I’ve let this book review sit on the back-burner for a while because I’m of two minds about what to write. I was hoping that one side would outweigh the other over time, but that hasn’t happened.

On the one hand, the venerable twentieth-century Roman Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar has written profound theological autobiographies of Thérèse of Lisieux and Elizabeth of the Trinity, two Carmelite sisters steeped in the contemplative tradition. The wisdom in these pages runs deep. Consider Thérèse of Lisieux’s view of God revealed in this simple statement:

I have prayed to the good God not to listen to any prayers that might hinder his plans for me. (69)

Or consider von Balthasar’s reflection on worship, based on Elizabeth of the Trinity’s writing:

Worship is not a voluntary act that the creature decides to undertake after thinking it over. It forces itself upon the creature wherever eternal love, in its inexpressible impact on a person, in its incomprehensible presentness, permits itself to be seen. (438–9)

This book about contemplation actually leads to contemplation. It is a work of praxis in the Aristotelean sense. The telos of contemplation is part the product. Two Sisters in the Spirit has sentences on almost every page that prompt the reader to pause and reflect. Reading this work with contemplation becomes an act of worship.

And now for the other side of this review.

As a Protestant pastor, I can’t help but feel shocked and repulsed by the way these two young women (both of whom died in their 20s) practiced their faith. Reading Thérèse of Lisieux’s life from the perspective of twenty-first century pastoral practice reveals a distressing picture of a woman who could have used therapy. Her longing for martyrdom could be interpreted as suicidal or saintly. Her naive understanding of scripture (which von Balthasar freely admits) exposes her “little way” as something bordering on the childish rather than the childlike.

To be frank, I’m unsure whether this negative view is rooted in the Spirit or my unfamiliarity with the context in which these two women lived. I’ll have to live with that uncertainty. In the end, this is a valuable book to prompt contemplation and spur spiritual growth—with troubling overtones, at least for this Protestant reader.

Von Balthasar, Hans Urs. Two Sisters in the Spirit: Thérèse of Lisieux & Elizabeth of the Trinity. Translated by Donald Nichols, Anne Englund Nash, and Dennis Martin. Ignatius, 1992.