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In this masterfully written book, Tomas Halik calls upon Christians
to touch the wounds of the world and to rediscover their own faith
by loving and healing their neighbors. One of the most important
voices in contemporary Catholicism, Tomas Halik argues that
Christians can discover the clearest vision of God not by turning
away from suffering but by confronting it. Halik calls upon us to
follow the apostle Thomas's example: to see the pain, suffering,
and poverty of our world and to touch those wounds with faith and
action. It is those expressions of love and service, Halik reveals,
that restore our hope and the courage to live, allowing true
holiness to manifest itself. Only face-to-face with a wounded
Christ can we lay down our armor and masks, revealing our own
wounds and allowing healing to begin. Weaving together deep
theological and philosophical reflections with surprising,
trenchant, and even humorous commentary on the times in which we
live, Halik offers a new prescription for those lost in moments of
doubt, abandonment, or suffering. Rather than demanding impossible,
flawless faith, we can look through our doubt to see, touch, and
confront the wounds in the hearts of our neighbors and-through that
wounded humanity, which the Son of God took upon himself-see God.
Tomas Halik is a wise guide for the post-Christian era, and never
more so than in his latest work, a thought-provoking and powerful
reflection on the relationship between faith, paradox, change, and
resurrection.
As the challenges of cultural secularization and dwindling
congregation size confront religious communities across North
America and Europe, and the Catholic Church in particular, Tomas
Halik is a prophetic voice of hope. He has lived through the
political oppression and intolerance of religion that defined
Communist Czechoslovakia, and he draws from this experience to
remind readers that not only does crisis lead to deeper
understanding but also that any living religion is a changing
religion. The central messages of Christianity have always seemed
impossible, from peace and forgiveness in the face of a harsh world
to love and self-sacrifice despite human selfishness to the victory
of resurrection through the defeat of the cross. Acceptance of
paradox therefore is the way forward, Halik explains. It is a
difficult way that offers an unclear immediate future, but it is
ultimately the only honest way.
In his two previous books translated into English, Patience with
God and Night of the Confessor, best-selling Czech author and
theologian Tomas Halik focused on the relationship between faith
and hope. Now, in I Want You to Be, Halik examines the connection
between faith and love, meditating on a statement attributed to St.
Augustine-amo, volo ut sis, "I love you: I want you to be"-and its
importance for contemporary Christian practice. Halik suggests that
because God is not an object, love for him must be expressed
through love of human beings. He calls for Christians to avoid
isolating themselves from secular modernity and recommends instead
that they embrace an active and loving engagement with nonbelievers
through acts of servitude. At the same time, Halik critiques the
drive for mere material success and suggests that love must become
more than a private virtue in contemporary society. I Want You to
Be considers the future of Western society, with its strong
division between Christian and secular traditions, and recommends
that Christians think of themselves as partners with nonbelievers.
Halik's distinctive style is to present profound insights on
religious themes in an accessible way to a lay audience. As in
previous books, this volume links spiritual and
theological/philosophical topics with a tentative diagnosis of our
times. This is theology written on one's knees; Halik is as much a
spiritual writer as a theologian. I Want You to Be will interest
both general and scholarly readers interested in questions of
secularism and Christianity in modern life.
International best-selling author and theologian Tomas Halik shares
for the first time the dramatic story of his life as a secretly
ordained priest in Communist Czechoslovakia. Inspired by
Augustine's candid presentation of his own life, Halik writes about
his spiritual journey within a framework of philosophical theology;
his work has been compared to that of C. S. Lewis, Thomas Merton,
and Henri Nouwen. Born in Prague in 1948, Halik spent his childhood
under Stalinism. He describes his conversion to Christianity during
the time of communist persecution of the church, his secret study
of theology, and secret priesthood ordination in East Germany (even
his mother was not allowed to know that her son was a priest).
Halik speaks candidly of his doubts and crises of faith as well as
of his conflicts within the church. He worked as a psychotherapist
for over a decade and, at the same time, was active in the
underground church and in the dissident movement with the legendary
Cardinal Tomasek and Vaclav Havel, who proposed Halik as his
successor to the Czech presidency. Since the fall of the regime,
Halik has served as general secretary to the Czech Conference of
Bishops and was an advisor to John Paul II and Vaclav Havel. Woven
throughout Halik's story is the turbulent history of the church and
society in the heart of Europe: the 1968 Prague Spring, the
occupation of Czechoslovakia, the self-immolation of his classmate
Jan Palach, the "flying university," the 1989 Velvet Revolution,
and the difficult transition from totalitarian communist regime to
democracy. Thomas Halik was a direct witness to many of these
events, and he provides valuable testimony about the backdrop of
political events and personal memories of the key figures of that
time. This volume is a must-read for anyone interested in Halik and
the church as it was behind the Iron Curtain, as well as in where
the church as a whole is headed today.
In his two previous books translated into English, Patience with
God and Night of the Confessor, best-selling Czech author and
theologian Tomas Halik focused on the relationship between faith
and hope. Now, in I Want You to Be, Halik examines the connection
between faith and love, meditating on a statement attributed to St.
Augustine-amo, volo ut sis, "I love you: I want you to be"-and its
importance for contemporary Christian practice. Halik suggests that
because God is not an object, love for him must be expressed
through love of human beings. He calls for Christians to avoid
isolating themselves from secular modernity and recommends instead
that they embrace an active and loving engagement with nonbelievers
through acts of servitude. At the same time, Halik critiques the
drive for mere material success and suggests that love must become
more than a private virtue in contemporary society. I Want You to
Be considers the future of Western society, with its strong
division between Christian and secular traditions, and recommends
that Christians think of themselves as partners with nonbelievers.
Halik's distinctive style is to present profound insights on
religious themes in an accessible way to a lay audience. As in
previous books, this volume links spiritual and
theological/philosophical topics with a tentative diagnosis of our
times. This is theology written on one's knees; Halik is as much a
spiritual writer as a theologian. I Want You to Be will interest
both general and scholarly readers interested in questions of
secularism and Christianity in modern life.
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