A Henri Nouwen Reading List
Today is the anniversary of the passing of Henri Nouwen. Like many others, Nouwen’s writings have touched me deeply and have played a significant role in my own formation.
I first stumbled upon Henri when I was in college. My roommate had gone to a summer prayer internship and had come back on fire for God, bringing with him a stack of books—and I enjoyed snagging books off of his shelf. In that stack was an odd-sounding book titled Clowning in Rome by a guy I’d never heard of. I decided I would give it a try, and it quickly became apparent to me that more than reading it, it was a book that was reading me. It resonated deeply and opened up new ways of thinking about prayer, solitude, and community. After that I was hooked and have enjoyed pretty much everything I've read by Nouwen.
I thought I’d share a few Nouwen books that have shaped me over the years:
Clowning in Rome. This was a series of talks given in Rome where Nouwen reflects on solitude, celibacy, prayer, and contemplation.
In the Name of Jesus. I read this in a pastoral class in seminary and it remains to this day one of the best leadership books I've ever read. Nouwen takes us on a journey through Jesus’ temptation in the desert and asks some hard questions about our own ministry and the temptations we face as ministry leaders.
The Way of the Heart. Another of the earlier books I read by Nouwen. Like Clowning in Rome, this book helped me slow down and consider prayer in a brand new way. This is also one of Rachel’s favorite books.
The Living Reminder. I came across a quote from The Living Reminder, at a training for leading Stephen Ministry. The quote gripped me all week long, which has since shaped how I view what is happening in spiritual direction:
Our memory plays a central role in our sense of being. Our pains and joys, our feelings of grief and satisfaction, are not simply dependent on the events of our lives, but also, and even more so, on the ways we remember these events. The events of our lives are probably less important than the form they take in the totality of our story. Different people remember a similar illness, accident, success, or surprise in very different ways, and much of their sense of self derives less from what happened than from how they remember what happened, how they have placed the past events into their own personal history...It is no exaggeration to say that the suffering we most frequently encounter in the ministry is a suffering of memories. They are the wounding memories that ask for healing.
Nouwen, Henri J. M.. The Spiritual Life: Eight Essential Titles by Henri Nouwen (p. 224-25). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Spiritual Direction. One of the first books I read on spiritual direction. Nouwen helped me reinforce the foundation that God is active in our lives, and that the premise of spiritual direction is simply to help discern that activity. He also helped me understand that while psychology and counseling are very important, processing our spiritual lives using biblical/spiritual lenses is also important.
Following Jesus. I actually read this a few weeks before COVID hit (which now feels like a lifetime ago), and the subtitle is all the more appropriate now: “Finding our way home in an age of anxiety.”
The Spirituality of Fundraising. Not a book you would expect to be written by Nouwen. It was actually a collection of talks that he gave, and it's the best book on fundraising I've read. It won’t help you with the mechanics of fundraising, but rather helps you understand how God can work through fundraising, as well as God’s vision of community and how it relates to fundraising.
Article: From Solitude to Community to Ministry. I return to this short article time and again, as an anchor point to get my bearings in ministry straight.
Honorable Mention: The Return of the Prodigal Son. This book only makes honorable mention for me because I actually haven’t read it yet. It has always somehow gotten lost in the midst of an endless reading list. I say that to my shame. However, I did attend a wonderful retreat based on the movements of this book.
Honorable mention: Wounded Healer. Again, it only honorable mention for me because I haven’t read it yet. So many others have vouched for it that I know it's great, I just can’t speak for it personally.
Honorable mention: Life of the Beloved. I am almost ashamed to put all three of these on here, admitting that I haven’t read them yet. Maybe this will help move them further up the list!