Roberta C. Bondi

If you read one book by Roberta Bondi, read Memories of God. If you read two, either read To Pray is to Love or To Love as God Loves(which are pretty similar to one another). But if you are reading through the Bondi corpus, this is worth a read.

What makes Bondi an interesting writer in the realm of Christian spirituality is her interest in thinking through the particulars of her life and story in prayerful reflection and in conversation with theology. In particular, as a patristics scholar, she often makes reference to the desert fathers.

This book is organized as a series of letters to a friend about 'healing the wounds of the heart' through prayer. This often means praying through past hurts from childhood and inviting the presence of Christ to heal memories. There is much here which accords with the 'inner healing' type literature but Bondi isn't interacting with that literature. It also seems to be advice for growth in private prayer vs. attentiveness to the corporate dimension of the body of Christ. This might be because her chosen dialogue partners are the monks that went into the wilderness to devote themselves to prayer and contemplation. But it is also because Bondi focuses on the personal dimensions of prayer and spiritual growth. When she struggles with healing her body image or her own judgmentalism,past hurts, she shares these with keen psychological insight into how her current attitudes were shaped by childhood experiences. She shows how attentiveness to the self in prayer allows God to bring healing creatively.

In the end, I think the insights of this book are similar to Memories of God, though the 'letters' format feels a little contrived and preachy to me. I don't agree with everything she says (i.e.-she seems too loose for me on matters of Christian particularity) but there is enough here to chew on for a while.… (mehr)