Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir

Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir Review

Having studied with Stanley and been a member of the Notre Dame community about which he writes, I believe that Hannah's child is a genuine and unabashedly truthful rendering of his experiences and reflections. He was a young theologian at the time in the 70s that I knew him, but was beyond his years in courage and insight. It is interesting to see how John Howard Yoder, whom I had in class, so influenced his thinking about the Church and pacifism. Stanley was open to the experiences of Notre Dame, the Holy Cross Fathers, his fellow academics inside and outside of Theology. He changed and grew and explains it nicely in his memoir.

He always invited, encouraged and demanded that people speak up, support or criticize authority as appropriate and fearlessly ask the questions of oneself and your friends that might not have an answer or at least not a convenient or safe answer. His pacifism and his definition of Church has not been without cost to him in terms of academic acceptance or lost friendship. His careful fearlessness, some would call it impulsive, but he is too reflective to be impulsive, was especially evident after 9/11/2001 when his pacificism came up against the patriotism and nationalism that was strongly exhibited after that tragedy. It would have been easier to be silent and hold his reflections privately, but as he had criticized the Church for its stand during the Holocaust, he would not have been honest if he kept quiet. I know from his Notre Dame days that he was close to Robert Wilken, the great church historian. Wilken reacted agrily to Stanley's reflections given at University of Virginia and questioned whether Stanley believed at all in national loyalty. For Stanley and Robert that severely strained their friendship. What makes Stanley to be himself is the fact that commitment is not trivial and his taxonomy of loyalty puts his loyalty to his Christian Commitment ahead of any national affiliation. Wilken got it wrong, it seems, at least from the point of view of the memoir. Stanley does not lack national loyalty at all, rather he experiences a higher loyalty based on his belief in the change in history that took place in the death and resurrection of Jesus. He has a loyalty above patriotism. His other books explored how Christians in the first couple of centuries put their belief ahead of any loyalty to secular powers. This eroded over time when, after Constantine in 325 A.D., the Church either provided secular government or was complicit in it. This book shows how Church, a church, churches, should not and cannot be coopted by the current culture but must, not by its words so much but by its actions and the living out of its beliefs, serve as a corrective to inevitable weaknesses of any culture or government. Roman Catholic bishops have strived to do this, but their actions of late in failing to address sexual abuse have made their words empty because their actions, or lack thereof, are shouting too loudly. One important insight that Stanley shares is that it is not so much what you do wrong that gets you into trouble, but rather the explanations and rationalizations that you make about what you have done that ruins you. In WWII, the Church, churches chose survival to preach another day, Hauerwas notes, rather than confront the Nazi horror. They chose institution over mission which is, I suppose, the ultimate lack of faith that the mission is from God and that God will support it. Likewise, in managing the sexual abuse crisis, the Bishops chose survival of the institution over their mission - again a lack of faith to think that if the mission is from God it will perdure -- how different from the days of the martyrs who chose to die rather than compromise their calling.
Stanley has been criticized for seeing the Church as living apart from culture in order to critique it rather than being totally involved in it, so as to convert it from within. Both approaches require real courage whether inside or outside to hold on to convictions and speak the truth to power. Stanley does it with consistency as have other notable Christians like Congressman Robert Drinan, the Jesuit, who did it from within the corridors of power. Both can work, if and only if, there is the courage of conviction.
What it interesting in the memoir, is that someone who so desparately desires friendships, is and was willing to give it up for the sake of his faith and commitments. He lost friends rather than compromise or be silent. It shows both his commitment to what is genuine about friendship and what is genuine about faith. I recommend this book as a primer to more fully benefit from his other books.

Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir Feature

• ISBN13: 9780802864871
• Condition: New
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Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir Overview

A loving, hard-working, godly couple has long been denied a family of their own. Finally, the wife makes a deal with God: if he blesses her with a child, she will dedicate that child to God’s service. The result of that prayer was the birth of an influential — some say prophetic — voice. Surprisingly, this is not the biblical story of Samuel but the account of Stanley Hauerwas, one of today’s leading theologians in the church and the academy. / The story of Hauerwas’s journey into Christian discipleship is captivating and inspiring. With genuine humility, he describes his intellectual struggles with faith, how he has dealt with the complex reality of marriage to a mentally ill partner, and the gift of friendships that have influenced his character. Throughout the narrative shines Hauerwas’s conviction that the tale of his life is worth telling only because of the greater Christian story providing foundation and direction for his own.

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