Hannah's Child
A Theologian's Memoir
Author Stanley Hauerwas ISBN 9780802864871 Binding Trade Cloth Publisher WM B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Publication Date April 16, 2010 Size 152 x 229 mm
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.
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.
Jeffrey Stout
— Princeton University
"Hannah's Child might well be Stanley Hauerwas's best book. It is must reading for everyone who knows him, either firsthand or through his other writings."
Lauren F. Winner
— author of Girl Meets God
"I love this book because I love its author. But Hannah's Child is about more than the making of someone called 'Stanley Hauerwas.' It is about how one makes and sustains families, and how God and the church make and sustain Christians."
Lisa Sowle Cahill
— Boston College
"Stanley Hauerwas is the established theologian of Christian faithfulness, perseverance, sacrifice, and the dependence of life's meaning on a coherent narrative, communally sustained. This memoir from the heart teaches further lessons: marriage and family life test faithfulness sorely, and families often bear burdens — here, mental illness — from which no one escapes unscathed, identity intact. In the end, though, we hear Hauerwas's voice in a new key: praise and joy for love and healing that come as gifts of grace."
Archbishop Rowan Williams
"What does it mean to become a Christian? Stanley Hauerwas has written a deeply engaging and courageous memoir that answers the question in terms of his own lifelong discovery of God's presence and challenge through experience both of grace and of darkness, often inseparably bound together. A book of profound compassion, depth and wisdom from one of the greatest Christian minds of our time."
Publishers Weekly
"A rural Texas boy grows up to become Time magazine's 'best theologian in America' — that's the unlikely story behind Hauerwas's arguably destined journey to academic fame. Hauerwas (Resident Aliens) learns that his mother, like Hannah in the Book of Samuel, prayed for the blessing of a child whom she would offer to be in God's service. The theologian then weaves a compelling narrative that incorporates his humble beginnings as the son of a bricklayer, his troubled first marriage to a mentally ill woman, and his industrious intellectual pursuits. The result is a memoir that is both a well-documented story of Christian renewal and a superbly candid investigation into the scholarly mind. Fans of Christian memoirs will be pleased with Hauerwas's frank yet poignant style, and those who are simply fans of the memoir genre will find the book's careful blend of faith and scholarship easily accessible and far from didactic."
Graham Ward
— University of Manchester
"This is a beautiful book and nothing less than a theological anthropology: the formation of a Christian Soul. It is honest, perceptive, cutting through cant, witty and intelligent — all the characteristics we have come to expect of Stanley Hauerwas as a public intellectual. But the best that can be said of it is that even if Stanley Hauerwas was not Stanley Hauerwas, this book would be a theological gift. I put aside the novel I was reading to finish it, immersed in a lifetime of Christian experience distilled into wisdom, and moved by the sheer humanity of it all."
Sarah Coakley
— University of Cambridge
"In this entrancing memoir, Stanley Hauerwas reflects on what he sees as the successes and failures of his life as one of the most celebrated theological ethicists of his time. It is, of course, the accounts of his perceived personal failures that are the most testing and moving: what breaks and stops even his own best motivations and intentions are the stuff of profound Christian reflection. This little autobiography follows triumphantly in the Augustinian tradition of 'Confessions.' "
Alister E. McGrath
— King's College London
"A gripping work, packed with insight, passion, and wisdom. Hauerwas tells the story of his own life in a disarming way, exploring the interplay of theology and life with consummate skill. Few theologians would dare write a book of this kind; Hauerwas manages it precisely because he is sointeresting. Highly recommended."
Alan Torrance
— University of St. Andrews
"Courageous, candid and characteristically incisive, this memoir is an invaluable resource for understanding the world's most influential theological ethicist. His reflections on relationships are honest, humorous and often profoundly moving. His telling critiques of the abuse of power in universities are accompanied by impressive testimony to collegial integrity and support. Personally uplifting and theologically inspiring, this is an im
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— Princeton University
"Hannah's Child might well be Stanley Hauerwas's best book. It is must reading for everyone who knows him, either firsthand or through his other writings."
Lauren F. Winner
— author of Girl Meets God
"I love this book because I love its author. But Hannah's Child is about more than the making of someone called 'Stanley Hauerwas.' It is about how one makes and sustains families, and how God and the church make and sustain Christians."
Lisa Sowle Cahill
— Boston College
"Stanley Hauerwas is the established theologian of Christian faithfulness, perseverance, sacrifice, and the dependence of life's meaning on a coherent narrative, communally sustained. This memoir from the heart teaches further lessons: marriage and family life test faithfulness sorely, and families often bear burdens — here, mental illness — from which no one escapes unscathed, identity intact. In the end, though, we hear Hauerwas's voice in a new key: praise and joy for love and healing that come as gifts of grace."
Archbishop Rowan Williams
"What does it mean to become a Christian? Stanley Hauerwas has written a deeply engaging and courageous memoir that answers the question in terms of his own lifelong discovery of God's presence and challenge through experience both of grace and of darkness, often inseparably bound together. A book of profound compassion, depth and wisdom from one of the greatest Christian minds of our time."
Publishers Weekly
"A rural Texas boy grows up to become Time magazine's 'best theologian in America' — that's the unlikely story behind Hauerwas's arguably destined journey to academic fame. Hauerwas (Resident Aliens) learns that his mother, like Hannah in the Book of Samuel, prayed for the blessing of a child whom she would offer to be in God's service. The theologian then weaves a compelling narrative that incorporates his humble beginnings as the son of a bricklayer, his troubled first marriage to a mentally ill woman, and his industrious intellectual pursuits. The result is a memoir that is both a well-documented story of Christian renewal and a superbly candid investigation into the scholarly mind. Fans of Christian memoirs will be pleased with Hauerwas's frank yet poignant style, and those who are simply fans of the memoir genre will find the book's careful blend of faith and scholarship easily accessible and far from didactic."
Graham Ward
— University of Manchester
"This is a beautiful book and nothing less than a theological anthropology: the formation of a Christian Soul. It is honest, perceptive, cutting through cant, witty and intelligent — all the characteristics we have come to expect of Stanley Hauerwas as a public intellectual. But the best that can be said of it is that even if Stanley Hauerwas was not Stanley Hauerwas, this book would be a theological gift. I put aside the novel I was reading to finish it, immersed in a lifetime of Christian experience distilled into wisdom, and moved by the sheer humanity of it all."
Sarah Coakley
— University of Cambridge
"In this entrancing memoir, Stanley Hauerwas reflects on what he sees as the successes and failures of his life as one of the most celebrated theological ethicists of his time. It is, of course, the accounts of his perceived personal failures that are the most testing and moving: what breaks and stops even his own best motivations and intentions are the stuff of profound Christian reflection. This little autobiography follows triumphantly in the Augustinian tradition of 'Confessions.' "
Alister E. McGrath
— King's College London
"A gripping work, packed with insight, passion, and wisdom. Hauerwas tells the story of his own life in a disarming way, exploring the interplay of theology and life with consummate skill. Few theologians would dare write a book of this kind; Hauerwas manages it precisely because he is sointeresting. Highly recommended."
Alan Torrance
— University of St. Andrews
"Courageous, candid and characteristically incisive, this memoir is an invaluable resource for understanding the world's most influential theological ethicist. His reflections on relationships are honest, humorous and often profoundly moving. His telling critiques of the abuse of power in universities are accompanied by impressive testimony to collegial integrity and support. Personally uplifting and theologically inspiring, this is an im