"The Diary of a Country Priest" by Georges Bernanos. A Short Review.

The Diary of a Country PriestThe Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As I get older, I am finding the value of re-reading books that are worth re-reading an enriching experience. "The Diary of a Country Priest" is one of those volumes. I had seen it quoted and referenced in other writings in the past, obtained a copy and worked through it ten years ago. So it was quite the pleasure to pick it up again at the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017 to get reacquainted. Bernanos covers several significant subjects - politics, religion, humility, and social justice - through the venue of a young country priest's journal. There are early indications that all is not well with the young priest's health, and those indications grow in intensity until his final diagnosis and demise. And yet the unknown health issues lurk in the background, subtly shaping and governing the cleric's actions, insights, and epiphanies.

This is the tale of a young clergyman who grapples with his own insignificance in the world scheme, but whose contentment and humility makes him a beautiful instrument in the Redeemer's hands. Though he can never see the effects of his pastoral care on the lives of others, many grasp it and are truly affected. There are O'Connor-esque conversion scenes in various places in the story-line that beautifully display what C.S. Lewis might have called a severe mercy. Hope thrives in the most dismal places; life rises where death had long held sway; love sprouts up where it had only been winter and never Christmas.

"The Diary of a Country Priest" is a delightful, subtly inspiring story. The Protestant reader may find some of the pictures troublesome, but when read within their own milieu, they are brilliant. Catholic readers will be confronted with the reality that "Grace is everywhere" (298). And for those who are simply looking for a good read, they will not be disappointed. I highly recommend the book.


View all my reviews

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“The Shift” - 2023 Movie. A Review

Image
  What do you get when you cross a dark dystopian storyline with sci-fi, alternative dimensions, theological and philosophical questions, and the biblical book of Job? You get The Shift , written and directed by Brock Heasley, produced by Ken Carpenter, and distributed by Angel Studios. This roughly one hour and 45 minute tale swirls around Kevin (Kristoffer Polaha) as he moves from one realm of life, with it’s happiness and heartbreak, to another dimension that is a dismal existence clearly governed by The Benefactor (masterfully played by Neal McDonough). A viewer will be asking questions all the way through, and picking up clues and answers that pull the story together bit-by-bit. The story bumps up against an infinite set of alternative possibilities, of time, space, and versions of one’s self that will likely stoke a viewer’s imagination. But the heart of the narrative - besides love, grief, loss, trust/distrust - is around the place of evil, specifically, personal or human evil.
Read more

"On Getting Out of Bed" by Alan Noble. A Review

Image
  When it comes to family members or friends going through a significant mental crisis, or suffering, we often can feel like we’re fumbling about to help them. Sometimes, we can become like Job’s friends, whom he had to call “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2). But very recently Alan Noble, assistant professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee Oklahoma, and cofounder and editor-in-chief of “Christ and Pop Culture” penned a deeply beautiful 120-page hardback that addresses mental affliction. “On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living” is written for those who struggle with mental affliction, but also pastors, teachers, parents, and loved ones, to “help them understand their loved one’s suffering. It is for anyone who ever struggles to get out of bed” (3). I finished this book earlier this week, and kept finding myself saying, “Finally! Someone gets it!” Eight chapters fill up this handy manual. They run through several subjects, like not sounding like Job’s f
Read more

Community?

Image
  (This is from my letter to my congregation I sent out today, 30 August 2023) As one of my elders was leading us through Carl Trueman’s Strange New World in our adult class , I appreciated Trueman’s emphasis on community. And our discussions, especially the last two Sundays, were very fruitful as we thought out loud together about this subject. Therefore, I thought I would share something from David Brooks, an Op-ed columnist that leans into this discussion.   Brooks published a book in 2019 titled, “The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life”. In that work he was taking a gentle punch at destructive trends he has been seeing, and giving some helpful correctives. And so, he notes that “Individualism, taken too far, leads to tribalism” (34). He then shows how the loneliness and spiritual emptiness of individualism taken too far have become more prevalent in our time and the ways that they lead to very dark social consequences. These darker social consequences foster the need t
Read more