In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership Author: Visit Amazon's Henri J. M. Nouwen Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0824512596 | Format: EPUB
In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership Description
Review
"There is more packed between the covers of this little book that adults will find helpful to living a Christian life than you’ll find in many volumes three times its size." —Our Sunday Visitor
From the Publisher
A national bestseller for over a decade, now with study guide! In the Name of Jesus is Henri Nouwen's bold, honest, and heartwarming message about Christian leadership.
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- Paperback: 107 pages
- Publisher: The Crossroad Publishing Company (October 1, 1992)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0824512596
- ISBN-13: 978-0824512590
- Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Having just completed a seminary course on the life and writings of Henri Nouwen, I've come to the conclusion that I really admire and appreciate Henri Nouwen, the man, and really don't like Henri Nouwen, the author. I've read several of his books that simply didn't connect with me at all, though I know that they are hugely popular and helpful to scores of other people.
There is no question that among Henri Nouwen's books that I have read, "In the Name of Jesus" was definitely the most meaningful and helpful to me. I suspect that my resonance with this book is connected to his starting assumptions. Rather than struggles like fear and loneliness which are largely unknown to me and which were so central to several of his other books, I definitely identify with the temptations, described in "In the Name of Jesus," to be relevant, spectacular, and powerful. Each of these three is very attractive to me, so the book seemed to be speaking directly to me in ways that the other books simply did not.
The first issue that Nouwen addressed is relevance. Nouwen offers a helpful corrective to our frequent obsession with relevance, suggesting that we need to make sure that our pursuit of relevance is subservient to our pursuit of God. On page 24, he says, "The question is not: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show some results? But: Are you in love with Jesus?...Do you know the incarnate God?" That is a message that we continually need to hear, so that we keep focused on the most important thing of knowing God while continuing to give appropriate attention to the less important things like relevance.
The second temptation, to be spectacular, is a big one for me.
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