you have overlooked. This certainly explains attending a Catholic Mass (Pope Benedict prayed in a Mosque in Turkey and I don't think his faith is suffering for the experience). Why is interest in other religions so harshly judged. I still can't believe you used the phrase "Unitarian garbage." I myself have chided Unitarian's as being members of a social club rather than a religion owing to their "looseleaf-Bible," because when you can believe in anything, you can believe in nothing... but garbage??
I also need to call you on a bit of sloppiness: the Santa Sabina Retreat Center, run by the Dominican Order of Sisters, is Catholic, Christian, ecumenical in nature, and while it may have a whiff of Buddhism owing to it's affection for Merton, it is not a Buddhist Retreat Center.
So, why so harsh? Is it the ecumenicalism. I'm a "faithful to the magisterium" Catholic and I've been to Temple, Episcopal & Baptist services. I steer clear of communion because the Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity of Christ reside in the Tabernacle of the Catholic Church, but I am done no damage by experiencing the faith of my fellow man. Is it lessons learned about God outside the classroom? I confess I can't understand the tone or attitude, but I will say that I think you mishandled the review. This is a terrific book; we build each other up, using a expanded understanding of God, the God of love, through whom life can be better lived and understood. No "spiritual confusion" there, Mr. Karnes.

Here's one other reader's brief take on Steve Geor...

2008-03-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here's one other reader's brief take on Steve Georgious's recent book. This appeared in the winter issue of In Communion:

"Mystic Street invites his readers to discover that they live not only at a certain postal address known to the postman but also, and more significantly, on Mystic Street -- a street that begins at one's front door and stretches to wherever you happen to be going on a given day, whether to the supermarket or a mountain top. Mystic Street is not a line on the map but a way of life in which the main project is to be fully present wherever you happen to be, and thus to be continually rescued from boredom and be snapped awake in a state of surprise. Steve presents his invitation autobiographically, recalling particular experiences he has had while traveling his own Mystic Street. Yet this is less a book about his own life than an invitation to the reader to be more attentive, to live a more contemplative life, to discover beauty in unexpected places. The book's many photos add another level to the text. The cover photo -- light shining on wet cobblestones -- might have been taken on one of the Greek islands, most likely Patmos, where parts of the book are located. Altogether a refreshing read!