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The Alphabet of Grace
With characteristic eloquence and insight, Buechner presents a three-part series of reflections that probe, through the course of one day, the innermost mysteries of life. Blending an artist's eye for natureal beauty, the true meaning of human encounters, and the significance of occurances (momentous or seemly trival), with a wealth of personal, literacy, biblical, and spiritual insights, he offers a matchless opportunity for readers to discover the hidden wisdom that can be gleaned through a heightened experience of daily life.
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1969
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1356 people want to read
About the author
Frederick Buechner
92 books1,228 followersFrederick Buechner is a highly influential writer and theologian who has won awards for his poetry, short stories, novels and theological writings. His work pioneered the genre of spiritual memoir, laying the groundwork for writers such as Anne Lamott, Rob Bell and Lauren Winner.
His first book, A Long Day's Dying, was published to acclaim just two years after he graduated from Princeton. He entered Union Theological Seminary in 1954 where he studied under renowned theologians that included Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, and James Muilenberg. In 1955, his short story "The Tiger" which had been published in the New Yorker won the O. Henry Prize.
After seminary he spent nine years at Phillips Exeter Academy, establishing a religion department and teaching courses in both religion and English. Among his students was the future author, John Irving. In 1969 he gave the Noble Lectures at Harvard. He presented a theological autobiography on a day in his life, which was published as The Alphabet of Grace.
In the years that followed he began publishing more novels, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist Godric. At the same time, he was also writing a series of spiritual autobiographies. A central theme in his theological writing is looking for God in the everyday, listening and paying attention, to hear God speak to people through their personal lives.
His first book, A Long Day's Dying, was published to acclaim just two years after he graduated from Princeton. He entered Union Theological Seminary in 1954 where he studied under renowned theologians that included Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, and James Muilenberg. In 1955, his short story "The Tiger" which had been published in the New Yorker won the O. Henry Prize.
After seminary he spent nine years at Phillips Exeter Academy, establishing a religion department and teaching courses in both religion and English. Among his students was the future author, John Irving. In 1969 he gave the Noble Lectures at Harvard. He presented a theological autobiography on a day in his life, which was published as The Alphabet of Grace.
In the years that followed he began publishing more novels, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist Godric. At the same time, he was also writing a series of spiritual autobiographies. A central theme in his theological writing is looking for God in the everyday, listening and paying attention, to hear God speak to people through their personal lives.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
June 15, 2007
This book celebrates The Divine in the smallest of things: the movement of trees, the space between letters in a word. It transcends theological and dogmatic boundaries and invites us all to rejoice in all that is God.
February 10, 2018
The reviews for this book or nearly unanimously positive. So it was with enthusiasm I picked up 'The Alphabet of Grace' hoping to experience the greatness described in those reviews. I finished in it in couple hours and was left confused. I feel like I've walked into an art gallery where crowds have gathered around the work of a highly esteemed artist that has simply vomited onto a canvas which has been put on display for others to contemplate. Or perhaps, to be more gracious, one of those magic eye art pieces where you have to stare at it for a bit to see the picture hidden under the surface. Unfortunately, I was never able to find my way below the surface to see the beautiful things everyone else is describing in their reviews. Perhaps, like many of them, reading it again might get me there.
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September 21, 2007this book is sort of about the depression of ordinary living. buechner is funny and kind. and the cover is so 80s-retro-cool. he recalls tolstoy's advice of what to do when you keep waking up day after day wondering who you are and what your place in things is: "live in the needs of the day." he gives the idea that nothing is as terrible as we think, yet probably as serious.
October 23, 2025
4 1/2 stars
A smattering of meditations and musings on Faith, Christ, Sin, etc.
Buechner writes in a poetic style that both left me feeling overwhelmed (with how good the writing was and also not completely comprehending everything), but also breathless (in the way that he weaves certain passages of prose with a certain beauty and grace as well as his nerdy references). It reminded me of Annie Dillard's works, somewhat.
It's a liturgy of the everyday I suppose and well worth the read, just note that it was written in the early 70s and thus a lot of his cultural references and basis is on very 70s things.
So maybe it's a liturgical time capsule?
A smattering of meditations and musings on Faith, Christ, Sin, etc.
Buechner writes in a poetic style that both left me feeling overwhelmed (with how good the writing was and also not completely comprehending everything), but also breathless (in the way that he weaves certain passages of prose with a certain beauty and grace as well as his nerdy references). It reminded me of Annie Dillard's works, somewhat.
It's a liturgy of the everyday I suppose and well worth the read, just note that it was written in the early 70s and thus a lot of his cultural references and basis is on very 70s things.
So maybe it's a liturgical time capsule?
November 29, 2020
Well that was quite an unexpected delight. This book was on offer in a bookclub and I had some vague familiarity with Buechner’s work so I cast my ballot in it’s direction. I wasn’t however expecting such a dense, poetic rumination on the sacredness of life, vocation and suffering.
This book for me pairs as a fine companion piece to Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm (another exquisite favourite).
Certainly the unprepared and unattuned may find this occastionally rambling, somewhat directionless and perhaps a bit too “literate”. But to those of us starved for elegance, gratitude and grace it shall appear as an oasis in the desert.
The great miracle of this work is the way in which while I savoured it over a few cold mornings, late afternoons and quiet evenings, I found myself inspired to write a little myself. It awakens that slow awareness to the small wonders of daily life. And that is a real gift indeed.
This book for me pairs as a fine companion piece to Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm (another exquisite favourite).
Certainly the unprepared and unattuned may find this occastionally rambling, somewhat directionless and perhaps a bit too “literate”. But to those of us starved for elegance, gratitude and grace it shall appear as an oasis in the desert.
The great miracle of this work is the way in which while I savoured it over a few cold mornings, late afternoons and quiet evenings, I found myself inspired to write a little myself. It awakens that slow awareness to the small wonders of daily life. And that is a real gift indeed.
March 23, 2009
I enjoy writing that presents the reader with a stream of consciousness style of writing. This book does just that while taking a look into the heart of a man who learns to accept his life as an act of grace from God. This is a beautiful read that I will read and reread throughout my life.
February 9, 2017
Like being lost in the articulated
daydream of the author.
daydream of the author.
January 14, 2022
I find Buechner's humility about his faith comforting. The confidence and vulnerability it takes to say "here are things I thought throughout my day and that is how I experienced God in them" makes me feel so seen. This book's premise is really promising. And yet, I had some fundamental issues with this book. Primarily, the way Buechner continually refers back to a violent news story he read about a gruesome case of child abuse seems disrespectful and in poor taste. To me, it is one thing to use the suffering of someone from whom you are emotionally removed to process things in your own life or private journals. But to publish their suffering, without their consent, and to turn it into a teaching tool, I find off putting. To be honest, it soured the whole work for me.
June 25, 2024
Buechner’s stream of consciousness style irks me in this text, but I can’t help but recognize how deftly he navigates reflection on memories and introspection and spiritual insight within the frame of a couple of motifs and the structure of a “day.” This is certainly one to revisit:
“Maybe it is time to REmythologize this gorgeous Gospel. The spelling out of grace can never be phonetic. It can only approximate the true sounds. The alphabet is finally the Hebrew alphabet. There are nothing but consonants, and it is left to the faithful to fill the vowels with faith” (101).
“Maybe it is time to REmythologize this gorgeous Gospel. The spelling out of grace can never be phonetic. It can only approximate the true sounds. The alphabet is finally the Hebrew alphabet. There are nothing but consonants, and it is left to the faithful to fill the vowels with faith” (101).
June 14, 2023
Reading this book meant reading Buechner’s every thought throughout the span of one day — that an “alphabet” of grace, so much of the little and mundane that makes up a day, is what builds grace.
Loved his little one liners like “the giddy grace of God”, “Jesus is crowned among confession and tears and great laughter”, “to be loved: this ancient and most holy miracle”. Also page 80 made me sob 😃
Loved his little one liners like “the giddy grace of God”, “Jesus is crowned among confession and tears and great laughter”, “to be loved: this ancient and most holy miracle”. Also page 80 made me sob 😃
December 24, 2014
The Alphabet of Grace is a three-part series of reflections on divine Grace that can be traced over the course of a day from dawn to nightfall. I do not usually review spiritual material I read but I have to make an exception for Frederick Buechner, a theologian and Presbyterian minister, who in this short meditative book, wrote so thoughtfully and movingly about Grace. His prose style drips with lyrical lucidity.
Buechner stated that, “At its heart most theology, like most fiction, is essentially autobiography.” True to this belief, Buechner wrote about Grace in the quotidian clack-clack of waking up, having breakfast, driving his children to school, and writing. I marveled at the insightful and profound exposition of Grace expressed metaphorically and via a stream of consciousness style (incidentally a style I dislike). I was surprised at how powerful it was to weave into the reflections excerpts of stories told by Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, and G. K. Chesterton as well as relevant Biblical texts. In between monologues or dialogues with an imagined relative, he also offered stirring, heartfelt prayers.
This is a book that is best read when one is still and quiet. A few times I had to put it aside when my mind was ruffled or cluttered. To be honest, I cannot say I understood this book fully. But I understood enough to connect on a spiritual plane with the familiar struggles Buechner so artfully rendered accessible.
The Alphabet of Grace is a book I will return to often. I am setting it aside for now but will re-read it on my next solitary vacation. In a few days.
Buechner stated that, “At its heart most theology, like most fiction, is essentially autobiography.” True to this belief, Buechner wrote about Grace in the quotidian clack-clack of waking up, having breakfast, driving his children to school, and writing. I marveled at the insightful and profound exposition of Grace expressed metaphorically and via a stream of consciousness style (incidentally a style I dislike). I was surprised at how powerful it was to weave into the reflections excerpts of stories told by Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, and G. K. Chesterton as well as relevant Biblical texts. In between monologues or dialogues with an imagined relative, he also offered stirring, heartfelt prayers.
This is a book that is best read when one is still and quiet. A few times I had to put it aside when my mind was ruffled or cluttered. To be honest, I cannot say I understood this book fully. But I understood enough to connect on a spiritual plane with the familiar struggles Buechner so artfully rendered accessible.
The Alphabet of Grace is a book I will return to often. I am setting it aside for now but will re-read it on my next solitary vacation. In a few days.
February 17, 2020
Serendipitously, the Buechner book I just began, The Sacred Journey, contains an Introduction that explains his intentions in The Alphabet of Grace. Its title is the biggest clue: Buechner reflects on the fact that the Hebrew alphabet contains no vowels, and as an analogy of life, this suggests that to make sense of our always-changing, complicated lives, we must metaphorically “fill in the vowels” to make sense of the mystery that surrounds us and is equally within us.
In pursuit of this focused reflection, Buencher delves into deep detail on one day of his life, rendering brief moments with beautiful description and always going beyond the surface of these moments in an attempt to express momentous meaning for each one. Because of the personal depth of Buechner’s thought, passages can oscillate quickly between esoterically difficult ideas and exquisitely complex insights.
In the end, a patient reader will reflect on the passages that move her and not get too caught up in the ones that fail to connect.
In pursuit of this focused reflection, Buencher delves into deep detail on one day of his life, rendering brief moments with beautiful description and always going beyond the surface of these moments in an attempt to express momentous meaning for each one. Because of the personal depth of Buechner’s thought, passages can oscillate quickly between esoterically difficult ideas and exquisitely complex insights.
In the end, a patient reader will reflect on the passages that move her and not get too caught up in the ones that fail to connect.
June 24, 2021
112 pages with Author's Notes
The title of this brief devotional/inspirational type book by a novelist/Presbyterian minister is somewhat misleading. Although the author separates the chapters into Gutterals (6:45 - 7:30 a.m.),
Sibilants (7:30 - 8:30 a.m), and Absence of Vowels (8:30 - 11 p.m.) his rambling musings don't really make much sense. He basically just describes his day from morning to night talking mostly about family and writing ( but in a vague, abstract way, with little specific details) and throws in some "pastoral insights" on, possibly, the human condition in general. Not very coherent.
The title of this brief devotional/inspirational type book by a novelist/Presbyterian minister is somewhat misleading. Although the author separates the chapters into Gutterals (6:45 - 7:30 a.m.),
Sibilants (7:30 - 8:30 a.m), and Absence of Vowels (8:30 - 11 p.m.) his rambling musings don't really make much sense. He basically just describes his day from morning to night talking mostly about family and writing ( but in a vague, abstract way, with little specific details) and throws in some "pastoral insights" on, possibly, the human condition in general. Not very coherent.
January 28, 2025
This book eludes description or explanation, but the best I can do is to describe it as a man overcome by grace eloquently rambles about his day, faith, literature, dreams. It is exquisite.
"It was a name which, when I wrote it out in a dream, I knew was a name worth dying for even if I was not brave enough to do the dying myself and could not even name the name for sure. Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you a high and driving peace. I will condemn you to death."
"It was a name which, when I wrote it out in a dream, I knew was a name worth dying for even if I was not brave enough to do the dying myself and could not even name the name for sure. Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you a high and driving peace. I will condemn you to death."
April 11, 2014
I get why some really loved this.
For me, though, I just couldn't connect with the dreamy prose.
Not giving up on Buechner, currently reading another Buechner title and have another in the read queue.
For me, though, I just couldn't connect with the dreamy prose.
Not giving up on Buechner, currently reading another Buechner title and have another in the read queue.
January 3, 2011
My faith life would look nothing like it does now, nor would I have the language by which to express it were it not for Buechner and collections like this.
July 23, 2014
I really didn't follow the overall point of this book. It went in every which direction and I really didn't gain much spiritual guidance from this book, which was disappointing.
October 12, 2014
Frederick could write about taking the trash out on Monday and I would be hooked. This book is an amazing work and so is pretty much everything else he writes.
January 30, 2011
Simple and profound look at the everyday, left me wide-eyed.
September 26, 2022
"joy—it must happen now in this unlikely place as always in unlikely places: the road to Damascus, Emmaus, Muscadine, stuffy roomful of frightened Jews smelling of fish."
"I am thinking of grace. I am thinking of the power beyond all power, the power that holds all things in manifestation, and I am thinking of this power as ultimately a Christ-making power, which is to say a power that makes Christs, which is to say a power that works through the drab and hubbub of our lives to make Christs of us before we’re done or else, for our sakes, graciously to destroy us. In neither case, needless to say, is the process to be thought of as painless."
"Fathers and mothers, brothers and cousins and uncles, teachers, lovers, friends, all these invisibles manifest themselves in my visibleness. Their voices speak in me, and I catch myself sometimes speaking in their voices."
"He calls me to be this rather than that; he calls me to be here rather than there; he calls me to be now rather than then. He calls me to be of all things me as this morning when the alarm went off or the children came in or your dream woke you, he called you to be of all things you."
"All the unspoken words if you do not speak them today will never be spoken. The people, the ones you love and the ones who bore you to death, all the life you have in you to live with them, if you do not live it with them today will never be lived."
"I am a congenital believer, a helpless hungerer after the marvelous as solace and adventure and escape."
"If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me."
prosa poética cristã. não se preocupa tanto com a exatidão teológica, mais com a beleza que a Verdade traz. bem bem bom. leitura difícil em inglês, não esperava.
"I am thinking of grace. I am thinking of the power beyond all power, the power that holds all things in manifestation, and I am thinking of this power as ultimately a Christ-making power, which is to say a power that makes Christs, which is to say a power that works through the drab and hubbub of our lives to make Christs of us before we’re done or else, for our sakes, graciously to destroy us. In neither case, needless to say, is the process to be thought of as painless."
"Fathers and mothers, brothers and cousins and uncles, teachers, lovers, friends, all these invisibles manifest themselves in my visibleness. Their voices speak in me, and I catch myself sometimes speaking in their voices."
"He calls me to be this rather than that; he calls me to be here rather than there; he calls me to be now rather than then. He calls me to be of all things me as this morning when the alarm went off or the children came in or your dream woke you, he called you to be of all things you."
"All the unspoken words if you do not speak them today will never be spoken. The people, the ones you love and the ones who bore you to death, all the life you have in you to live with them, if you do not live it with them today will never be lived."
"I am a congenital believer, a helpless hungerer after the marvelous as solace and adventure and escape."
"If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me."
prosa poética cristã. não se preocupa tanto com a exatidão teológica, mais com a beleza que a Verdade traz. bem bem bom. leitura difícil em inglês, não esperava.
July 15, 2018
A wonderful read--mixes reflections, fiction-writing, poetry... mysterious and spacious.
Several favorite quotes, which I have a feeling will change at every reading (recommended). Here's one:
“Not the least of my problems is that I can hardly even imagine what kind of an experience a genuine self-authenticating religious experience would be. Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.” | “ I believe without the miracles I have prayed for then; that is what I am explaining. I believe because certain uncertain things have happened, dim half miracles, sermons and silences and what not. Perhaps it is my believing itself that is the miracle I believe by. Perhaps it is the miracle of my own life: that I, who might so easily not have been, am; who might so easily at any moment, even now, give the whole thing up, nonetheless by God’s grace do not give it up and am not given up by it. There is maybe no such thing, old friend and adversary, as a genuine, self-authenticating experience of anything, let alone God. Maybe at the latter day my redeemer shall stand upon the earth and mine eyes shall behold him and not as a stranger, but in the meantime I behold him on the earth as a name which when I write it wakes me up weeping, as a joke too rich to tell on certain silent faces, occasionally even my own face; as a hand which I am able sometimes to believe that only the thin glove of night I wear keeps me from touching.” - Frederick Buechner, “The Alphabet of Grace”
Several favorite quotes, which I have a feeling will change at every reading (recommended). Here's one:
“Not the least of my problems is that I can hardly even imagine what kind of an experience a genuine self-authenticating religious experience would be. Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.” | “ I believe without the miracles I have prayed for then; that is what I am explaining. I believe because certain uncertain things have happened, dim half miracles, sermons and silences and what not. Perhaps it is my believing itself that is the miracle I believe by. Perhaps it is the miracle of my own life: that I, who might so easily not have been, am; who might so easily at any moment, even now, give the whole thing up, nonetheless by God’s grace do not give it up and am not given up by it. There is maybe no such thing, old friend and adversary, as a genuine, self-authenticating experience of anything, let alone God. Maybe at the latter day my redeemer shall stand upon the earth and mine eyes shall behold him and not as a stranger, but in the meantime I behold him on the earth as a name which when I write it wakes me up weeping, as a joke too rich to tell on certain silent faces, occasionally even my own face; as a hand which I am able sometimes to believe that only the thin glove of night I wear keeps me from touching.” - Frederick Buechner, “The Alphabet of Grace”
September 26, 2021
Totally different from any author I have read. One will struggle through the 1st chapter, to the point of want to set the book aside for another time, or even forever. Keep plugging away. The 2nd chapter will reward the persistent - suddenly connections are made between the author’s words and the reader’s life. Buechner has a unique and gifted way making mundane daily life digestible and indeed, Full of grace after grace. The 3rd chapter is rather anticlimactic, but continue on. Reading this book is like tying shoelaces . . . Grab the ends, but then think twice as you tie the intricate knots, and pull it snug.
August 26, 2023
“I believe without the miracles I have prayed for then; that is what I am explaining. I believe because certain uncertain things have happened, dim half-miracles, sermons and silences and what not. Perhaps it is my believing itself that is the miracle I believe by. Perhaps it is the miracle of my own life; that I, who might so easily not have been, am; who might so easily at any moment, even now, give the whole thing up, nonetheless by God’s grace do not give it up and am not given up by it.”
Lovely. Reads like a journal or a stream of thought. I loved how it didn’t always make sense but made me feel known.
Lovely. Reads like a journal or a stream of thought. I loved how it didn’t always make sense but made me feel known.
October 9, 2022
Strangely good, I must read it again, soon!
I suggest you read this by yourself and all at one sitting. He does "meander" but at the same time, evokes memories of my life and the meaning of life, if there is a meaning. Questions are raised but not always answered, but doesn't that happen in life? I will have to read more from Buechner, by myself, in my private time. He is brutally frank, peeling away my emotions, exposing them to be examined. Grace exposed is a double edged sword.
I suggest you read this by yourself and all at one sitting. He does "meander" but at the same time, evokes memories of my life and the meaning of life, if there is a meaning. Questions are raised but not always answered, but doesn't that happen in life? I will have to read more from Buechner, by myself, in my private time. He is brutally frank, peeling away my emotions, exposing them to be examined. Grace exposed is a double edged sword.
October 2, 2017
One of the most important books I've ever read. Nothing inspires me to sit and mindfully appreciate the miracles of the everyday life like Buechner's stream of consciousness writing style in "The Alphabet of Grace". It's a favorite and I find myself coming back to it year after year. It's a quick read and one that doesn't seem to infringe on any other book I might be reading due to its autobiographical style.
December 2, 2019
This work had some amazing one-liners and even a few great smaller paragraphs, but overall the book didn’t make sense (a spiritual memoir without a traceable trajectory of growth) from page to page.
I did read this around thanksgiving, however, and the first part especially read very much along the lines of seizing the day and being grateful to be alive (and as a result living well just for the sake of living). I appreciated that.
I did read this around thanksgiving, however, and the first part especially read very much along the lines of seizing the day and being grateful to be alive (and as a result living well just for the sake of living). I appreciated that.
May 23, 2021
A wonderfully strange, both stark and dreamlike, bit of Buechner, wending its way through a writer's rainy day (it was his description of rain, quoted elsewhere, that drew me to this book), with this and that association, connotation, stream of consciousness like a more refined Kerouac, moments of almost revelation, and a sense of some deeper underlying meaning. Such is life, woven together in words, from an alphabet of grace.
February 23, 2022
Stream of consciousness tediousness. There is a beauty in how he captures the divine in everyday life as we walk through the morning. But generally he's just writing nearly incoherent thoughts out onto the page. It makes little sense. He even quotes pages of his own work. Sometimes he's talking about something and you realize that's not even happening. He's just bringing us into what is about to happen.
This was my first exposure to Buechner. Could barely get through it.
This was my first exposure to Buechner. Could barely get through it.
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August 9, 2019“How do I happen to believe in God? ...I got into the habit of looking for plots. After awhile, I began to suspect that my own life had a plot. After awhile more, i began to suspect that life itself has a plot. “
I am not smart enough for this book. It was incomprehensible, and yet it spoke to my soul. It was beautiful yet painful. Hopeful and heartrending.
I am not smart enough for this book. It was incomprehensible, and yet it spoke to my soul. It was beautiful yet painful. Hopeful and heartrending.
March 12, 2025
Buechner's ability to see God's grace in the space between letters, the breathy vowels between consonants, and in the "clack-clack" of apple branches is exactly the kind of "seeing" I believe is the difference between the spiritual milk and the solid food St. Paul describes. This was a truly beautiful set of writings.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews