Call no.: 248.4 M283

Reviewed by Susan Walma

 Brennan Manning is a Franciscan priest, an author and lecturer. He wrote this book to address the problem of self-hatred that he feels is ‘the predominant spiritual problem’ he has grappled with and that  can put us, both individuals and the church, into spiritual bondage.

 The book is an intensely personal exploration of faith and thereby serves as an enhancement to the reader’s faith-life. In the book’s chapters we are provided with analyses and descriptions of self-hatred and the prescriptions towards the path of faith that leads to healing and compassion. The chapter headings are suggestive: 1) The script for self-hatred, 2) Jesus: the stranger to self-hatred, 3) Healing through meal-sharing, 4) Deliverance through story telling, 5) Liberation through prayer, 6) Integrity and self-acceptance, and, 7) Compassion and the cross.

 The book is easy to read and digest because the author refrains from writing the kind of ‘dense theological tome’ that would have discouraged this reader from thoroughly enjoying and finishing the book.