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X. Libris
5.0 out of 5 stars The complex and fascinating narrative of a Christian peace activist
Reviewed in the United States on 8 May 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I first encountered the writings of Jim Forest in 1969, when I picked up a pamphlet at the American Friends Service Committee bookstore in Seattle entitled “Catholics and Conscientious Objection.”
It had been produced by the Catholic Peace Fellowship. I was preparing my defense before the draft board in my application for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War. (The other booklet I picked up that day was by Thomas Merton.)
I was not a Roman Catholic, but I’d recently had a “born again” experience and had gotten involved in the Jesus People Movement in Washington State. I was interested in learning about the Christian roots of pacifism, and Forest’s booklet was packed full of quotes from the Early Church Fathers. Thanks to his information, I was granted CO status.
Fast forward 30 years. My spiritual journey took me in and out of various denominations, until I discovered the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the bookstore of the parish that became my new church home, I encountered several books by Jim Forest. It took me a while to realize it was the same person, and that he, too, had become Orthodox and had started a new organization called the Orthodox Peace Fellowship.
Over the past twenty years I’ve read several books by Jim. In many of these books he mentions his friends and mentors, including Dorothy Day, of the New York based Catholic Worker (and who has been nominated for canonization in the Roman Catholic Church), Thomas Merton, the well-known Catholic monk, author and poet, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and Zen master, and Daniel Berrigan, radical Roman Catholic priest and peace activist.
Because Jim Forest’s life intersects with these and other leaders of the 60s peace movement and beyond, many people (including myself) have been urging him to write his own memoirs. “Writing Straight with Crooked Lines,” just released in 2020, is the incredible result.
Because Jim has been writing his whole life, starting with journalism in high school, his writing style is very readable. I devoured this volume in just a few days. While bits and pieces of Jim’s story get woven into the narratives written about the others mentioned above, his own life is definitely worthy of consideration.
He was child of American Communists in the 1930s. After his parents divorced, he shuttled back and forth across the country several times between parents, before dropping out of high school and joining the Navy. There he had a profound spiritual experience while watching the film, “The Nun’s Story,” featuring Audrey Hepburn, and joined the Roman Catholic Church. When en route to visit a monastery, he picked up the book, “The Seven Storey Mountain,” by Thomas Merton, which deeply moved him. After he realized that his meteorological work with the Navy helped support the disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961, he had a crisis of conscience, and was eventually discharged from the Navy as a conscientious objector.
From there he got involved in Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker movement in New York City. This eventually led him to start the Catholic Peace Fellowship, to help young Catholics (and eventually Protestants like me) to learn about the peace teachings of Jesus and how to apply for CO status while the Vietnam War escalated.
Through his work he had the opportunity to meet Thich Nhat Hanh, who at the time was an unknown in this country. He was invited to the United States by peace groups to help Americans get to know the people and culture of Vietnam. Jim was given the opportunity to be his chauffeur (and essentially tour manager) for Hanh across the country, during which time they became close friends.
Jim’s memoir is a warts-and-all story, including his honest portrayal of three failed marriages due to his zeal for social and peace activism, which meant time away from home (including jail time for his involvement in burning draft records in Milwaukee).
In 1976, he was asked to lead the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, an inter-faith peace group. Under his guidance the headquarters moved to Alkmaar, the Netherlands, a country that proved to be more hospitable for this organization. After leading this organization for many years, he and his fourth wife, Nancy, decided to become freelance writers (she primarily a translator of titles from Dutch into English).
While working with Dorothy Day back in the 60s, she had introduced him to the Orthodox Church and encouraged him to read books by authors such as Dostoyevsky. While with the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Europe, Jim had many opportunities to interact with the Russian Orthodox Church and decided to write a book about it before the end of the Cold War. His experiences in the Orthodox churches in Russia left a big impression on him in the way he experienced liturgy, prayer, singing and the people.
Back in Holland, in 1987, he was invited to attend the Russian Orthodox St. Nicholas Cathedral in Amsterdam, and Jim and Nancy decided that they had found their new spiritual home.
This narrative has many layers that are often interwoven. It gives a glimpse into the life of a very complex person who lived during a challenging time in American, and world, history. It is thought-provoking, spiritual, historical, sometimes theological, sometimes radical, but always with a desire for peace, within oneself, with others, between races, nations and even religions.
Jim doesn’t like to call himself a Christian. Instead he says he is “attempting” to be a Christian. He doesn’t hide his personal shortcomings in this book, but he also shows that he desires to be guided by the teachings and person of Christ.
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Larry from West Sussex
5.0 out of 5 stars Peacemaker Extraordinary!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2021
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Jim Forest has been blessed with providential guidance at exactly the right time to the right book, the right place, and the right people throughout a long and eventful life. He writes engagingly with both humour and humility. This is a wonderful book.
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mobi
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving, inspiring memoir of a lifelong pilgrimage for peace
Reviewed in the United States on 6 June 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Written with generosity, humility, humor, and grace, Jim Forest's autobiography chronicles his decades
of engagement with the faith-rooted, nonviolent movement for peace and reconciliation in a turbulent, troubled world. This is essential reading for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of peace activism extending from the Vietnam era to today. Jim Forest shares experiences and lessons learned through his close friendships with Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Dan Berrigan, and Thich Nhat Hanh, but also shares ordinary encounters with people on the street, in shops and churches, that speak of the transformative power of deep listening. Every page is imbued with love, wisdom, and honest reflection. From his account of traveling solo across the country as a 13-year-old to coping with kidney disease later in life, Forest invites us into the particulars of his life and by so doing, invites us to examine and celebrate our own lives in a deeper way. Reading this, one wishes one could sit with Forest and his family and break bread together. This is a deeply thoughtful and hopeful book.
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cheapie pie
5.0 out of 5 stars An honest memoir
Reviewed in the United States on 23 June 2021
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Jim Forest is an amazing writer who has known some of the great religious figures since the 1960s. His spiritual journey and path to nonviolence alone make the book worth reading. Forest's relationships with Dorothy Day, the Berrigans, and Thich Nhat Hanh, among others introduce readers to figures who influenced him and many others along the way. Well written with interesting photos!
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4.54
28 ratings4 reviews
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Dan
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August 30, 2020
It’s my dad’s autobiography: what kind of son would I be if I didn’t give it a five-star rating?
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Debbi
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January 16, 2022
Such a nicely written memoir. Jim Forest not only gave us a personal story of his life, he also allowed us to see into the early days of the religious anti nuclear war and peace movement. It was very beautiful to see some famous names come to life. I enjoyed reading about Jim's journey from the child of non-religious communists to his involvement with the Catholic Worker. It also doesn't get too bogged down in day to day life of a writer and activist. I appreciate how Mr. Forest shared his story without giving in to maudlin navel gazing.
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Dan
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January 20, 2021
In his book WRITING STRAIGHT WITH CROOKED LINES, Jim Forest winces at being described as a peace activist. Despite having been exactly that for most of his adult life.
“The problem is that I’m not by nature an activist. Perhaps there is something of Thomas Merton’s monastic temperament in me. I feel uncomfortable in crowds – masses of people drawn together by a common objective generate powerful currents and undertows that often scare me. I’m not an automatic participant – discernment is needed. When it comes to taking part in protests and demonstrations, I have to convince myself that this specific act of protest or witness really is worth taking part in and then push myself by brute force out the door while wishing my conscience would leave me alone.”
But yet, the fact is, Forest has had a remarkable life, most of it being directly involved in the peace movement. With formative roots deepened by being the Managing Editor of the Catholic Worker, under Dorothy Day’s (co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement) tutelage, when he was in his early 20s.
This connection eventually got him involved in helping to form the Catholic Peace Fellowship and working with the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and brought Dan and Phil Berrigan, Thomas Merton, Thich Nhat Hanh, Henri Nouwen, and Al Hassler into Forest’s life.
As Forest points out, being the son of left-leaning parents (both of his parents were members of the Communist Party) definitely influenced his DNA.
Forest has written several books, including a biography of Thomas Merton and books on the Russian Orthodox Church (he himself converted to the Orthodox Church from Roman Catholic.) He had proven his journalistic skills several times over before reaching the age of 30. Including serving as the press agent for five Vietnam War protestors who burned their draft cards in Union Square in November of 1965.
A few years later, Forest served in the same capacity for the Catonsville Nine Defense Committee. The group of nine had gathered to break into the Catonsville Draft Board headquarters. The participants included Dan and Phil Berrigan.
During this time, Forest worked for both the Catholic Peace Fellowship and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. And he became part of the Milwaukee 14, who broke into the adjoining offices of nine draft board in Milwaukee, stealing draft records and burning them.
“My knees shook every step of the way. The nine doors were opened, the many burlap sacks we had brought with us were filled to bursting with 1-A files – 10,000 of them, it was estimated during the trial – and dragged out to the park across the street. Napalm, made ourselves, according to a recipe found in the US Army Special Forces Handbook, was poured on the files and a match struck. The fourteen of us lined up on one side of the bonfire and prayed the Our Father and sang ‘We Shall Overcome.’”
There was a lot of traveling involved in Forest’s work. He candidly records that such prolonged absences eventually tore at the fabric of three marriages, ending in divorce.
It was later in life, when Forest was older and wiser, that he discovered his soulmate. He was working in Denmark for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and renewed a friendship with Nancy Flier during visits home in the United States. They have been happily married for 37 years.
At the very end of WRITING STRAIGHT WITH CROOKED LINES, Forest sums up his life, offering a few powerful life lessons. This is one of them: “If I cannot find the face of Jesus in the faces of those who are my enemies, if I cannot find him in the unbeautiful, if I cannot find him in those who have the ‘wrong ideas,’ if I cannot find him in the poor and the defeated, how will I find him in the bread and wine or in the life after death? If I do not reach out in this world to those with whom he has identified himself, why do I imagine that I will want to be with him and them forever in heaven? Why would I want to be, for all eternity, in the company of those whom I avoided every day of my life?”
P.S. I had the privilege of interviewing Jim Forest in July of 2019. You can find that interview here:
https://bit.ly/3izg7T5
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Rebekah Sturgill
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January 1, 2023
A wonderful book to end the year! Both familiar to me, coming from a childhood rooted in peace activism, and enlightening, showing me parts of history I have had no encounters with before, this book was a read that was both comfortable and challenging. For those reconciling a desire for political activism and peace with the contemplative life of the Christian, I highly recommend this book detailing Jim's struggle with that invented dichotomy.
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세진님, 요청하신 짐 포레스트(Jim Forest)의 회고록 <Writing Straight with Crooked Lines>에 대한 요약과 평론입니다. 세진님께서 관심을 갖고 계신 평화 운동, 영성, 그리고 사회적 실천이 깊게 어우러진 책입니다.
구부러진 선으로 올곧게 쓰다 (Writing Straight with Crooked Lines)
저자: 짐 포레스트 (Jim Forest)
장르: 회고록 / 영성 / 전기
1. 서론: 우연이 빚어낸 필연의 기록
짐 포레스트의 회고록 <Writing Straight with Crooked Lines>는 단순히 한 개인의 역사를 나열한 책이 아니다. 이 책은 20세기 격동의 역사 속에서 평화와 신앙, 그리고 인간 존엄을 고민했던 한 영혼의 순례기이자, 도로시 데이(Dorothy Day), 토머스 머튼(Thomas Merton), 틱낫한(Thich Nhat Hanh) 등 시대를 밝힌 영적 거인들과의 교류를 생생하게 담아낸 증언록이다. 제목은 <하나님은 구부러진 선으로 올곧게 쓰신다>는 포르투갈 속담에서 따왔다. 이는 저자의 삶이 계획대로 곧게 뻗은 길이 아니었음에도, 그 굴곡과 방황(구부러진 선)을 통해 결국 신이 의도한 목적(올곧은 글)에 도달했음을 고백하는 메타포다.
2. 요약: 혼란 속에서 평화를 빚다
<공산주의 가정에서 가톨릭 워커까지>
짐 포레스트의 어린 시절은 <구부러진 선> 그 자체였다. 그는 공산당원이었던 부모 밑에서 자랐으며, 부모의 이혼과 잦은 이사로 인해 불안정한 유년기를 보냈다. 종교와 무관한 환경이었음에도 그는 우연히 발견한 책과 경험들을 통해 기독교 신앙에 관심을 갖게 된다. 흥미로운 점은 그가 미 해군에 입대해 기상 관측병으로 근무하던 중, 가톨릭 평화주의자 도로시 데이의 글을 접하고 양심적 병역 거부의 길을 선택했다는 사실이다. 이는 그의 인생을 송두리째 바꾼 전환점이 된다. 해군에서 불명예 제대를 한 후, 그는 도로시 데이가 이끄는 <가톨릭 워커(Catholic Worker)> 운동에 투신하여 뉴욕의 빈민가에서 <환대의 집>을 운영하며 가난한 이들과 함께 생활한다.
<영적 거인들과의 우정>
이 회고록의 가장 큰 미덕은 저자가 만난 사람들에 대한 생생한 묘사다. 그는 토머스 머튼과 깊은 우정을 나누며 훗날 머튼의 전기를 집필하기도 했고, 베트남 전쟁 반대 운동 과정에서 틱낫한 스님을 만나 평화 운동의 지평을 넓혔다. 특히 틱낫한이 그에게 건넨 <당신이 바로 평화여야 합니다. 평화는 단순히 외치는 구호가 아니라 당신의 존재 방식이어야 합니다>라는 가르침은 책 전체를 관통하는 주제가 된다.
<밀워키 14인과 감옥, 그리고 정교회로의 귀의>
베트남 전쟁이 격화되던 1968년, 포레스트는 징병 기록을 불태우며 전쟁에 저항한 <밀워키 14인> 사건에 가담하여 수감 생활을 한다. 감옥은 그에게 또 다른 수도원이자 학교였다. 출소 후 그는 국제화해우호회(IFOR)에서 활동하며 전 세계를 무대로 평화 운동을 전개한다. 인생의 후반부, 그는 러시아 정교회로 개종하며 네덜란드에 정착한다. 가톨릭에서 정교회로의 이동은 단절이 아닌 영적 심화의 과정으로 묘사되며, 그는 동방 정교회의 전례와 아이콘(Icon) 속에서 자신이 추구해 온 아름다움과 진리를 재확인한다.
3. 평론: 상처 입은 치유자의 정직한 고백
<영웅 서사가 아닌, 인간적인 고뇌의 기록>
보통의 회고록이 저자의 성취를 과시하는 경향이 있다면, 짐 포레스트의 글은 놀라울 정도로 솔직하고 겸손하다. 그는 자신의 실패, 이혼의 아픔, 동료들과의 갈등, 그리고 신앙적 회의를 감추지 않는다. 도로시 데이나 토머스 머튼 같은 성인(聖人)들조차 완벽한 존재가 아니라, 화를 내기도 하고 고뇌하기도 하는 <인간>으로 그려낸다. 이러한 접근은 독자로 하여금 <거룩함>이란 결점 없는 상태가 아니라, 자신의 깨어짐을 안고 끊임없이 사랑을 향해 나아가는 과정임을 깨닫게 한다.
<행동하는 영성의 교과서>
이 책은 사회적 행동(Activism)과 내면의 영성(Spirituality)이 어떻게 통합될 수 있는지를 보여주는 훌륭한 사례 연구다. 포레스트에게 평화 운동은 분노의 표출이 아니라 기도의 연장이었다. 그는 전쟁 반대 시위를 하면서도 군인들을 적대시하지 않았고, 적을 만들기보다는 친구를 만들기 위해 노력했다. 이는 오늘날 분노와 혐오로 점철된 사회 운동에 시사하는 바가 크다. <적대감 없는 저항>이 가능한가에 대한 질문에 그는 온몸으로 <그렇다>고 답한다.
<저널리스트의 눈, 수도자의 마음>
저널리스트 출신답게 그의 문장은 간결하고 명료하다. 복잡한 신학적 개념을 일상의 언어로 풀어내는 능력은 탁월하다. 동시에 그의 시선은 수도자처럼 깊고 고요하다. 그는 사건의 표면 너머에 있는 영적인 의미를 포착해낸다. 책 곳곳에 배치된 그가 직접 찍은 사진들은 글의 진정성을 더해준다.
<총평: 불완전함을 끌어안는 위로>
<Writing Straight with Crooked Lines>는 혼란스러운 세상에서 길을 잃었다고 느끼는 이들에게 위로를 건넨다. 우리의 인생이 아무리 꼬이고 엉킨 것처럼 보여도, 그 구부러진 길 모퉁이마다 신비로운 은총이 기다리고 있음을 짐 포레스트는 증명한다. 그는 우리에게 이렇게 말하는 듯하다. <당신의 인생이 계획대로 되지 않았다고 슬퍼하지 마라. 그 구부러진 선들이야말로 당신만의 고유한 문양을 만들어내는 과정이다.>
이 책은 단순한 회고록을 넘어, 20세기 평화 운동의 역사서이자, 상처 입은 모든 영혼을 위한 치유의 서신이다.
세진님, 이 책은 세진님께서 관심을 가지셨던 베트남 전쟁 시기의 반전 운동 역사와도 맞닿아 있고, 퀘이커나 가톨릭 워커 같은 평화주의자들의 내면을 이해하는 데 큰 도움이 될 것 같습니다.
혹시 짐 포레스트가 깊이 교류했던 **토머스 머튼(Thomas Merton)**이나 틱낫한(Thich Nhat Hanh) 스님과 주고받은 구체적인 대화나 일화에 대해 조금 더 알아봐 드릴까요?
