Mennonite Weekly Review

On my desk is The Dark Night: A Gift of God by Daniel P. Schrock, published by Herald Press, 2009, 216 pages, $16.99.

Funk Wiebe

Although Daniel P. Schrock takes his inspiration for this writing about the “dark night of the soul” from the Spanish poet John of the Cross, he moves beyond this original treatment. As a longtime pastor and spiritual director, his concern is to bring people out of their dark night, whatever area of their lives it may confound.

He defines dark night as a feeling of God-forsakenness and spiritual emptiness, coupled with an inability to pray yet having a strong desire to be close to God. For whatever reason, the God-connection has been lost.

Schrock establishes a theological construct to deal with this dilemma. He sets up a continuum, placing meditation on one end and contemplation on the other. Some people see the two practices as interchangeable, but Schrock distinguishes between them.

In Schrock’s thinking, meditation is what happens when we focus on words — analytical Bible study, word studies about God, vocal prayer, preaching — or anything related to gaining knowledge of God through words. Worship services often encourage meditation, or thinking about God, without connecting with God viscerally, or deeply.

For Schrock, contemplation means focusing on God without the emphasis on words. He recommends using a different approach to reading the Bible (lectio divina, or contemplating the word rather than analyzing it), centering prayer, walking a labyrinth, focusing on worship objects or on God’s creation in nature. He also suggests using icons during personal devotions to encourage the inward gaze of the soul.

While he champions contemplation as a means of leaving behind the dark night experience, he does not see it as an end in itself. Coming out of the dark night through contemplation can change the way we think about God. It helps us trust God at a deeper level and encourages us to become missional in our approach to life.

Schrock states that the dark night can be part of individual or group experience. A congregation can go through a dark night corporately. While not every form of suffering is a dark night, every dark night involves some form of suffering. The experience of suffering can lead to absolute trust, so that the believer can better handle mystery, paradox and further trials. The dark night should not be equated with depression, although there may be some overlap.

He identifies biblical characters who have gone through the dark night. These include Jesus on the cross, and the Old Testament characters Naomi, Elijah and Jeremiah. The Israelites as a people went through a dark night when they left Egypt, as did the Jews in Babylonian exile. Modern spiritual leaders like Mother Teresa journaled about her lengthy dark night.

Schrock’s language is directed more to seasoned Christians. The lay person struggling with dark nights will find much help here. Some readers will differ with him on baptism as “the entry point into the Christian life.” For them it began earlier in a non-ritual experience.

Schrock has been pastor at Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship in Goshen, Ind., since 2003 and is director of Dan Schrock Spiritual Direction. He holds a doctor of ministry degree in Christian spirituality from Columbia Theological Seminary.

Katie Funk Wiebe, of Wichita, Kan., is a Mennonite Brethren writer who taught at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan.