Amazing Grace

A Vocabulary of Faith

By: Kathleen Norris

Narrated by: Debra Winger

When poet Kathleen Norris was a child, the words judgment, prayer, salvation, sinner, and even Christ all formed what she calls religion's "scary vocabulary" - words that intimidate and alienate people from their faith. As an adult, Norris set out to reclaim her religion, redefining these words using her own experience. In Amazing Grace, she shares her wisdom, challenges our fear of difficult theological ideas, and offers an illuminating perspective on the vocabulary of faith.©1998 by Kathleen Norris (P)1998 by Audio Literature

Critic reviews

• Winner of Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award: Best Audio of 1998, Religion / Spirituality

A short meditation on faith

I bought this, in part, to hear the narrator, Debra Winger. I was not disappointed. The performance was excellent. The story was also engaging and real. There was nothing "life changing" here for me, but it was "life affirming" and that is enough to make it worthwhile.

Spirituality from a Catholic perspective.

a very insightful look at spirituality through the Catholic lens. we also shares some deep Concepts to religion that has been not so understood.

a poet reflects on "religious" words

Norris' refections on the deeper meaning of words we use in everyday spiritual conversions (like "heaven," "prayer" or "silence"), as well as on words more theological (like eschatology" or "hermeneutics") make for joyful listening. Winger's reading is OK (though I think she sometimes mispronounces), but I would have preferred Norris' own voice for a book like this.

I think those who like writers such as Thomas Moore, James Finlay, or Rob Bell would enjoy this. Norris claims to receive criticism from both liberal and conservative Christians, but I think her reflections are food for thought for both (though more agreeable to the ecumenically minded). I thought her early "Cloister Walk" a superior listen.

I only wish that it was longer.

I definitely enjoyed this book; I, too, have spent some time with the monastic community at St. John's, and her story mirrors many of my own experiences as a Catholic "revert," someone who left the Church for a time, only to return with a faith that had been rebuilt from the ground up.

I am honored to have attended the Liturgy of the Hours in the same choir stalls that Ms. Norris has graced. I have also attended Mass there, much to my delight. It is a truly remarkable place, and I regard myself as very blessed to live sufficiently close to the monastery to make pilgrimages both possible and relatively straightforward. :)

Very Helpful

I am in the stage or rethinking my faith and redefining the terms that I grew up hearing. I found this to be a great book.