Richard Rohr often offers insightful perspectives that challenge me, and The Tears of Things is certainly no exception. The book is an examination of the Old Testament prophets and invitation to wisely respond to injustices and tragedy within our own day. Yes, the prophets often began angry, even vindictive, but then they moved into mourning and grief and ultimately compassion. The same can be true of is, and this is undoubtedly a timely invitation/examination in a time of rampant outrage.
I felt this book was an expansion on some thoughts in his book Jesus’ Plan for the New World (published in 1996), particularly where he said, “‘The weeping mode’ allows one to carry the dark side of things, the ‘tears of things’ as the Latin poet said, to bear the pain of the world without needing to define perpetrators or victims, but instead recognizing the tragic reality that both sides are usually caught up in. I must hold these contradictions, I need to suffer them, I let them transform me. The weeping mode of life is quite different than the succeeding mode, the controlling mode, the fixing mode, the climbing mode, or even the explaining mode.”
Here we are now, nearly 30 years later, wrestling with the same thoughts on how to respond to the world’s brokenness. To be fair, the prophets remind us we are here some thousands of years later wrestling with same brokenness. And, so, while this subtitled for “an age of outrage,” I’m not certain we have known any other age. It, then, perhaps not only timely but perhaps timeless in this way.
I did find some of the writing difficult to follow at times. It won’t necessarily be an easy read, by any means. But, it is a fascinating and challenging (personally and intellectually) read. I’m thankful to NetGalley and Convergent Books for the advanced readers’ copy in exchange for my honest review.
