Splendor in the Ordinary: Your Home As a Holy Place

by Thomas Howard

Thomas Howard insists that every room of your house — the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, and even the bathroom — is a holy place where God’s grace awaits you, if only you know how to recognize His presence there. With a rich appreciation for the glories of God’s all-encompassing love, Howard shows you how to find Him in Splendor in the Ordinary. This beautifully written book takes you on a tour through your own home. In each room, Howard shows you the surprising ways you can meet God there. (He starts with the door and the walls!) With fervent devotion, his meditations encompass the experience of ancient Israel, who met God in terror and smoke and fire in the Tabernacle, and the sacrifice of Christ, which sanctifies the whole world. But they’re by no means confined to a lofty spiritual Howard sees chances to love and serve God, and sees His gentle hand, in the most seemingly dull and ordinary of places and actions. So take up this book to find out how cooking and cleaning, having family dinners together, and all the other commonplace actions that make up the fabric of your daily life can actually disclose God’s presence to you. Your daily life as well as your devotional life will be forever transformed by this unusual look at how lovingly God awaits us even in the smallest things.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Christian, Faith, Family, Catholic

129 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Thomas Howard (b. 1935) is a highly acclaimed writer and scholar.

He was raised in a prominent Evangelical home (his sister is well-known author and former missionary Elisabeth Elliot), became Episcopalian in his mid-twenties, then entered the Catholic Church in 1985, at the age of fifty. At the time, his conversion shocked many in evangelical circles, and was the subject of a feature article in the leading evangelical periodical Christianity Today.

Dave Armstrong writes of Howard: "He cites the influence of great Catholic writers such as Newman, Knox, Chesterton, Guardini, Ratzinger, Karl Adam, Louis Bouyer, and St. Augustine on his final decision. Howard's always stylistically-excellent prose is especially noteworthy for its emphasis on the sacramental, incarnational and ‘transcendent’ aspects of Christianity."

Like C.S. Lewis, who he greatly admires and has written about often, Howard is an English professor (recently retired, after nearly forty years of teaching), who taught at Gordon College and then at St. John's Seminary. He is a highly acclaimed writer and scholar, noted for his studies of Inklings C.S. Lewis Narnia Beyond: A Guide to the Fiction of C.S. Lewis (2006, 1987) and Charles Williams The Novels of Charles Williams (1991), as well as books including Christ the Tiger (1967), Chance or the Dance (1969), Hallowed be This House (1976), Evangelical is Not Enough (1984), If Your Mind Wanders at Mass (1995), On Being Catholic (1997), and The Secret of New York Revealed.

Reviews

[ladydusk · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many thoughts to think about how we live with one another. Excellent.

[Christy Whitsell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a number of homemaking books, and they usually leave me feeling discouraged. This one was different. Perhaps because it was by a man, perhaps because it focused on the theology of home, more descriptive than prescriptive? I’m not sure, but I found this book to be inspiring and it made me appreciate my home more.

[Sarah Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely little read. A great alternative to a “biblical womanhood” take on what home means

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give this 2 stars mostly because I don’t think I’d ever recommend it to anyone. I liked some of his ideas - that in the family is where we first learn and develop charity and self-sacrifice for another and that the house is a haven and should be a welcoming place for all. But he really used a lot of words, including an obtrusive amount of parenthetical thoughts, and most of the words and ideas were either irrelevant to his point or just bad.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finishing this, I have a sense of the broad themes, but also that much beautiful reflection and insight has flown past, leaving a warmth, but little understanding.

It's an interesting approach - Thomas Howard takes the different parts of a house and relates them to what it means to be human, what is good, and the Christian mysteries. It works surprisingly well, despite my poor retention. Howard is an elegant writer, and his insights are fresh and striking.

[Marin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall premise: good. I like seeing the holy in the ordinary things. Everything is sacramental and points us towards heaven. I try to live like this on the daily. Theology on love, what heaven really is, and details and foundation for reasoning: icky. Misogyny and privilege and oppressive views abound. Alas, the difference 50 years can make.

[Carly Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good walk through of the deeper and odder significancies of each room of a house and how those mysteries speak truths of how the household should run.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent room-by-room look at the school of charity: the home.

Two or three times, I ran into bits that were a bit too mystical for my tastes, but most of the time I found that holding my opinion in abeyance until the argument (or chapter) was complete, resolved most of my doubts.

This book reminds me of The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection, My Life for Yours: A Walk through the Christian Home, and Face to Face: Meditations on Friendship and Hospitality.

My life for yours.

[Bmankiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This beautifully written book brings insight into the mystery and sacredness of the acts we do every day with our loved ones in our home. It will inspire you to see daily acts as opportunities for Grace to pour into your life by your participation in the key theme of the book: "My Life for Yours". Some of my favorite quotes: "See to it that what goes on here is a small picture of what ought to go on everywhere." "In sleep we are obliged to remember with remorseless regularity our mortality." But he goes on to also see sleep as part of the endless movement from weakness to strength, from death to life.

[Tirzah Eleora · Rating 4 out of 5]

As ever, Dr. Howard's eloquence unlocks a deeper understanding of the hidden mysteries of the ordinary. He forces you to stop and reflect on the significance of all the mundane tasks that our lives are comprised of, and to find the joy hidden there.

Recommended, but perhaps read it over a longer period of time than I did, as it does feel a bit repetitive at times.

[Emily Harrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings on this book. He’s strong on the sacramental nature of mundane daily life, but I found he was a little too excited about hierarchy and authority. Overall, I didn’t get a ton out of the book, but I think that was largely because a lot of the concepts were already familiar to me from other sources. 3.5 stars

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful view of life in the home Thomas Howard presents! We may differ theologically - I am not Catholic - but I really think he is on to something with his exposition of the principle of My Life For Yours. The first half of the Bedroom chapter is perhaps the best defense of keeping sex within the marriage of one man and one woman, as well as the beauty of married sex, that I have read.

[Dana Washington · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book about the sacredness of each room in your house. It reads like poetry and leads you to reflect on the spiritual significance of the everyday experiences you and your family share in your home.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked it enough to want to immediately re-read it with my wife involved this time. An excellent use of metaphor to articulate truth.

[Becky Pliego · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful.

[Lindsey Varble · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author goes through every room of a house and explains the spiritual purpose of each. He shows how we can see God in a unique way in the functions of each of the rooms of the house. Hard to explain and better to just provide an example:

From the chapter titled “The Dining Room”:
“The eating of food is seen not so much as the gobbling of what is my due, as the receiving of a most holy benefit. Holy because whether the ox in the stockyards knew it or not as he was being hit on the head, or the kernel of corn as it was being pulverized in the mill, this is death in order that someone else (me) might live…. This is a holy business. Life laid down so that other life might spring forth. Life from death. The most sacred mysteries, shrouded behind smoke and veils and portals, and laid out there in your cereal bowl.” Page 71

From the chapter titled “The Bathroom”:
“We close the bathroom door, then, and in so doing, we declare our membership in the exiled race of Adam.” Page 102

From the chapter titled “The Door”:
“There has to be a “here”—a special place fenced off from indeterminateness—before the host can say, “Come in here.” You can’t invite somebody into a generality. So the closed door. We close the door behind ourselves and our guest, leaving weather and violence and generality outside. What have we come into? We have come into the place where it is said to us, “You are the attendants at this shrine. See to it that what goes in there is a small picture of what ought to go on everywhere. It doesn’t go on everywhere, but your task is to see that it does here. This is the spot allotted to your priesthood. Be faithful.” Page 25

I had no idea what to expect, but I really loved this short, beautifully-written reflection on the home. So good. I will return to this book for a reread in the future.

[Kevin Godinho · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of great theological meditations on various rooms in the home. The author is creative and does a great job taking you on a journey behind the meaning of things within your home "as a holy place."

The idea for Douglas Wilson's book "My Life for Yours" came from this book. In fact, his title is taken straight from a phrase that is repeated many times throughout this book. I didn't enjoy Wilson's as much when I read it years ago, but that was my fault. I got the book not realizing what it was about, expecting something else based on the title. However, because I had read his book, I knew what I was getting into with this one and ended up enjoying it more.

"But of course it's not fair for the father to push the wretched plow decade after decade, and it's not fair for the mother to have to nurse all the babies in the family and knead all the dough. Politically, it is outrage and what we need is revolution to overturn this tyrannous order of things! And the people in the household where love is at work look at us blankly, unable to grasp what we are raging about. They know nothing of this kind of calculated equality and fairness. They assumed that they were doing simply what they had been given to do, And if they thought about it at all, they would have chalked it all up to duty, or love or… And they would have had trouble defining which it was. For in the order of Charity, which is what households are about, the duties of love and the love of duty are indistinguishable."

[Anna Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real treasure of a book. It opens your eyes to the mystery and beauty of the ordinary. My favorite chapter by far was “The Kitchen”, which I will probably re-read over and over. It articulates the joy and sorrow of complete self giving that makes the home go round, a good lesson for a new mom.

“ a more radical order of things is supposed to be at work in households. Here the idea is that in our daily routines we are playing out the Drama of Charity, which eludes politics and its calculations”
“But somehow there is an alchemy at work in household which transmutes the lead of duty and drudgery into gold. It is the alchemy of love.”

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes, there are good books you just can't seem to connect with. Splendor in the Ordinary was one of those. I've heard only good things about it, and the book itself isn't bad. But it didn't grab me. The words seemed to slide past, leaving me uninspired. And there are enough other books on the subject that I'm okay sending this one back to the library (thank you Texas State University) without planning to revisit it.

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful walk through all the rooms of the house and the immense significance of each and how God is there with us in all of it. Beautiful explanation of the phrase “My Life for Yours” here. Will definitely be purchasing this book.

“The great eucharistic mysteries of Charity are all there-obedience and freedom; rules and liberty; self-giving and fulfill-ment; life from death; sacrifice and oblation; My Life for Yours-observed and enacted in the common routines of this house.”

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a lot of great things to say about this book. The length of the book is perfect for the topic. I really enjoyed Howard's writing style. And the topic of the book itself, the philosophy of the home from a Christian perspective, although speculative, was fun and thought provoking.

This is the first book by Thomas Howard that I've read. I'll definitely be checking out some of his other works

[Faeli Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 50%. The author uses what is otherwise a concept brimming with poetic & theological potential to instead give unwarranted, outdated, and rambling personal commentary on various subjects (gender roles was the one that final got me to stop reading). I was intrigued by this format and I want to see someone else execute it. This left me bored, disappointed, and rolling my eyes.

[Sarah Meldrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the first few chapters were slow and a bit obvious (not to be rude, just being honest!), I started getting into the book by the "living room" chapter. The remainder of the book was excellent, and it very much reminded me of Josef Pieper's idea of contemplating the sacramental in the ordinary, and how this prepares our hearts for the ultimate 'feast'.

[Peter Mahaffey · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute must read!

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic.

[Emily Harder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a little bit to get into to. Good reminder, not so much any new thoughts.

[Lucas Frantz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars on this book. Not because its truths are not profound but because I look for literature in a book, not just true statements.

[Mystie Winckler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Own.

I don't remember where I heard of this book, but it must have been a persuasive recommendation, because it made it onto an Amazon order without being in queue for a year or more, as is usual for me. I picked it up to read while nursing and holding my newborn and gobbled it up in two days.

Howard enjoins us to see our ordinary daily routine as material for sacrifice or oblation to God, and to see our home as a holy place set apart for God's glory. Life, he says, is always about My Life for Yours, sacrifice, and if we see it as such a holy service and as a small picture of God's ultimate sacrifice, we will love and rejoice in our tedious, repetitious, and busy daily lives.

[Wysteria · Rating 5 out of 5]

When moving through your day it's often hard to live the extraordinary in the ordinary. I found this book a beautiful reminder how the presence required to "love the ordinary" as a part of our path to the extraordinary. Beautiful and simple little book which can be read superficially but also can be read deeply with profound thoughts which can be revisited to draw you deeper into your inspection of your vocation/life.

[Pat Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely picture of how to look at the ordinary places and things that happen in our homes and see in them their eternal value if we approach them with the mystery of My Life For Yours. This is the true Christ likeness that can make every area of our homes a place where God is honored and taught and shared with family, friends and strangers.