Reviews for This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers

The average rating for This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-09-07 00:00:00 Gerald Huston I'm a layperson in the Episcopal church, and I absolutely loved this book. I have a whole new appreciation for our priests and the work they do. And, I have to admit, there were certain places where I recognized myself in the parishioners, and had to cringe a bit! This book is definitely recommended, especially the first chapter, which discusses the holy imagination and chili mac. Hilarious and heartbreaking.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-04-22 00:00:00 Matt Hew This should have been required reading in my first semester of divinity school. (I still would have quit, and without regret at that. But I might have felt a tad less isolated.) I know of no other book like This Odd and Wondrous Calling, writes Peter J. Gomes in the foreword, and I am convinced that it will come to play a useful and significant part of the formation of the clergy of the next generation (xiii). But let's come back to that. At any rate, this worked brilliantly well for me. Alternating essays by two pastors'essays about prayer and divinity school and the joys and difficulties of ministry. They have quite different backgrounds, and I'd love to know how this book came about (how long had they known each other? Who suggested a joint project?), but the essays are all accessible and light. I'm curious about how closely the style of the essays tie into the writers' preaching styles, because in some ways these do read as sermons to me...just sometimes ones that wouldn't really translate to a pulpit. Regarding Gomes's foreword, this does seem very much a modern book'that accessibility and, yes, sort of irreverence. They're both in liberal traditions, which does not seem altogether a coincidence in terms of the style of writing (not to suggest that more conservative pastors have no sense of humour...just that Daniel and Copenhaver are trying to reach a particular audience, I think). That's probably a large part of the appeal for me, but the whole thing just felt very...thoughtful and reassuring, maybe.