Servants, Misfits, and Martyrs: Saints and Their Stories

Pastor Howell has written a modern-day hagiography--a chronicle of the lives of the saints. Howell's saints are not just those canonized by the Church but a motley array of believers who ""stretch our imaginations and stand as imperatives, calling, wooing us into a higher, holier life."" Some of Howell's selections are predictable, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa, but lesser known figures also get their due; he writes passionately about Clarence Jordan, the Georgian who founded Koinonia Farm (an interracial Christian community where members shared property in common) in 1942. Nor does Howell limit his vision to Christians. Another of his heroes is Natan Sharansky, a Jew who was imprisoned in the Soviet Union for nine years because he supported free speech and the right to emigrate; in the Gulag, Sharansky was sustained by a Psalter given to him by his wife. Although a concern for social justice permeates the text, Howell is also impressed by saints who have expressed their love of God more contemplatively. In the chapters on prayer and teaching, readers meet Monica (mother of St. Augustine), Henri Nouwen, C. S. Lewis, Karl Barth and Teresa of Avila. Howell's book is not unique; Joan Chittister and many other Christian writers have paid homage to their heroes in similar collections, and there is nothing particularly distinctive about this one, yet it is an inspiring read. (Feb.)