Exodus Men to Read Bishop Varden’s New Book

Bishop Erik Varden is a Catholic convert, Trappist monk and abbot, and now bishop in his home nation of Norway. He has become a leading voice for spiritual renewal in the Church worldwide. We’re reading his most recent book this summer, focusing on how chastity is much more than a prohibition, as it brings us to life and happiness. It’s a challenging, beautiful, and life-changing book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – From Animal Skins to a Robe of Glory

Bishop Varden deals beautifully with what it means, among other things, to have a body in light of the incarnation of our Lord. One of his central images is the way we can understand Adam being clothing in animal skins after his disobedience versus God clothing us in robes of glory. This is a work that needs to be read closely and carefully as the Bishop unfolds for us the meaning of chastity. – L. Eugene Startzman

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- Astonishing

With the lucidity of vision possessed only by those with a chaste interior life and a disposition of total contemplation, Varden sets out the incomparable beauty of integration found in chastity.

Here you will find no dry theological discourse, nor meandering speculation, but an unfolding vision of the full potential dormant in our humanity from the beginning of time, restored fully in Christ, articulated through a number of meditations on great works produced by human genius and divine inspiration across the epochs of our history.

If you long for the vision of the beautiful, to see it purely, to live forever before it, and to be wholly consumed by it, here is an introduction to the joy that awaits you. – LollardKnight1395

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Exquisite

Bishop Varden is an artist. My heart was touched by the synthesis of intertwining modalities revealing a Balthasarian cohesion of created matter. The tenderness and detachment of his writing creates a transmission of felt sense chastity only available in the Triune workings of the Holy Spirit. – Amazon Review

Chastity: The Integration of the Senses

Here is the book’s description, highlighting how we need to recover the positive elements of chastity:

The word ‘chastity,’ at first sight, may seem intimidating, something to be dismissed out of hand. It is, however, something very different to celibacy. At a time when religion is in decline in the Western world and when it often seems that the senses have run riot, Erik Varden shows that chastity, the single minded direction of the senses, is a loveable quality and one that affects and beautifies humankind. The terms sexuality and wholeness indicate that to be sexual is to exist in a state of incompleteness longing to be restored. Wholeness points to a healing embrace that we desire so greatly. In Biblical language, chastity is a function of simplicity of sight. We are no longer torn apart by our passions and our desires, indeed they may reach their fulfilment. Body and spirit, male and female, order and disorder, passion and death can move from creative tension to a new kind of wholeness. Varden’s text is enriched by a wide range of references to scripture, literature, music, painting and sculpture.

Meeting Schedule

We’ll be meeting to discuss the book on Wednesday evenings at 8pm Eastern Standard Time on Google Meet. Make sure to download the Exodus 90 app so you can get access to the Google link.

Here is our schedule:

June 12: Part 1, pages 9-28
June 19: Part 2, pages 29-49
June 26: Part 3, pages 51-83
July 3: Part 3 continued, pages 84-127
July 10: Parts 4 and 5, pages 129-67

You can buy a copy of the book through the publisher or on Amazon.