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But there was also an unforgettable night in a Greenwich Village bar where her friend, the playwright Eugene O’Neill, recited “The Hound of Heaven” for her – a poem whose obscure but deep message left her reeling and, she later said, eventually brought about her conversion.
In 1926 Dorothy had a baby daughter, Tamar – an event that profoundly changed her. Leftist friends (she was a Communist) mocked her new interest in the Gospels (they felt religion was a crutch for the weak), but Dorothy dug in her heels. Jesus promised the new society of justice they were all looking for, she said; and if Christians tended to be soft-minded hypocrites, that was not Jesus’ fault. She was determined to give him a try.
By the time Dorothy died in 1980, it was clear she had done more than try. Shaken by the hopelessness of the unemployed millions during the Depression years, she dropped all ambitions of becoming a famous writer and spent the rest of her life serving the poor (in whose face she saw Jesus), spreading her views of nonviolence (she was imprisoned many times for acts of civil disobedience), and passionately reminding readers through her books and newspaper articles that Christ demanded more than tithes, hats, and flowers on Sunday.
As far as Dorothy could tell, he demanded the readiness to wash vegetables, cut bread, and clean up after hundreds of noisy, often ungrateful guests, day after day, year after year. This she did gladly at the New York Catholic Worker – a communal hospitality house she founded and ran for the unemployed and homeless.
On a practical level, Dorothy’s witness lives on in more than 150 Catholic Worker Houses across the country. There is also the enduring challenge of her non-nonsense attitude to faith: “The mystery of the poor is this: that they are Jesus, and whatever you do for them you do to him.”
Dorothy Day
“When overcome with grief at times, what can we do?” Day asks. “We can pray. We can pray without ceasing, as Saint Paul said. We can say with the...
Dorothy Day
What does everyday discipleship look like? In her letters and diary entries, Dorothy Day lays out what discipleship involves in words that ring true...
Dorothy Day
The works of mercy are a wonderful stimulus to our growth in faith as well as love.
Dorothy Day
How do you follow Jesus without burning out? In this guidebook Dorothy Day offers hard-earned wisdom and practical advice gained through decades of... Read More
Eberhard Arnold, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothy Day, C. S. Lewis, J. Heinrich Arnold, Johann Christoph Arnold, Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Richard J. Foster, Søren Kierkegaard, Gerhard Lohfink, Charles E. Moore, George MacDonald, Thomas Merton, Henri J. M. Nouwen and Chiara Lubich
Fifty-two readings on living in intentional Christian community to spark group discussion. ... Read More
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothy Day, Søren Kierkegaard, C. S. Lewis, Philip Yancey, Eberhard Arnold, Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, J. Heinrich Arnold, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Johann Christoph Arnold, George MacDonald, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Sadhu Sundar Singh, Thomas Merton, Leo Tolstoy, N. T. Wright and William H. Willimon
Has there ever been a more hard-hitting, beautifully written, theologically inclusive anthology of writings for Lent and Easter? It’s doubtful. —... Read More
Spirituality and Practice
Evangelical Church Library Association
Mennonite Quarterly Review
Mark Gordon, The Dorothy Option, Patheos.com
Our Sunday Visitor
Library Journal
Elizabeth Palmer, Christian Century
Englewood Review for Books
Nancy Roberts, Catholic Sentinel
InterVarsity Emerging Scholars Network
Midwest Book Review
Paul Louis Metzger, Patheos
Kyle Roberts, Patheos
David Swartz, Patheos
Stanley Hauerwas
Publisher's Weekly starred review
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