The Promise of Paradox

ON LIVING THE PARADOXES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE . . . . It is a real joy for me to introduce this first book by Parker Palmer. It is the joy that grows from friendship. I met Parker for the first time only five years ago and today I can hardly think of my life and work apart from the crucial role that Parker has played in them. The issues that Parker discusses are basic: solitude, community, social action, political responsibility, prayer, and contemplation. They are raised in the context of the words of William Johnston: 'Faith is the breakthrough into that deep realm of the soul which accepts paradox . . . with humility.' Accepting paradox with humility is the spirit that binds the quite diverse pieces of this book together. And it is the spirit that makes this book worth reading. I hope and pray that those who read these essays will sense the spirit in which they were written and thus be challenged as I have been to break out of illusions and compulsions and seek a new freedom. -From the 1980 introduction by HENRI NOUWEN author of The Wounded Healer, The Way of the Heart, and other classic works of Christian spirituality