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A review by t_shaffner
The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life by James Martin
4.0
I was by turns frustrated and deeply appreciative of this book. It took me ages to read (over a year actually) as I interspersed it with other books, and a large portion of it, particularly in the first half to two thirds, was frustrating as it included a series of defenses of the author's beliefs (or general Christian beliefs) against the most straw man of arguments or the most inane of questions. It was like defending a perspective by answering only questions asked by children below a certain age on that topic and then declaring the result proven to all hearers; deeply annoying. The exception in this early part was the author's perspective that guidance in a spiritual sense can be found within one's own desires, which was a largely new idea to me and one I found thought provoking and useful.
Much of this frustration also changed in the latter portions of the book, most particularly for me in the section on obedience and subsequent portions. Here I felt like the author moved on from answering trivialities to discussing genuine thoughts on a spiritual life and how to live it well, and he did so in ways that felt deeply thoughtful and even wise. Where the early parts answered children's questions, this in this latter part his discussion became instead that of an adult genuinely struggling with faith and how to live it based on his life of experience. Parts of this were quite moving for me, and the end result was one I was deeply glad to have reached. Enough so that I may consider rereading portions of the latter half of this book in the future; it really was meaningful.
Much of this frustration also changed in the latter portions of the book, most particularly for me in the section on obedience and subsequent portions. Here I felt like the author moved on from answering trivialities to discussing genuine thoughts on a spiritual life and how to live it well, and he did so in ways that felt deeply thoughtful and even wise. Where the early parts answered children's questions, this in this latter part his discussion became instead that of an adult genuinely struggling with faith and how to live it based on his life of experience. Parts of this were quite moving for me, and the end result was one I was deeply glad to have reached. Enough so that I may consider rereading portions of the latter half of this book in the future; it really was meaningful.