Transparencies of Eternity

by Rubem Alves

As a master of the word, Rubem Alves relates events and experiences in life where God, religiosity, love, beauty and the meaning of life are always present. They are his Transparencies of eternity a collection of poetic and spiritual chronicles in which the author draws transparent and multicolor stained glass windows, using as raw material the existence and the multiple faces of God: sometimes God is an artist, who gathers the shards of my stained glass, smashed by random stoning, and places them again in the cathedral s window so that the sun s rays may shine through them again; sometimes God is a great, huge Emptiness that encompasses the whole beauty of the universe. Even more: God is a parent who doesn t know how to add. God is not in the business of accounting God doesn t add up either virtue or sins. This is how love is. It has no why s. It is reasonless. Love for love s sake. No accounting of good or of evil. With such a God the universe becomes more humble. And fears vanish. In this book are collected texts that masterfully comprise both a profound knowledge and the major existential questions of humankind. The texts flow with a simplicity of rare beauty, and the result could not be better: spirituality is presented through a new lens, attracting, instigating and enchanting readers who want to broaden their horizons.

Genres: Theology

136 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2010

About the author

Rubem Alves foi um psicanalista, educador, teólogo e escritor brasileiro, autor de livros e artigos abordando temas religiosos, educacionais e existenciais, além de uma série de livros infantis.
Durante sua infância, enfrentou os problemas comuns ocasionados pelas freqüentes mudanças de estados e de escolas. Tais mudanças influenciaram sua atitude de introspecção que o levou à companhia dos livros e ao apoio da religião, base de sua educação.
Presbiteriano, tornou-se pastor. Teve três filhos, e entrou numa crise de fé decorrente de um problema de saúde na família, tendo assim de abandonar o pastorado. Apóstata do cristianismo, tornou-se crítico da religião organizada. É considerado persona non grata na Igreja Presbiteriana, pelas suas posições liberais e anticlericais. De volta ao mundo secular, tornou-se escritor e acadêmico.

Reviews

[Michael]

I’m very glad I read this book. Fernando Rodriguez recommended it to me. It’s a beautiful book - I would call it a poetic book on faith. I was familiar with the author’s writing from decades ago - when he was a more orthodox Christian. Today - he isn’t sure what to call himself - but it seems clear to me that his interpretation of scripture and tradition - are fundamentally and soundly Christian. He turns his eye toward the beauty in the world around - which he thinks is most powerfully captured in word and story (I agree) and in the natural world around us. He lyrically and playfully shares his perspective with us. I love it!

[Porter Sprigg]

Alves knows beauty and he writes about it with such joy and serenity that you feel like a kid again as you read it. I wish he also knew truth though. He insists that beauty and truth are incompatible, as if religious ideas are horrible but religious feelings are what makes life worth living. He sees the doctrine of eternal conscious torment as problematic (as do I) but then seems to think all of Christian thought is based upon the doctrine of hell and can be abandoned in favor of good vibes. Maybe when he was writing, hell was more centralized in doctrinal conversations but I see no need to insist on throwing out the baby with the bath water.

What if the hope we foster is based in reality not wishful thinking? Wouldn’t that be more beautiful? And don’t you worry Rubem. We’ll be resurrected with bodies, not subjected to life as floating orbs.

[Andrew Davis]

This slender book is a collection of essays and reflections. Three of the essays are excellent and make the whole book worth reading: "Does God exist?", "The stained glass window", and "The bet". These essays invoke, in almost poetic form, a God of beauty and a life worth living. I enjoyed the other essays, as well, but I found some of them, such as those where he complains about the idea of hell, to be less compelling.