By Richard Rohr. Published by Orbis Books, 2023. (USD 20). Reviewed by Peter Slocum

With its A5 pages, 1.5 line spacing and around 20,000 words, my first impression of the re-release of Richard Rohr’s Soul Brothers was that it would be an easy read.

First impressions can be deceptive! It took me some six weeks to work my way through the 12 meditations. Each was packed with concentrated language and challenges which strike to the core of how Christianity has been packaged these past 2,000 years.

I suspect Richard Rohr and I are the only ones who know that a week before Palm Sunday Jesus sent the CVs of the twelve Apostles to Jerusalem Management Consultants, seeking advice on which of the twelve was best suited to implement his vision for humanity after his departure. The ensuing report advised that the only option was Judas Iscariot: the others did not demonstrate any of the necessary competencies.

The biblical men profiled by Rohr, I suspect, would also fail to reach the Jerusalem Management Consultants’ effectiveness threshold: and that is Rohr’s point — God’s ways are not our ways! Rohr suggests we are missing the point by attempting to imitate Jesus’s divinity: Jesus’s plan for us is to imitate his very humanity. 

Soul Brothers is not just for men. Read it for yourself and see what do you think.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 293 June: 27