On a handful of occasions, a work of art has riveted my attention. As a college student, a painting in the Butler Museum of Art titled In Flanders Fields Where Soldiers Sleep and Poppies Grow by Robert Vonnoh had that effect as I pondered young girls picking scarlet red poppies in what had once been a killing field. For Henri J.M. Nouwen, it was a portion of Rembrandt’s painting of The Return of the Prodigal Son that had this same effect. Eventually he spent several days meditating upon the original and out of this and reflection on the parable of Jesus, he wrote The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming.Â
He looks at the painting and parable in light of the three principle figures–the younger son, the elder son, and the Father. Many authors have explored what it means to be the younger son lost in profligacy and the elder son, lost in his rectitude and resentment and Nouwen does this also. But he does two other striking things. [Read more…] about Book Review: The Return of the Prodigal Son