Anam Cara by John O'Donohue Review

HarperCollins, Sep., 1997.
Hardcover, 231 pages.
ISBN: 0060182792.
Ordering information: Amazon.com

Irish poet, philosopher and Catholic priest John O'Donohue has taken on a mighty task: reconciling Christian beliefs with the Celtic way of life and making the spiritual knowledge of the Celts accessible and meaningful to a modern audience more at home with faxes, computers and deadlines than spiritual peace. He succeeds admirably. Anam Cara means "soul-friend" in Gaelic and is an apt title for a book that takes the reader on a spiritual journey through a series of essays on such subjects as the mystery of friendship, love, aging, death and the modern world.

Using the ancient spiritual tradition of the Celts and their vision of the world -- the indivisibility of the visible and the invisible, time and eternity and the human soul from the Divine -- O' Donohue creates a powerful work which is as inspiring as it is uplifting. An insightful, moving and unique work.

Return to the April 1998 issue of The IWJ.