Reading Slowly

Now that the quarter is underway at Cal Poly I’ve had little time to read material unrelated to work. Little time, however, is still time. I just finished reading The Inner Voice of Love by Henri Nouwen. It was referenced by a friend over the summer, and that reference caused me to pick up a copy of the book. Nouwen wrote this book while in a rainy November of the soul. His reflections and admonitions are short and concise. In the introduction he advises the reader to move through the book slowly. I followed that advice–thanks in part to my schedule.

I enjoyed the book. A few of the chapters were spot on for me. I particularly enjoyed the chapter in which he used a horticultural analogy to talk about circumstances in life I have lived. Sometimes I stumble upon a book that fits where I am at in a moment–this was one of those books.

I’m also nearing the end of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics. This one is a bit more tedious than Nouwen. I need to think about some of the thoughts he presents. As I am reading it, I keep reminding myself what kind of world Bonhoeffer was living in as he was writing. His wrestling with truth and the law becomes even more interesting when you consider he was under a Nazi government at the time.