A thought from this A.M.

 In our youth, we build an image of ourselves, then spend a lifetime trying to live up to that image.  Why not deconstruct that image and build one that is based on one you do not have to live up to but can live daily with. 

Another Book Review - Albert Camus and the Minister

 Albert Camus and the Minister

Written by: Howard Mumma
Published by: Paraclete Press

For those not familiar with who Albert Camus was, he was a very well know author in the 1940’ to his death in 1960. His main topic was existentialism. This book is about a period towards the end of his life. But this is a book of two half’s The first half of the book is about the actual title of the book; Albert Camus and his interaction with the author Howard Mumma. The second half is more about those people who impacted the author's life. Mumma’s own recollections of his letters and his discussions with Camus comprise roughly the first half of the book. Mumma clearly states that he is writing from recollections many years later. The thing was Camus did not want notes are anything taken while they were together. This led Mumma to have to wait until he was back in his apartment at the church to write notes down. He used those and his memory to write this book.

Albert Camus and the Minister is a look at the period of Camus’ life in the early 1950s when he corresponded and visited in person with a new friend, Methodist minister Howard Mumma. They met when Camus visited the American Church in Paris to hear the music of a renowned organist; Mumma, an American Methodist Minister from Ohio that was a visiting minister to the American Church. These two became valued friends. Mumma answered Camus’ questions about theology and the idea of faith. Over the next several years, their unusual and unexpected friendship grew as Camus explored Christianity. One of the things that struck me most was that Camus had read the bible completely three times and had marked it up so he could ask questions. His question struck me as those all of us have as we read the Bible.

One of the most poignant parts of the book is how the author deals with Camus’ eventual death, which Mumma terms a suicide. In believing that he had failed Camus, he overlooks the central point of the book–that before he died, Camus had found faith in a higher power. Camus may have still been struggling with more personal demons and his own trademark angst, but the minister had answered many of the questions that most plagued Camus–issues of God. But only Camus could have answered for himself the issues of humanity still plaguing him at the time of his death. The part where Camus asks to be baptized and said he was read, but the Minister tells him he is not ready unless he is also ready to join a Church was very telling to me on the naivete and arrogance of the way churches dealt with individuals in the late 50’s. It is easy to look at this in the prism in time and wonder if he had agreed to the baptism would Camus lived longer and finish his course of inquiry and find the things he needed. I know I wondered that.

To quote another book reviewer: “If you read with the understanding that it is very human for people to want others to agree with them, Mumma’s personality is a bit less overbearing and Camus’ questions all the more touching.”

I highly recommend reading at least the first half of this book and take a journey of what one of the Giants in existentialism in the last 100 years wrestle with and his realization that he had it wrong and atheism missed the central point of faith and belief.