Barbara Bowe, rscj

Two first-place awards at the Catholic Press Association Awards Dinner on May 28 went to a book by Sister Barbara E. Bowe, Biblical Foundations of Spirituality: Touching a Finger to the Flame. The book won first place in the ?Spirituality, Hard Cover,? category and first place in the ?Scripture? category for books. Sister Bowe is professor of New Testament at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where she teaches courses in biblical studies and early Christianity and directs the biblical spirituality program. Her book was published in 2003 by Sheed and Ward.

The Birthing of a Book

When I was asked, ?Would you tell us the story of your book and give us an idea of why and how you wrote it,? I delighted in the invitation and found it good ?food for thought.? -- So this is its story.

I'll begin first with a conviction. I am convinced that each one of us has within us a word that needs to be spoken, a poem that needs to be penned, a song that needs to be sung, or - as in my case - a book that needs to be written. For me, Biblical Foundations of Spirituality: Touching a Finger to the Flame (Sheed & Ward, 2003) was such a book. It had to be written. But, in a way, I didn't so much write it - it wrote me!

Its pre-history goes back to my Novitiate days at Kenwood when I first fell in love with the Word of God, when I first became fascinated by its power and persuasive force to shape minds, hearts, and lives. In those difficult days in the late 60's, Carole Neri (who had made her Noviceship with Marie Louise Schroen, RSCJ) was the Director of Novices and we novices in a sense were Marie Louise's ?spiritual and biblical grandchildren.? Exercise each day was a profound encounter with the Scriptures that engaged both head and heart to the full. The stirring words of the prophets, the profound sentiments of the psalms, the amazing fidelity of God to a people called and led forward from slavery to freedom, the mind and heart of Jesus calling others to follow - each day some biblical text caught my attention and would not let go. Through that experience, the Word took hold of me and I grew more and more convinced that the Word of God could enflame others, as it had me, with God's dream for the world - God's Covenant vision of the Reign of God.

My relationship with this Word was challenged and refined by beginning years of teaching high school students at Kenwood and struggling to find ways to make the Bible meaningful to them. I felt challenged to ?de-mystify? the biblical stories and to help students appreciate the very human process of reflection and questioning-all inspired by the Spirit of God-that ultimately led to their production. It was during graduate study in scripture at Harvard where I learned to appreciate more the social-historical and literary contexts that gave rise to the texts, and the nuances and complexities inherent within them. And later I was ?stopped in my tracks? by an encounter with a Zen monk in Seoul, Korea (a story that I tell at the opening of the book) who taught me the importance of sacred texts in every religious tradition.

My love for the power of the Word came alive as I began to teach in Maryhill School of Theology in Manila, and then three years later at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, as I listened to students of all cultures express their attraction, their questions, their unique perspectives on the biblical Word. For some, however, the Bible was merely a ?dead letter?-and I wanted especially to give it life for them.

This book finally grew out of a course by the same name that I have taught for a number of years at CTU. The book does essentially three things: 1) it traces the journey of the Covenant people from slavery to the Promised Land, to Exile and beyond, and then to a new covenant relationship with God made possible in Jesus and lived out in the Church, 2) it explores the patterns, pitfalls, and promises of this loving relationship between God and God's people so as to draw wisdom and analogies for contemporary lives of faith, and 3) it challenges readers to reflect on their own lives in light of these biblical patterns.

It seemed important to begin with a discussion of the meaning of the term ?spirituality? and the connection between the biblical story, with its implicit spirituality, and our own everyday lived faith. I am convinced that there is hardly a human emotion, hardly a struggle that we face today that does not find a counterpart within the faith of ancient Israel and that of the first generation of Christian believers. And so, in a very real way, their story is our story, their wisdom and insight, ours as well: about the world, about God, about sin and failure, about hope, redemption, and love.

The challenge of faith begins-for every person-with the invitation to know the mysterious deity we call ?God.? But soon we learn that no name, no affirmation about God, no set of descriptors or dogmatic formulas can fully capture the One who is Holy Mystery and so we begin, as Moses did, in every God encounter by taking our sandals off in recognition that we are on holy ground.

The biblical story-from Genesis to Revelation-gives expression to the on-going journey with God. Biblical Foundations of Spirituality follows that biblical story from the patriarchal narratives, the tribal conflicts, the prophetic entreaties, the establishment and demise of the monarchy to the devastation of exile and beyond, to the new covenant proclaimed by Jesus and heralded by Paul and his later followers. Each chapter includes Questions for Reflection at the end that invite the reader to examine her or his own life journey with God in light of the biblical experience. Though written out of my own US context, I hope the book will continue to find a positive reception in every culture and will be enriched by the varied experiences that every reader brings to it.