of the essays inAmazing Grace is entitled “Bible.” Before looking at what Norris says about it, readers might think through for themselves what is likely to be discussed in such an article. Could it be on evolution versus creationism? Would it tell about the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls? Is it about a literal versus symbolic interpretation of biblical miracles? Norris bypasses such intellectual matters. Instead she relates a conversation with an elderly man who had been given a leather-bound Bible by his grandfather as a wedding present. The Bible was put on a shelf, unread for many years. Eventually the man developed cancer, started reading the Bible, and was amazed to find that his grandfather had placed a twenty-dollar bill at the beginning of every book from Genesis to Revelation, totaling more than thirteen hundred dollars. The impact of Norris’s anecdote is a reminder that people too seldom take time for Bible reading and meditation.

For some Christians the concept of Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) can be a stumbling block. How can there be “one God in three persons”? Norris provides a helpful, picturesque metaphor from the early days of the church, “an image of the Trinity as a plant, with the Father as a deep root, the Son as the shoot that breaks forth into the world, the Spirit as that which spreads beauty and fragrance.” Such a poetic interpretation of the Trinity is more significant to Norris than an intellectual explanation.

In the essay “Creeds,” Norris reveals her mental reservations about this aspect of communal worship. She says, “In working my way back to church, I found that even when the hymns, scripture texts, and sermons served to welcome me, the Creed that we recited each week often seemed a barrier, reminding me that I was still struggling with the feeling that I did not belong. . . . [The creeds] can seem like a grocery list of beliefs that one has to comprehend and assent to fully before one dare show one’s face in church.” Eventually she resolves this difficulty by viewing the creeds as a form of speaking in tongues, in which the literal meaning of the words is less important than their devotional content.

What images does a Pentecostal church bring to mind for the reader? Enthusiastic singing, uplifted arms, “Amen” responses during the sermon, personal testimonies. Norris is saddened by sectarian differences that have created an unfortunate schism between Pentecostals and the mainstream Protestant churches. The latter tend to view Pentecostals as anti-intellectual in theology and overemotional in worship, while many Pentecostals are conservative Christians who have low regard for their more liberal brethren. Norris reminds her readers of the original meaning of Pentecost, as described in the Book of Acts, when tongues of fire came down from heaven and people began to speak in many languages. She has a vision that Christian unity can be restored when people recognize the great variety of gifts that are all a part of ministry. Someone may have a special talent for preaching, for teaching, for healing the sick, for showing compassion, for writing, or for music. The significance of Pentecost for Norris is “each of us speaking in the language we know, and being understood.”

In her essay “Prayer,” Norris rejects the style of praying for a specific outcome, such as a miracle cure for an illness or success in a business venture. From a friend who is confined to a wheelchair, she has learned that “prayer is not asking for what you think you want but asking to be changed in ways you can’t imagine.” When a prayer is answered, it is never answered in the way that one expected. Prayer is “a dialog with God,” asking for spiritual direction and God’s mercy.

Norris has found that “Evangelism” can be a scary word, even to longtime, loyal church members. It carries an unfortunate image of someone haranguing people on a street corner quoting from the Bible, trying to win souls for the Lord. Norris gives examples of evangelistic language that can alienate a listener: “Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” “Are you saved?” “Do you know the Lord?” As a published author on the subject of religion, Norris sometimes is asked to speak at pastors’ conferences or to preach in church. One Sunday morning her sermon topic was evangelism: How can people witness to their faith? Speaking from personal experience, she expressed her gratitude to the local congregation for not pressuring her to join the church until she was ready. She was thankful for the people who had made her feel welcome. They showed their Christian evangelism in actions rather than words, leading her to make a decision to become a part of this community of faith. At the conclusion of the church service Norris had a delightful conversation with a young woman who was attempting to find her way back to the church. By sharing some of the steps in her own journey of faith, she was able to help the woman to see the way ahead more clearly. Afterward, Norris was amazed at herself for having fulfilled the role of “evangelist.”

In the chapter “Faith,” Norris starts out from her personal experience. She says,

Faith is still a surprise to me, as I lived without it for so long. Now I believe that it was merely dormant in the years I was not conscious of its presence. And I have become better at trusting that it is there, even when I can’t feel it, or when God seems absent from the world. No small part of my religious conversion has been coming to know that faith is best thought of as a verb, not a “thing” that you either have or you don’t.

Norris recognizes that things can happen to shake one’s faith in God. She tells about a woman in a Nazi concentration camp who lost her faith, but only for a while. Eventually the woman realized that God was with her even during the time of suffering. Norris describes faith poetically as a fluid that ebbs and flows, “sometimes strongly evident and at other times barely discernible.”

As a necessary step in developing a mature faith, Norris had to evaluate the religious heritage received from her family. Her father’s parents both were “born again” Christians who had accepted Jesus at a revival meeting when they stepped forward during the altar call. The grandmother believed that a Christian is someone who can name the date and time when they were “saved.” The grandfather became a pastor who “never lost his revivalist fervor.” On her mother’s side, the grandfather was a small-town doctor who is described as a religious man but not a churchgoer. The maternal grandmother was the primary influence for Norris’s Christian growth. For sixty years this woman had been married to one man, lived in the same house, attended the same church. Hers was not a dramatic conversion experience but a lifetime commitment to being a good neighbor. Norris greatly admired the “quiet piety” of her grandmother as well as her intimate familiarity with the Bible.

The essay entitled “Belief, Doubt, and Sacred Ambiguity” contains some ideas that may be difficult for readers to accept. Norris describes a discussion between a seminary student and a priest. The student asks what he can do if he is unable to believe some parts of the creed, such as the Virgin Birth. The priest answers him: “ You just say it. . . . You just keep saying it. . . . Eventually it may come to you. For some, it takes longer than for others. . . .’” After this discussion was published in a religious magazine, one letter to the editor compared the priest’s advice to saying “the earth is flat” over and over again. Other respondents said that such mindless repetition implies people should not think for themselves. Norris responds with her personal testimony:

I feel blessed to know from experience that it is in the act of worship, the act of saying and repeating the vocabulary of faith, that one can come to claim it as “ours.” It is in acts of repetition that seem senseless to the rational mind that belief comes, doubts are put to rest, religious conversion takes hold, and one feels at home in a community of faith.

Norris describes the long secular period of her life in college and in New York with self-critical frankness: “For years I had drifted through life, more or less aimlessly, with little in the way of religious moorings, little sense of connection or commitment to other people.” After her grandmother died, she decided to move into the now vacant house, leaving New York for a town of sixteen hundred people. It was there that she rediscovered the importance of belonging to a Christian community. In Amazing Grace she shares her journey of faith with other seekers.

Norris is a person with an inquiring mind. She writes with originality and imagination, leading the reader along unexpected paths. The first two books about her journey of faith established Norris as a writer who is open to a diversity of religious experiences. In Amazing Grace she takes the jargon of religion and explains how it gradually has become meaningful to her.

For some twenty years Norris lived a secular lifestyle as a writer and poet, with no need or desire to be connected with the church. Now she has returned to her religious heritage, but with a newfound, mature understanding. Her special ministry seems to be to help people who are trying to find their way back to a closer relationship with God. Her story will be of particular interest to seminary students, pastors, and adult Sunday school classes and can help to stimulate an open discussion of sensitive topics among people with diverse religious backgrounds. Her theological reflections will appeal to many readers because they are based not on abstract, theological arguments but on genuine experiences of religious insight in everyday living.

Sources for Further Study

America. CLXXIX, August 1, 1998, p. 24.

Booklist. XCIV, February 1, 1998, p. 875.

Chicago Tribune. XIV, July 5, 1998, p. 2.

The Christian Century. CXV, June 3, 1998, p. 584.

Elle. March, 1998, p. 152.

The New York Times Book Review. CIII, April 5, 1998, p. 19.

Publishers Weekly. CCXLV, February 9, 1998, p. 92.

San Francisco Chronicle. March 29, 1998, p. REV5.

The Times Literary Supplement. August 14, 1998, p. 32.

Women’s Review of Books. XVI, October, 1998, p. 17.