Brief Review: Instrument of Thy Peace

Instrument of Thy Peace – Revised Edition

Author: Alan Paton

Publisher: The Seabury Press, paperback, 124 pages

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

Alan Paton was a South African Anglican layperson, author, teacher, and anti-apartheid social justice advocate. 

Brief Observations 

In his Preface, Paton begins with the following sentence: “This book is written for sinners, and by one of them” (p. 7). In addition to sinners—that includes, of course, everyone—he states: “I wrote also for those who are inclined to melancholy, for those who are inclined to withdraw rather than to participate...[rather than] the building of a more just order of society” (p. 7). 

Paton wrote this volume, of his 21 meditations based on Francis of Assisi’s classic prayer, during the time when his wife of 39 years, Dorrie, was dying of emphysema. He believed: “I was given help to write it” (p. 8). 

Each of the 21 meditations begins with a quotation often from Francis’s prayer or one or more biblical passages. However meditation 17 begins with four quotations from newspapers focussing on the 1967 black riots in several USA cities. In most of the meditations there are other quotations from a wide variety of people and sources, including: excerpts from The Little Flowers Of St Francis Of Assisi, John Bunyan, William Temple, Alexander Paterson, Dag Hammarskjold, Paul Tillich, Ralph Hodgson, Lancelot Andrews, Julian of Norwich, the “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, Reinhold Niebuhr, and several others. The meditations often end with a prayer by Paton, wherein he concludes with these or similar words: “And help me this coming day to do some work of peace for Thee” (p. 53).

In meditation 3, based on Francis’s petition: “Where there is hatred, let me sow love,” Paton provides readers with his commitment to social justice: “To be the instrument of God’s peace is not to confine oneself to the field of personal relationships, but to concern oneself also with the problems of human society, hunger, poverty, injustice, cruelty, exploitation, war” (p. 20). At the end of this meditation Paton prays this prayer, which highlights his faith, and complements his commitment to social justice, and how he was inspired and motivated by Francis’s petition: “Take all hate from my heart, O God, and teach me how to take it from the hearts of others. Open my eyes and show me what things in our society make it easy for hatred to flourish and hard for us to conquer it. Then help me to try to change these things. And so open my eyes and my ears that I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for Thee” (p. 22). 

Some of the meditations also contain contemporary anecdotes and insights born out of Paton’s own life experiences. For example, a friend of his who was overanxious could have been thankful for the blessings in her life, rather than being preoccupied with what might happen to her. 

In a couple of meditations, Paton is very honest with his readers concerning the “sinner” part of himself. He admitted that he struggled with and fell short of Jesus’s teaching to love one’s enemies. When someone pointed out to him that as a Christian he could be more joyful, he admitted that there was more room in his life to grow more joyful. 

Although some of the illustrations and contexts may be dated, others, even if dated, are as relative and instructive today as they were in Alan Paton’s day. This is a devotional classic that readers may wish to read periodically to discover insights and inspiration. 

Book Review: Just A Mother

Just A Mother

Author: Roy Jacobsen, Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw

Publisher: Biblioasis, paperback, 318 pages, including Glossary

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

Roy Jacobsen was born in Oslo, his family was from northern Norway. He has written over 15 novels, and is a Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature member. In addition to this novel, Jacobsen has written 3 other Ingrid Barrøy Novels. The Unseen, the first one about Ingrid and her family, was a phenomenal bestseller in Norway and was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award, selected as an Indie Next pick in North America, and named a New York Times New and Noteworthy book. The Kirkus-starred and critically acclaimed White Shadow, the second Barrøy novel, was published in North America by Biblioasis in 2021 and followed by Eyes of the Rigel in 2022. 

Brief Observations

It is sometime after World War II. Ingrid, the protagonist, who is referred to as “just a mother,” (p. 310), the novel’s title, is a member of the Barrøy family, and as a young woman she inherited from her parents, Hans and Maria, Barrøy Island in northern Norway. Ingrid had given birth to her daughter Kaja. The father of Kaja, Alexander, a Russian P.O.W. had been rescued from the wreck of the Rigel. Ingrid also raised Felix and Suzanne after the death of their parents, Zezenia and Oskar Tommesen. In addition to these children, Ingrid also took in a girl named Nelvy who died young, and Mathias—also referred to as Mattis—son of Olavia Storm and a German officer, Ottmar Ehrlich. After the disappearance/abandonment of Olavia, and the death at sea of her husband, Johannes Hartvigsen, who was twice her age, Ingrid, with the assistance of Pastor Samuel Malmberget, eventually adopted Mathias.

Pastor Samuel studied in Germany, expounds on Luther’s Bible, and likes to show up for surprise visits of his parishioners. Regarding himself as shy, he and Anna Karina Storm marry.

Barbro is Ingrid’s aunt, sister to her father Hans. She is the mother of an adult son, Lars, named after a Swedish worker on the island who may be his father. Barbro lives with Ingrid, offers hospitality to visitors, helps out with chores, and sings in the church choir. 

The novel goes on at length to describe the isolated way of life on Barrøy Island, relying on boats to bring in supplies, mail, etc., no electricity, struggling to eke out a living with gardens, fishing, animals, and collecting eider down.

Mariann Vollheim was another lover of Alexander, after Ingrid. She is married to Olav, and lives in Trondheim with her daughter called Little Ingrid. Ingrid Barrøy and Mariann communicate with each other via letters, and have somewhat of a complex and conflicted relationship. However Mariann arranges for Kaja and Mathias to attend school in Trondheim. Mariann inherited an estate, and was a teacher at the Trondheim Cathedral School. 

There is a lengthy process of selling local properties in order to build a new school. Ingrid employs stalling tactics to try and get as much money as possible for the Johannes Hartvigsen property, the proceeds of which would be given to Mathias. 

The men of the community travel to Lofoten to fish during the winter months. However one year that changes, and Barrøy is never the same again. 

The novel highlights, among other things: the importance of and tension within community relationships, childhood curiosity, traditional rural island and modern urban life, individual and collective identity in relation to the environment, psychological and theological issues such as guilt, shame, grief, anger, doubt, faith, sin, and the absence or presence of God in the lives and deaths of humans. 

I’m not certain if the author or publisher chose the title for this novel. However, given the complexity of human beings, Ingrid is certainly more than “just a mother.” She is a niece, a mentor and community leader, a gardener, a farmer, a neighbour and friend, from a faith perspective a child of God, and so on. 

The novel leaves this reviewer wondering if Roy Jacobsen will publish a fifth Ingrid Barrøy Novel, since the ending leaves readers curious about the future of a number of characters, including Ingrid.