Saturday, January 21, 2012

A post from Roger Nebel

I’m humbled and amazed by how Madame Guyon described and lived a life of active sacrifice. She describes this life most eloquently in her poetry.

Let us with supreme affection
Love His eternal, fatherly will
If this costs us pain and sorrow
Every sigh has its reward

Her mystical life is not unlike that of the monastic where the daily routine might be noted for its slowly repeating rhythm, very often hard work, punctuated with the highs of prayer and worship (and for Guyon, the joys of her children) with the, at first glance, apparent lows of sacrifice and being pursued by the power of the infamous lettres de cachet. Indeed, Madame Guyon’s life was remarkable for its many highs and apparent lows, and her dependence on Christ throughout.

And if I could become queen, if I changed my conduct, I could not do this. And when my simplicity caused me all the trouble in the world, I could not leave the simplicity.

Some have tried to paint Madame Guyon with the monotone of passive withdrawal and blamed her so-called lows on this passive quietism. This one dimensional portrait misses the glorious experience that Madame Guyon writes of in her expressive poetry – which like the Old Testament Song of Songs depicts a person actively seeking the utter giving up that comes from the unquestioning sacrifice of love.

Ah, Reign over all the world
I desire, oh my dear husband,
This and no other reward
But to see all hearts turning to you.

For Madame Guyon, the ideal was utter abandonment knowing that the true cost was suffering, and yet actively seeking a deeper attainment of that ideal and indeed embracing the suffering as the most natural outcome.

It is in God only they find a refuge;
They want God’s rigor and yearn for God’s judgment
And when pierced through with vehemence
They never speak a word against the divine Judge

The terrors of death surround them,
That challenges their pure abandon,
But since they know the gift of God
They call the Justice very good.

Thus I’m humbled and amazed at the power of sacrifice that Guyon points us at, calls us to, and leads us into, by her example and by her own passionate account. May the Lord Jesus Christ lead me too.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Press Release for "The Complete Madame Guyon"

I very much appreciate my friends at Paraclete Press who published this volume. Here is the press release for "The Complete Madame Guyon."



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Sr. Madeleine Cleverly
Tel. (508) 255-4685
srmadeleine@paracletepress.com


Guyon did not so much talk to God – she sung in the midst of her pain


The newest Paraclete Giant offers the necessary space for a true presentation of Madame Guyon in all of her complexity. THE COMPLETE MADAME GUYON (Paraclete Press / Dec. ‘11 / Trade paperback, 316 pp. / $24.99) offers a thorough introduction to Guyon’s theology and spiritual writing as well as fresh translations of her popular A Short and Easy Method of Prayer, as well as biblical commentaries, poems, and memoirs. Nancy James explains the events of Guyon’s life as an aristocratic wife and mother of five, and later as a widow traveling around Europe as a celebrity author and accused heretic, who ended up incarcerated in the Bastille upon orders of Louis XIV. Cleared of all charges at the end of her life, in all of her writing Madame Guyon testified to the goodness and holiness of God.


Peter Gorday, author of the first biography in English of Guyon’s friend and colleague, Francois Fenelon, praises this new collection, writing: “By means of graceful, often elegant translations of primary texts – especially of the poetry – Nancy James makes the writings of the great mystic and savant of the inner life freshly and attractively available to twenty-first century readers. She introduces us to Guyon by means of a crisply written biography that captures well the dramatic adventure of Guyon’s seventeenth-century odyssey that took her to Louis XIV, the court of Versailles, and spiritual friendship with the great Fenelon, and an incisive interpretive essay in which she construes Guyon’s spirituality in terms of the transformative, sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Scholarly notes, a large bibliography, and a recommended reading list make this edition of Guyon’s work useful for anyone wishing to go deeper.”


“Nancy C. James’s illuminating translation captures the intensity and depth of Madame Jeanne Guyon’s spiritual writings. While there are many translations of Guyon’s writings, this one stands out for its elegance and readability,” says Sharon D. Voros, Professor of French, United States Naval Academy.


And the Dean of Virginia Theological Seminary, Ian Markham, remarks, “In this remarkable book, sound scholarship meets devotion. James has done an outstanding service to the Church and the academy in providing this excellent introduction to the great French mystic. Not only is Madame Guyon a deep and profound theologian, but she invites the Christian into an ever deeper relationship with God. She stands alongside the greats in the mystical tradition: Mother Julian of Norwich, Meister Eckhart, and Thomas a Kempis. Anyone interested in prayer, poetry, and a remarkable life should read this book.”


Nancy C. James received her MDiv from Virginia Theological Seminary and her PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. An ordained Episcopal priest, she serves as
chaplain at the Washington National Cathedral and a Priest Associate at St. John’s, Lafayette Square, as well as other churches in the Washington D.C. area.

# # #
If possible, please add our website to your review or mention of this book: www.paracletepress.com.

Madame Guyon's Poem "Holy Solitude"

Madame Guyon wrote thousands of poems in which each sheds a unique perspective on the spiritual life.

Never translated before, in this poem she describes her happiness in her solitude. More of her poetry can be found in "The Complete Madame Guyon" (Paraclete Press, 2011) on pages 210-231.

Holy Solitude

Kind solitude
Away from the world and the noise
Divine quietude,
Silence, like the night!

Happy the one that possesses you,
And tastes your sweetness,
The cure of all ills!
Unfortunate are those who do not love you!

It is blessedness,
To be heart to heart with God:
There no disquietude
Troubles the peace of this place.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

"The Complete Madame Guyon"

While I was working on this book, I found pieces of wisdom everywhere. One is from
"The Song of Song of Solomon" page 167.

Madame Guyon writes,"God delights in hiding away the souls belonging to the divine. Even angels
admire and respect them under the humblest external forms in the world." Guyon is saying that
we are not living exposed to the stresses and troubles so very present in our lives but
God is caring for them as we reach out to God in our inner lives.

Particularly in our troubled times, I find great reassurance in the belief that no power
in the world can destroy us when we trust in God.

Madame Guyon certainly found this to be true, even as she struggled with a decade of incarceration.

Monday, January 9, 2012

"Bastille Witness: The Prison Autobiography of Madame Guyon"

When writing her Autobiography, Madame Guyon included a section about her second arrest and her incarceration in three different places: the Vincennes, a nunnery, and the Bastille.  When her Autobiography was published, this long section was deleted.  With the publication of this book, for the first time this section of Madame Guyon's Autobiography is available to read in English.

A colleague, Dr. Sharon Voros, and I translated this book and included an introduction describing the history of this.

It really is an amazing document.  Guyon talks about her arrest and long interrogations.  She describes the dreadful experience of going through eight to ten hour interrogations by both church and secular authorities.

Here is the press release about the book.  I'll write more about this tomorrow.


Bastille Witness
The Prison Autobiography of Madame Guyon
(1648-1717)

This translation of Madame Guyon’s prison autobiography provides a compelling account of her eight years of incarceration from 1695 to 1703. Her style is conversational and personal with a keen sense of spirituality in the midst of adversity. Madame Guyon’s lack of formal education, which was not offered to women especially in matters concerning theology, caused her published works to become suspect, confiscated, and condemned. These memoirs were never published in her lifetime and only came to light when the French scholar Marie-Louise Gondal identified the manuscript as a copy of the fourth part of her autobiography. Madame Guyon consistently maintained that she was innocent of all charges. She shows great courage and faith in these prison memoirs that shed light on her most difficult years, including the interrogation practices, the criticism of her writings, and the circumstances for her release. This text is a testimony to her perseverance and a tribute to her writing ability in those times of stress and constant humiliation.

___________________________________________________________________
Nancy Carol James received her PhD from the University of Virginia and wrote her dissertation on Madame Guyon. She serves as priest associate at St. John’s, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.

Sharon D. Voros, professor of Spanish and French at the United States Naval Academy, holds a PhD from Columbia University in New York City.  Her current scholarship focuses on seventeenth-century women writers in Spain and France.
___________________________________________________________________
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF AMERICA
An Imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
December 2011 v 140 pages
978-0-7618-5772-3 v $50.00 v Cloth
eBook Available