Nava, Alexander. The Mystical and Prophetic Thought of Simone Weil and Gustavo Gutiérrez: Reflections on the Mystery and Hiddenness of God. By Alexander Nava. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. Pages, xi + 205. Paper, $21.95. ISBN: 079145178X

Reviewed by: Brenna Moore

Alexander Nava’s primary concern in this volume centers on the constructive integration of concepts within theology and philosophy that he considers to have been broadly conceived as mutually exclusive in the modern West. In order to take on historic divisions between spirituality and ethics, contemplation and action, and mysticism and prophetic thought, Nava draws upon Simone Weil and Gustavo Gutiérrez, whose work he finds mutually complementary and especially conducive to a reformulation of the longstanding conflict that dates back to the earliest biblical exegesis on the silent, contemplative Mary in contrast to the active service of Martha. This sophisticated volume will be of interest to scholars of both Christian spirituality and liberation theology, in particular those who seek to examine the tension and interrelation between the two fields. In addition, historians of modern Christian thought will appreciate Nava's thorough anchoring of Weil and Gutiérrez in their own contexts; to enter into their intellectual frameworks, Nava draws deeply from their own resources, illuminating a rich and vivid picture of each thinker's intellectual development and trajectory.

Nava identifies common ground between Weil and Gutiérrez by suggesting that both understand theology and philosophy as “transformational” rather than “informational” disciplines. Nava shows that in Weil's and Gutiérrez's writings, theology and philosophy are intimately connected with spirituality, within which one enters into a "new way of life" centered on an imitation of Christ. For both thinkers, such a spirituality deepens one's dispositions for solidarity with those who suffer, encourages resistance against injustice, and fosters prophetic courage. Far from being distinct modes of religious life, Nava shows Weil and Gutiérrez, in somewhat similar ways, understand spiritual/mystical practice to be foundational for ethical life.

Throughout the book, Nava traverses the prophetic and the mystical traditions with remarkable dexterity. In his excellent treatment of Weil's mysticism, for example, he draws upon Plato, Eckhart, and St. John of the Cross with depth and acuity, and when exploring the prophetic themes in the theology of Gutiérrez, he offers erudite biblical exegesis on the Psalms, Exodus, Job, and Joel. Nonetheless, his treatment of mystical tradition is a bit more comprehensive, and Nava himself admits that a large task of his book is “to demonstrate the significance of mysticism in contemporary thought” (80). While the reader may be distracted by Nava's use of words that describe mystical practice in terms of “moments,” Nava thankfully does not succumb to an understanding of mysticism as affective, temporal experiences. With skill and precision, Nava describes mystical theology and practice as involving life-long struggle and engagement with tradition, community, and disciplines, all of which gradually engages the practitioner in the process of spiritual and ethical maturation.

The book begins with a helpful introduction, showing that while Christian traditions have struggled with this apparent conflict in various ways throughout the centuries, the need for a sophisticated set of tools to think through both of these models has only intensified in the contemporary context. In chapters 1, 2 and 4, Nava gives a remarkably comprehensive treatment of Simone Weil. Here Nava does the difficult work of systematically organizing a very unsystematic thinker—a welcome relief for anyone seeking an introduction to her thought. He analyzes her early political writings on Marx and the Greek philosophers and connects them with her later writings on theology and the philosophy of religion. Such a synthesis is by and large helpful, tidying up some streams of thought Weil notoriously left rather messy. Notably absent is a serious treatment of what has often been considered Weil’s shocking, even dangerous, writings and biographical material. One thinks of Simone Weil’s romantic disdain for pleasure, and her complex articulations and acts of self-denial that were, on some level, pathological and self-destructive. Such behavior reached its tragic culmination in her refusal to eat more than the allowable World War II food ration for the French during a severe illness, resulting in her untimely death at the age of only thirty-four. Nava's omission of these difficulties in Weil's life and doctrine come across as an inability to face some of the more embarrassing, disturbing aspects of a thinker whose genius he so deeply admires.

Nava’s chapters on Gutiérrez, on the other hand, do less synthesizing of disparate material and more unearthing of aspects of his thought that are often overlooked. In chapters 3 and 5, Nava challenges those who chide liberation theology for failing to sufficiently acknowledge divine incomprehensibility by showing that spiritual practice and relationship with the divine are at the core of an ethical-political vision of Gutiérrez. In a provocative section, Nava unpacks the way in which Gutiérrez takes meditation on scriptures, such as the book of Job, and faces an incomprehensible God whose presence somehow mysteriously is in the midst of the suffering in the world. Silence, Nava shows us, is sometimes the most appropriate response for Gutiérrez. Not only silence, but Gutiérrez demands that we do theology “from the garbage heaps, from the underside of history” (162), a practice which should never be divorced from prayer, scriptural mediation, and participation in the sacramental system.

The sixth and final chapter, arguably the book's most provocative, contends that Weil's thoroughly mystical vision is corrected by Gutiérrez's more developed prophetic insights, while Gutiérrez is strengthened by the profound spiritual and tragic components of Weil. Overall, this book is unique in its ability to show how deficient mystical theology is without the prophetic commitment to ethical praxis, and how insufficient prophetic thought can be without attention to the spiritual practices that nourish and renew it. Nava situates Simone Weil and Gustavo Gutiérrez in two places where the Christian tradition is most loosened from simplistic, entrenched binary oppositions, and is consequently at its most subtle and creative. He demonstrates that the ethical and the spiritual at their best are knit together, and this accomplishment is what makes Gutiérrez and Weil rich sources of learning. Nava’s work inspires one to explore Weil and Gutiérrez further, and to wonder where other such gems in the tradition might be found.