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Cry of Wonder
In Cry of Wonder Gerard W. Hughes, celebrated author of God of Surprises encourages his readers to reflect deeply on their own experience. In our time, this is considered counter-cultural, subversive of law and order and anarchic. But the truth becomes manifest in our words and in our actions. There is an appalling rift today between our words and the truth of things, yet contemplation can be the key to peace in the world and peace within ourselves. In this compelling new spiritual work, Hughes explores how self-reflection can provide the remedies of our ills.
- GenresNonfiction
336 pages, Paperback
First published December 18, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 24, 2015
Having read all of Hughes' previous books, I very much looked forward to the publication of this book towards the end of last year. It arrived and I was not disappointed.
For the first time in my life I wrote a letter of appreciation to an author, only to discover the day I posted the letter that Hughes had very recently died. When a couple of weeks later I finished the book, it was quite touching as well as amusing, to read his penultimate sentence:
"God's postal service transcends both space and time."
I hope so. I really did want to tell him just how much his books had meant to me over the years since I first read his "God of Surprises". He was one of those authors who gave me a new and enriching outlook on life and faith at a difficult period in my life.
Hughes was impressive in his writings because he was unafraid to repeat within a book, and from book to book, key points and quotations which formed keystones of what he wanted to say. But he never simply repeated, always there was development and enrichment of what the message that was central to him, that which he was so eager to teach, born of his growing experience and knowledge. His style of writing followed a spiral, rather than a linear model.
It was interesting, with this view in mind, that he wrote the following about John the Evangelist's method of writing. It could well have been made as a comment about his own methodology:
"St. John does repeat himself, but with every repetition there is something new added. It is a very good method of communicating, building gradually through constant reminders of what went before, repeatedly returning to the foundational statements from which the new message arises."
This final book proved be a distillation of many of his best writings. Well worth many return visits in the future.
For the first time in my life I wrote a letter of appreciation to an author, only to discover the day I posted the letter that Hughes had very recently died. When a couple of weeks later I finished the book, it was quite touching as well as amusing, to read his penultimate sentence:
"God's postal service transcends both space and time."
I hope so. I really did want to tell him just how much his books had meant to me over the years since I first read his "God of Surprises". He was one of those authors who gave me a new and enriching outlook on life and faith at a difficult period in my life.
Hughes was impressive in his writings because he was unafraid to repeat within a book, and from book to book, key points and quotations which formed keystones of what he wanted to say. But he never simply repeated, always there was development and enrichment of what the message that was central to him, that which he was so eager to teach, born of his growing experience and knowledge. His style of writing followed a spiral, rather than a linear model.
It was interesting, with this view in mind, that he wrote the following about John the Evangelist's method of writing. It could well have been made as a comment about his own methodology:
"St. John does repeat himself, but with every repetition there is something new added. It is a very good method of communicating, building gradually through constant reminders of what went before, repeatedly returning to the foundational statements from which the new message arises."
This final book proved be a distillation of many of his best writings. Well worth many return visits in the future.
November 8, 2023
Very effective and thoughtful book on spirituality and what it means to be human.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews