Healing Wounds

by Erik Varden

Are we healed through our wounds or are our wounds themselves healed from some other source?

In this 2025 Lent Book, Erik Varden starts by examining the New Testament where it spells out why Christ's wounds were efficacious for the healing of humankind. Indeed, why they were necessary for the purpose. This austere way of thinking is indispensable but it has never really satisfied the effective needs of believers or the intuitions of the heart.

Bob Dylan once said, tongue in cheek, 'Pain sure does bring out the best in people.' The philosopher Donald MacKinnon said, 'Suffering never ennobled anyone.' Suffering by nature poses questions people wrestle with today in many fields of life with counsellors, therapists, philosophers, and spiritual directors. But the conundrum remains and in this book Varden sets out to resolve it.

Genres: Theology, Spirituality, Christian, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published February 11, 2025

About the author

Erik Varden is a monk and bishop, born in Norway in 1974. In 2002, after ten years at the University of Cambridge, he joined Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Charnwood Forest. Pope Francis named him bishop of Trondheim in 2019.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

i love the idea of this book, but the execution was not totally my cup of tea. it was structured as a literary analysis of an old poem on the crucifixion. the book had different sections on different parts of the Body of Christ (the Feet, the Heart, the Face, etc.) that went along generally speaking with the poem, and i think that was a solid structure for the book. unfortunately, he had mini victor hugo-esque moments of going on longer tangents (thank goodness they weren’t as long as victor’s tend to be) that i don’t think came together well to a solid, developed meditation on whatever particular section he was on. there were meaningful tidbits, but i would have preferred something that was less like going to an art museum with someone who says whatever comes to mind inspired by the artwork and more like a cohesive poem analysis master’s thesis combined with spiritual reading.

tl;dr good idea but not executed in the way i would have wanted

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my Lenten book for this year, so I'm only getting to reviewing it now because of just the busyness of a busy semester. I had been hoping for a reflective Lenten study which would reflect on Jesus' suffering and how our suffering is reflected in that. And, to a degree, that is in this book, written by Erik Varden, a Trappist monk and Catholic Bishop of Trondheim. The reflection is structured on the wounds of Christ, as reflected on by a 12th (?) century Trappist poem on the wounds of Christ.

On the whole, I wouldn't say there was anything theologically wrong in this book, even for a non-Roman Catholic. There is a lot that is right. I think what put me off, however, was that visceral reflection on the wounds, as the physical wounds, which is characteristic of mediaeval Catholic spirituality. I am, admittedly, an Anglo-Catholic, so I'm more likely to be in sympathy with this aspect of Roman Catholicism, but there is a enough Protestant in me to baulk a bit. I mean, if people find it helpful to reflect on the sheer physicality and severity of Jesus' wounds, that's fair. And it's not like I deny those wounds were real and physical and awful- as Christians, we have to remember crucifixion wasn't a painless or sanitized as we often see in churches. The Cross was an instrument of torture, so the physical reminders are important. But reminders are one thing and reveling in the suffering is another. I'm not sure that Varden crosses that line, but sometimes I thought the source poem did.

So, perhaps think about this one. If the Wounds of Jesus are an important part of your spirituality, yes, by all means, this book is for you. If it is less important, this might be a more challenging read.

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a real struggle. There were a few gems within the morass of rather academic and erudite language (and pages of latin) but not so many as to recommend that anyone actually read this.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found these reflections on the crucified Christ inspiring. It helps me in my journey being able to reflect on the wounds of Christ especially gazing at the Crucifix behind the altar at my church.