Partakers of Divine Nature

Partakers of Divine Nature: An Inspiring Presentation of Man’s Purpose in Life According to Orthodox Theology
By Archimandrite Christoforos Stavropoulos
Translated by the Rev. Dr. Stanley Harakas
Minneapolis: Light and Life Publishing Company, 1976
Review by Carl McColman

A slender little book less than a hundred pages long, Partakers of Divine Nature is a handy introduction to the theology of theosis or deification, a keystone of Eastern Orthodox spirituality which has been all but forgotten in the west. Several English-language books on theosis are currently in print, but most are academic tomes aimed at the scholar rather than the ordinary practicing Christian. This book is the happy exception; geared toward the average person of faith, it’s accessible, understandable, and short enough to be digested in a single sitting — although I would recommend taking your time with this book, for even though it is written for the non-specialist, it’s subject matter is sufficiently rich in the language of theology as to make it a book better suited for lectio divina (meditative reading) than for a quick, just-the-facts read-through.

The Book of My Life

The Book of My Life
By Teresa of Àvila
Translated by Mirabai Starr
Boston: New Seeds, 2007
Review by Carl McColman

One of the challenges of being a reviewer is learning the discipline of maintaining an open mind. When reading a book with the intention of writing about it, I cannot help but forming opinions as the reading experience progresses. But just as one cannot judge a book by its proverbial cover, so it is also dangerous to allow early assessments of a book’s worth to color the overall reading experience. Maybe it made sense for Jimmy Carter to concede the 1980 presidential election even before the polls on the west coast closed (after all, his opponent was from California), but for a critical reading of a book to have any hope of fairness, the reviewer needs to suspend final judgment until the last page has been read.

My point in leading this review off with a philosophical digression is that The Book of My Life is one such book in which I struggled to keep my prejudice at bay. In reviewing this title, I am not commenting so much on the writing of Teresa of Àvila as on the translation of Mirabai Starr. And it was Starr’s candor in her introductory “Note on the Translation” that I struggled for the length of the book to accept without judgement.