Author: Ola Tjørhom

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2009-04-06

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 0802862748

The materialist spirituality in Embodied Faith is biblically grounded, and it smells of earth even as it offers a taste of heaven. Taking an observation of St. Benedict as his starting point, Ola Tjrhom maintains that outward forms are fully capable of incorporating and expressing inner spiritual substance. / Tjrhom moves on to identify three crucial features of a materialist spirituality. First, it has a concrete substance primarily the sacraments and the sacramental dimension of our Christian life in its totality. Second, materialist spirituality cannot be lived out in a vacuum, but requires concrete spaces mainly the church and the world, which, though separate, are clearly interconnected. Third, this spirituality is grounded not in airy ideas and concepts but in plain empirical perception in things we can see and hear, smell and taste making it a spirituality eminently suited for our daily lives and the world. / Ola Tjrhom has written a wise book that bridges many gaps: between the material and the spiritual, the Catholic and the Protestant, the mystical and the everyday. His vision of a materialist spirituality is not a call to leave this world nor an invitation to extreme experiences, but a sober proposal for a Christian life that is in but not of the world. Firmly rooted in creation, such a spirituality still yearns for the transformation of all things. Few books are as ecumenical as Tjrhom s, drawing on a variety of Christian traditions in a way that respects each. Persuasively presented, his wide-ranging reflections cover such a range of topics, one is tempted to call it a systematics of spirituality. Michael Root / Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary