Water and Spirit

Von Speyr's book does not lend itself to any classification that I can think of. It is not dogmatic theology; still less is it exegesis. . . . There is nothing to do but to submit oneself to it; if the reader emerges without having been crushed by it, he will find himself strengthened and exhilarated by a new experience of Christian sensibility. -- T.S. Eliot

Following The Word: A Meditation on the Prologue to Saint John's Gospel, this beautiful work by Adrienne von Speyr continues her meditations on the fourth Gospel to the end of chapter five.

Von Speyr reflects deeply on the text, taking it sentence by sentence, but this precise adherence to the words is developed into a much broader picture. Her meditations faithfully follow the scenes and the themes of the Gospel, using Saint John's imagery to convey his thought. She does not use the language of abstraction but that of the Christian disciple, while retaining the living, moving, dramatic quality of the Gospel itself.