Where God Happens: Discovering Christ in One Another and Other Lessons from the Desert Fathers

Rowan Williams
New Seeds Books (2005)
ISBN 1590302311
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (8/06)

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, draws from the wisdom of “the Desert Monks” for their teaching from the monastic life to bring us this study on contemplation, community, and life with God. 

The Desert Father’s understanding of issues on community and living together in an intimate meaningful way are central in the lessons we can learn from these teachings.


Williams looks at fourth century Christian hermits living in the deserts of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine as role models for today’s culture.  Their teaching for dealing with the anxieties, uncertainties, and feelings of isolation are as relevant today as in their day.

In the foreward  Desmond M. Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus, states, “It is good to know that the desert mothers and fathers said we can all be contemplatives and that we can have our deserts in the crowded places where we live and work.”  

The wisdom of the desert tradition provides many insights into the inner workings of the spiritual life.  “If the motives of the desert mothers and fathers could be summed up in one aspiration, it would be to come to the state of continuous prayer…such prayer is not a matter of words or forms but an opening of consciousness to the life of the spirit flowing in the present moment of God, the making of our mind to be one with the mind of Christ.”

In the introduction to the book, Laurence Freeman, OSB, Director of The World Community for Christian Meditation, commented on what “pure” prayer should be, “That means that it is more centered in and characterized by the silence of the heart and less in the images and concepts of mental prayer or in external ritual.” 

I chose to read “Where God Happens” as my focus for a period of renewal and contemplation. As I imagined myself in a monk’s cell, in the African desert of the fourth century, I learned lessons on the habits of self awareness and the importance of working toward and ever greater honesty about self through a more constant exposure to God in Bible reading and prayer.  I was challenged to continue the process until I become what I was meant me to become.

While scholarly in approach this book is not a theological treatise but a call to humility and simplicity in living together in the twenty-first century community.

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