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The Strangest Way:
Walking the Christian Path
by Robert Barron
Orbis Books, 2002. 176 pages.
Reviewed by John Tintera
In the preface to his new book, The Strangest Way: Walking the Christian Path, Robert Barron describes the moment when he realized that Christianity is more than just the bland collection of teachings and practices he grew up with:
When I was coming of age as a postconciliar Catholic, great stress was placed on Christianity’s outreach to the modern world and to other religions. In accordance with this emphasis, Christianity’s distinctive qualities and bright colors tended to be muted and its rough edges smooth. . . . In the course of my formal theological education, I began to read the mystics, saints, and scholars of the classical Christian tradition. What I encountered there took my breath away. Whatever this Christian phenomenon was, it certainly was not the beige system of thought that had been presented to me.
This paragraph is the backbone of Robert Barron’s highly recommended fourth book. Although he doesn’t mention the word, Barron is attempting to make a case for mere, orthodox Christianity. Like G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis before him, Barron bases his argument on one simple belief. Chesterton’s belief was that orthodoxy is the only system that makes sense; Lewis’ was that everyone knows the golden rule -- knowing where it comes from leads to faith. These were arguments particularly suited to their times. For Barron, simply understanding how awesome orthodoxy is the first step to faith in it.
It is clear that Barron, who is a Roman Catholic priest and professor of theology at the seminary for the Archdiocese of Chicago, is clued into the resurgence of orthodoxy in all sects and denominations of Christianity. We see many reports of ex-Catholics turning to Bible churches with their strong emphasis on teaching and practice and their clear sense of identity. Conversely, orthodox Catholic and Episcopal -- not to mention Greek and Russian Orthodox churches themselves -- are taking converts attracted to the bells and smells of their tradition-oriented liturgies. Within the Catholic Church itself, there is a movement to bring back the Latin Mass and it is reported that forgotten devotions like Eucharistic adoration and the rosary are on the rise. The critics of these movements, usually those who are personally invested in the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council, have given them the pejorative name “restorationist.” Yet, clearly, it is the people who are asking the changes and there is a distinct populism to them. The papacy of John Paul II has in many ways fostered this call to orthodoxy.
What’s so awesome about orthodoxy for Barron? The way he answers that question is, I believe, the most profound aspect of this book. With it, he shows what a profound psychological understanding he has of how faith happens and why we stay with it. Would-be evangelists should take heed here:
I don’t think we come to the way of Jesus through the privacy of our inner experience, but rather through a lively intersubjective play; I don’t think we embrace the way of Christ by knocking down the monuments of the Christian tradition, but rather by walking around and through them, looking at them with admiration and critical attention; and I don’t think we find salvation through an isolation of mind from body, but through the movements and passions of the body. Christianity is a way, and we learn it by walking; it is a river, and we know it by swimming; it is a game, and we come to love it through playing.
That’s a paragraph I underlined, highlighted, and copied into my diary. The key word is “playing.” Those of us who grew up with a strong and secure faith tradition may not be able to articulate what aspects of faith most affect us because it’s the assemblage as a whole that gives us nourishment. Yet for those who have left and come back or were poorly or never churched, there is usually something particular about faith and worship that is most attractive. Some are drawn to the music, some to the fellowship, some to the intricacy of the movements in the liturgy, some to the writings of the philosophers, poets, and theologians (Barron is certainly one of them). All of us are attracted to the person and teachings of Christ. What Barron is saying is that the only way to get to faith is to try it out -- to “play” it. The analogy that he uses is how a child learns about the game of baseball -- by picking up a glove, ball, and bat. He could have easily used the analogy of intimate relationships. How do two people usually fall in love? By getting to know each other through dating. Want to lead a friend to Christ? Take him or her to church on Sunday, to a bible study, a sacred music recital -- or to a Cathedral.
Barron devotes the main portion of the book to laying out what, for him, are the most important and most distinctive aspects of the Christian path. He buttresses each chapter with a spiritual interpretation of a popular novel or poem. The first chapter discusses the first commandment and the first article of the creed: “I believe in God.” He utilizes Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited to summarize his point. The second chapter explains the importance of recognizing that each of us is a sinner and Dante’s Purgatorio is called on to illustrate a true understanding of what sin is and is not. Finally, the third chapter is about humility. Barron refers to Flannery O’Connor’s novel, The Violent Bear it Away, to show the destructiveness of pride and selfishness. Each chapter closes with a very helpful introduction to distinctively orthodox practices that coincide with the lesson of the chapter.
There are too many spine-tingling, “Yes!” passages in this wonderful new book to quote in a short review. For anyone looking to get excited about their faith again or those looking for a contemporary introduction to Christianity to share with a non-believer, this book is a terrific gift.
John Tintera is a marketing manager with Holtzbrinck Publishers. He spent one year studying for the Catholic priesthood. .
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