Book Review: Wound of Knowledge by Archbishop Rowan Williams
Passonate and intelligent book on Christian inclination and spirituality
Where does this book begin? I find so many entry points, for the writer, Archbishop Rowan Williams, allows the reader to join in at many places. I will start from the beginning, the usual way of writing a book review. For me, there are many lessons as in the way to live more seriously in Christ. To live more seriously in the church and into “…the historical corporateness of its tradition…” with commitment. He the head of the Anglican Church, its worldwide communion, and the Church of England again provides a service in illuminating God-in-Christ. I do not mean to reduce this thoughtful and brilliant book to a series of sound bites. For it is a readable yet scholarly book, well thought out, and filled with the “Wound of Knowledge” as the title suggests.
The author writes with authority in matters, including our inclinations to “religious control” where we wish to come to Christ and the New Testament without so many certainties. Let me stop a moment and say something of certainties, as found in a poem by the author of the book “Run, Shepherds, Run: Poems for Advent and Christmas.” In that book the Episcopalian teacher at a seminary in Berkeley, California USA says, “If you want to go to God, go without/your certainties. Take your graces. Leave/your certainties behind…” (L. William Countryman, “Going to God with the Shepherds.) This is good advice on an approach to reading this 191 page paperback published by Cowley Publications, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
The subtitle of the book tells us that the author is writing about, “Christian Spirituality from the New Testament to Saint John of the Cross.”