Finding the Language of Grace: Rediscovering Transcendence

by Christopher Jamison

Overview

Well known for his appearances on TV and radio, as well as for his books Finding Sanctuary and Finding Happiness, Christopher Jamison once again shows his ability to communicate spiritual insights in an accessible way.

Finding the Language of Grace: Rediscovering Transcendence focuses on the transcendent experiences of grace that we struggle to talk about in today's very business-like culture. Abbot Christopher shows how the ways we listen and speak, read and write can all be channels of grace. This is illustrated through books as diverse as the medieval legend of the Holy Grail, Silence by Japanese writer Shusaku Endo, the writings of Spanish mystics and the novels of Pulitzer Prize winner Marilynne Robinson.

The power and the pain of grace resonate throughout the book, offering a new perspective on healing the loneliness and mistrust experienced by many, as well as on the turbulence and political extremes of today's world. How do we restore trust? How can we listen well? What is the right way to read the signs of the times? And how can we revitalise the language of grace in our day?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399402712
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	12/06/2022
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	693,776
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Dom Christopher Jamison OSB is Australian by birth but moved to England as a child. After graduating from Oxford, he joined the Benedictine community at Worth and later became Abbot. He currently serves as Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation and is much in demand as a speaker and broadcaster.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction

Why transcendence? 1

Why the language of grace? 2

Language: a pathway to grace 4

Language four ways 6

1 What is Grace?

Mistrust: graceless living 8

Grace: trust restored 19

'Our minds are not our own' 24

Reclaiming our minds 28

2 Listening

What is language? 34

Silence: Shusaku Endo 36

Listening to silence: contemplation 41

Listening to words: discernment 44

3 Speaking

The legend of not speaking 54

Finding your voice 58

Speaking with people along the road 62

Jesus the storyteller 65

Speaking well today 68

4 Writing

What is writing? 74

St John of the Cross: The Spiritual Canticle 77

St John of the Cross: Dark Night 82

St Teresa of Avila 84

Being human, the way to the divine 89

'We do not write to be understood; we write to understand' 93

5 Reading

Ways of reading 96

Reasons for reading 98

Reading for grace 103

Reading Gilead 108

6 Reading the Situation

Languasge Beyond Words 116

Glorious Language 119

The Language of Song 125

Languasge that Builds Consensus 131

Authenticity 132

The Past 134

The Future 139

Conclusion 143

Bibliography 147

Editorial Reviews

09/05/2022

“We are losing the ability to speak openly about fundamental aspects of our lives such as love and joy, beauty and goodness” warns Benedictine monk Jamison (The Disciples’ Call) in this dense treatise. He bemoans that “public language today... is almost exclusively commercial and practical,” and entreats readers to get in touch with the “mysterious dimensions of life” through Christian writings on grace. Unpacking Shusaku Endo’s 1966 novel Silence, Jamison suggests that grace can be achieved through discerning when to speak and when to listen, as well as through contemplation, which enables one to “hear something of God’s silence.” The author notes that Hebrew prophets only saw the future in the sense that they “read the signs of the times in the present,” and contends that learning to see the graceful and disgraceful elements of history enables the envisioning of a “more gracious future.” Jamison includes exercises to help readers nurture grace by writing psalms and expressing gratitude every morning. Jamison’s lengthy explications of such texts as Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, the poems of John of the Cross, and the legend of Perceval and the Holy Grail consider methods of textual interpretation more than grace itself, and readers’ mileage will vary based on their willingness to dig into such academic discussions. This brainy outing offers worthwhile insights, even if they stray from its core goal. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Christopher Jamison demonstrates brilliantly how poetry and literature, whether St Teresa of Avila or Marilynne Robinson, open for us a language of grace, transforming how we listen and speak, read and write.” —Timothy Radcliffe OP

“This tender book is not only intellectually sound, but also deeply emotionally literate… You are in for a treat.” —Baroness Sheila Hollins

“Abbot Christopher's gentle style and broad knowledge allow Finding the Language of Grace to serve as an approachable, practical companion in discovering how to articulate not only grace itself but the virtues that proceed from a deep understanding of grace in gratitude, deep love and most pertinently, hope.” —Benedict Plimmer, Catholic Student Network

“This brainy outing offers worthwhile insights.” —Publishers Weekly

“In this wide-ranging, accessible, and engaging work, [Jamison] explores the language of grace, which he believes to be in danger of dying out… [an] inspiring and energising book.” —Church Times

From the Publisher