[AUT]≡ [PDF] Brendan A Novel Frederick Buechner Books

Brendan A Novel Frederick Buechner Books

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Brendan A Novel Frederick Buechner Books

Buechner is a rarity in today's literary realm and I've enjoyed everything I've read by him. This book was no exception. A great author takes the reader somewhere they've never been before and, for that matter, never thought they'd go and this work does just that. A superbly-told tale of a time long gone by when the world was still a very untamed and dangerous place for a man of God to try to spread the love of Christ. Fascinating.


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Brendan A Novel Frederick Buechner Books Reviews

Amazing and haunting story, made me reflect on the focus and voyages of ones life. BUECHNER games Christianity to a deeper level beyond the sub culture we have created. Must read for all pastors.
Little strange but quite well written. Very interesting from a historical perspective. Well worth the time and financial investment to read.
Really communicates the earthy feel of early Ireland and the early beginnings of the Celtic church.
This is a historical fiction novel, enfleshing the life and story of Saint Brendan the Navigator. Brendan is one of the best-known Celtic saints and perhaps best known for his adventuring spirit, which took him on sea voyages that went as far as Greenland and quite possibly North America from the northwest coast of the US and perhaps to Florida.

I'm familiar with Brendan's story, and this novel does the story great justice. It's engaging and entertaining, playful even.

I'm even more impressed with the author of the story and will certainly read more Buechner.

4.5 stars. I'm rounding up because it starts and ends well; many members of the Celtic Christian community with whom I worship also love this novel.
Frederick Buechner's historical novel spins a tale of St. Brendan as all good myths are told, in a nonlinear fashion and with ancient images. Amid the adventures of the priest and his unmerry men and women, we find the manna of holy insight. "He wants us each one to have a loving heart," Brendan said..."When all is said and done, perhaps that's the length and breadth of it."
I didn't know anything about St. Brendan before reading this book, so I was unsure how much of it was Buechner's invention. Later, I researched him a little bit and it sounds like the novel goes right along with the ancient accounts of his life. I loved that Buechner didn't try to apply a modern-day Christian worldview to Brendan, but really looked at the Christian walk through the eyes of a 6th century Irish native, surrounded by paganism and superstition. The language is delightful, the sincerity of the characters - both Brendan and the narrator, Finn - is refreshing. And some of the deeper insights into life and faith were surprisingly simple yet deep.
This is the third of Buechner's works I have read, and I have loved and devoured them all. The author takes us breathtakingly into the life and times of Brendan, a 6th century Irish saint -- Brendan the Navigator, as he is known by many. The language, imagery and power of this novel is astonishing.
Brendan's story is related here by his long-time friend and travelling companion Finn -- excepting for a section of the book that deals with Brendan's first voyage, from whom Finn is excluded by the mishap of falling overboard as the ship leaves Ireland. This part of the story is related through Brendan's written accounts of that time.
Taken from his parents soon after he was born by Bishop Erc, a relation, and placed into the hands of the Abbess Ita for the purposes of his education and upbringing, Brendan seems destined for a rich spiritual life from an early age. Forever seeking to grow closer to God, he takes as a quest the search for the earthly Paradise -- Tir na nOg (The land of the Young) of Irish legend. He makes two sea voyages in search of this blessed land -- his adventures are many, as are the epiphanies experienced by him along the way. On his second voyage, legend has it that he may have reached as far west as Florida -- predating even Lief Ericsson's discovery of America by 400 years or so.
Brendan's spiritual struggles are even more arduous than his seafaring ones. An earth-bound human being, he is frought with contradictions -- as are we all -- and his battle to rationalize them with his deep-seeded faith is not one without its casualties, both within him and among his earthly companions. He is wracked by guilt and sorrow as a result of the choices he makes in his life -- and his search for meaning, and for ways to serve God, continue until his death.
On page 216-17 of the novel he comes to a seemingly simple thought -- but one that is deceiving in its simplicity, an all-encompassing flame burning at the spiritual heart of our life's purpose. He is in a conversation with a Welsh monk who is obsessed with transcribing the sins of the world to paper. Gildas, the monk, says 'When the Day of Judging comes, there'll be so many sinners running about some may escape the flames altogether. My work is to set their names down here with all their sins written after them so the angels don't let a single solitary one slip through their fingers.' Brendan is saddened by this focus on man's evil -- his work, as he sees it, is more to help the poor folk, to offer aid and succor where he can. The following portions of his conversation with Gildas is moving and poignant '(God) wants each of us to have a loving heart. When all's said and done, perhaps that's the length and breadth of it...To lend each other a hand when we're falling. Perhaps that's the only work that matters in the end.'
Brendan passes through -- and witnesses -- much suffering, as well as joy, in his life. He has come to be honored and revered as a saint for the works he did, for the life he lived. He would have ridiculed this elevation, most assuredly -- to his final breath, he considered himself a 'black-hearted sinner' -- but his example is one that can be followed...not one of a perfect man (for none of us can claim that), but of one who reached beyond his imperfections to embrace those around him with the love that dwells within us.
Buechner's novel is a joy to read and experience -- uplifting and entertaining at the same time, full of spirituality, humanity and adventure.
Buechner is a rarity in today's literary realm and I've enjoyed everything I've read by him. This book was no exception. A great author takes the reader somewhere they've never been before and, for that matter, never thought they'd go and this work does just that. A superbly-told tale of a time long gone by when the world was still a very untamed and dangerous place for a man of God to try to spread the love of Christ. Fascinating.