Review: Healing Wounds: The 2025 Lent Book

Healing Wounds: The 2025 Lent Book by Erik Varden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was my Lenten book for this year, so I'm only getting to reviewing it now because of just the busyness of a busy semester. I had been hoping for a reflective Lenten study which would reflect on Jesus' suffering and how our suffering is reflected in that. And, to a degree, that is in this book, written by Erik Varden, a Trappist monk and Catholic Bishop of Trondheim. The reflection is structured on the wounds of Christ, as reflected on by a 12th (?) century Trappist poem on the wounds of Christ.

On the whole, I wouldn't say there was anything theologically wrong in this book, even for a non-Roman Catholic. There is a lot that is right. I think what put me off, however, was that visceral reflection on the wounds, as the physical wounds, which is characteristic of mediaeval Catholic spirituality. I am, admittedly, an Anglo-Catholic, so I'm more likely to be in sympathy with this aspect of Roman Catholicism, but there is a enough Protestant in me to baulk a bit. I mean, if people find it helpful to reflect on the sheer physicality and severity of Jesus' wounds, that's fair. And it's not like I deny those wounds were real and physical and awful- as Christians, we have to remember crucifixion wasn't a painless or sanitized as we often see in churches. The Cross was an instrument of torture, so the physical reminders are important. But reminders are one thing and reveling in the suffering is another. I'm not sure that Varden crosses that line, but sometimes I thought the source poem did.

So, perhaps think about this one. If the Wounds of Jesus are an important part of your spirituality, yes, by all means, this book is for you. If it is less important, this might be a more challenging read.

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Review: The Land Is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery

The Land Is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery by Sarah Augustine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I ran across this book in a bookstore in Waterloo, while visiting my son, who is studying there. This books goes along with the Indigenous authors I've been reading, but with the twist that the author is also Christian, looking at the legacy of colonialism in the context of being an Indigenous Christian. And that is a tricky balance to navigate.

The focus of this book, of course, is the Doctrine of Discovery, that initially ecclesiological doctrine which, effectively, handed the New World (and Africa and parts of Asia-anywhere where Christian kings were not ruling) to the European colonial powers- initially, Spain and Portugal, then Britain and France. Augustine explains the origins of this doctrine, how it morphed into a legal argument and how it is impacting people today, specifically her own Pueblo people, but especially the Yakama people in Suriname. She writes within the Mennonite theological heritage, but her activism comes through in everything she writes.

The result is a challenging book. Not because the theology is tricky. I mean, the absurdity of the Doctrine of Discovery has already been repudiated by almost all mainline churches. The Roman Catholic church which promulgated it in a series of papal bulls has even recently admitted its mistake in teaching in itin the first place. The book is challenging because the doctrine, now a legal principle, continues to be employed in disputes about who owns the land which mining and other exploitative industries work. Augustine is unrelenting in calling attention to these abuses and in demanding help for the Yakima people, and all who are resisting these policies. She doesn't stop with informing. She demands action.

Definitely, this is a worthwhile book, both as a refutation of the Doctrine of Discovery, but also as a call to action.

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