The Shattering of Loneliness - by Erik Varden (Paperback)

About the Book

Erik Varden, Abbot of Mount St Bernard, explores the theme of Remembrance.

Book Synopsis

The experience of loneliness is as universal as hunger or thirst. Because it affects us more intimately, we are less inclined to speak of it. But who has not known its gnawing ache? The fear of loneliness causes anguish. It prompts reckless deeds. To this, every age has borne witness. No voice is more insidious than the one that whispers in our ear: 'You are irredeemably alone, no light will pierce your darkness.' The fundamental statement of Christianity is to convict that voice of lying. The Christian condition unfolds within the certainty that ultimate reality, the source of all that is, is a personal reality of communion, no metaphysical abstraction. Men and women, made 'in the image and likeness' of God, bear the mark of that original communion stamped on their being. When our souls and bodies cry out for Another, it is not a sign of sickness, but of health. A labour of potential joy is announced. We are reminded of what we have it in us to become. That our labour may be fruitful, Scripture repeatedly exhorts us to 'remember'. The remembrance enjoined is partly introspective and existential, partly historical, for the God who took flesh to redeem our loneliness leaves traces in history. This book examines six facets of Christian remembrance, complementing biblical exegesis with readings from literature, ancient and modern. It aims to be an essay in theology. At the same time, it proposes a grounded reflection on what it means to be a human being.

Review Quotes

"The Shattering of Loneliness is an extraordinary book: not too long but richly dense; profound in its insights and scholarship yet eminently readable; and though clearly written by a monk happy to be a monk, it has as much relevance to the ordinary Christian as to the Trappist monks in the author's care." --Catholic Herald

"Intimately personal but never self-indulgent, it is at once arresting and challenging, uplifting and reassuring, and profoundly moving ... The richness of this remarkable book is impossible to convey adequately in so few words. No reader will remain unchanged." --Tablet

"Absorbing and fascinating ... It is a book to be read more than once." --Methodist Recorder

"Generates deep and unexpected insights [...] Like the memory of a meaningful conversation long after you've forgotten what was said. It is unforgettable." --Catholic World Report

"The Shattering of Loneliness is a book of extraordinary importance. It is, with prophetic clarity, aware of the depravity, the weakness and the glory of the human condition." --Times Literary Supplement

"A work that intelligently renews the vocabulary and the very genre of spiritual literature." --La Croix

"This is one of the finest books that I have read in recent years and one which should, in time, become a classic. It acknowledges and articulates the essential contribution of the Christian tradition as inspirer of remembrance for a generation that is beginning to forget." --The Furrow

"Varden's work is the fruit from a tree for the healing of the nations, from a monk who has his feet firmly and incarnationally on the ground." --Lutheran Theological Journal

"I've read thousands of books. This one has stunned me." --Mary Margaret Funk, spiritual writer and author of 'The Practice of the Spiritual Life'

"This wide-reading reviewer hasn't for ages read such a completely satisfying book [...], written in poetic, resonant language." --Bonnie Thurston, New Testament scholar and author

About the Author

Dom Erik Varden OCSO is Abbot of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire. Norwegian by birth, he was, before entering religious life, a Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. He has published several translations and scholarly monographs and is much in demand as a preacher, spiritual director and lecturer.