Erik Varden – författare

Den som i vår tid talar om kyskhet riskerar lätt att framstå som pinsam. Begreppet leder tanken till undertryckt sexualitet och en uppförandekod som tillhör en svunnen tid. Trappistmunken Erik Varden vill i denna bok formulera en förståelse av kyskhet grundad på det klassiska arvet från antikens filosofer och den tidiga kristna klostertraditionen. Här möter vi en syn på kyskhet som inte hemfaller åt förenklingar, utan tar människan på allvar i all hennes komplexitet och på samma gång rymmer den längtan efter ett integrerat och försonat liv som hennes natur är ämnad för. I en bok som är rik på referenser till Bibeln, litteraturen, musiken och konsten visar författaren hur sambandet mellan att se och att älska – en kontemplativ livshållning – är essensen i ett kristet kyskhetsideal. Homo Castus är en teologisk essä som tillsammans med Erik Vardens tidigare bok "Allt som är värt att minnas" bildar en diptyk där den monastiska spiritualiteten upprättar en dialog med vårt sökande efter en fördjupad förståelse av vad det är att vara människa.

Ur internationell press: En bok som på ett intelligent sätt förnyar den andliga litteraturens språk och själva genre. La Croix Väcker djupa och oväntade insikter … Som minnet av en meningsfull konversation långt efter att du glömt vad som blev sagt. Den är oförglömlig. Catholic World Report En utomordentligt betydelsefull bok, som med profetisk klarhet ser söndringen, bräckligheten och storheten i det mänskliga. Times Literary Supplement Djupt personlig men aldrig självupptagen, på samma gång fängslande och utmanande, upplyftande och övertygande. Rikedomen i denna enastående bok är omöjlig att uttrycka med några få ord. Ingen läsare kommer att förbli oförändrad. The Tablet Ur svensk press: Erik Varden beskriver trons skönhet på ett sätt som gör att jag tänker: Varför vill inte alla ha det här? Författaren vågar både vara personlig och ta sig an de svåra frågorna, och trots bokens nätta omfång lyckas han gå på djupet. Malina Abrahamsson, Dagen Erik Varden har den ganska sällsynta förmågan att kunna förmedla stor lärdom och djupa andliga insikter på ett enkelt sätt, utan att det blir förenklat. Han är också klok nog att inte tappa bort sig i alltför abstrakta resonemang, utan hela tiden exemplifiera med konkreta historier. John Sjögren, tidskriften Pilgrim Så insiktsfullt! Så inbjudande! Så banbrytande i vår sekulära situation! … Läsningen av Vardens bok gav mig en liknande erfarenhet som när jag som teologistudent läste Thomas Mertons klassiker ”Vägen till kontemplation”. Sune Fahlgren, Sändaren

A book about the insight, comfort, and direction our troubled age can find in monastic wisdom.Erik Varden published The Shattering of Loneliness in 2018. Now, with the world in the throes of uncertainty and turbulence, he helps us interpret the signs of the times, convinced that the perennial experience of monks and nuns has much to teach us.The principles of monasticism have become attractive to many, awakened as we are to the importance of integrity, the pursuit of peace, asceticism as a path to freedom, hospitality and contemplative seeing.After a deeply personal introduction, Varden invites us to consider what makes a monk. He then takes us on a pilgrimage through the Church’s year, drawing on Scripture, tradition and literary and religious figures of our time.Varden lets the reader discover the generous breadth and depth of a monk’s outlook on life. In so doing he provides inspiration, enjoyment and enlightenment in equal measure.

The experience of loneliness is as universal as hunger or thirst. Because it affects us more intimately, we are less inclined to speak of it. But who has not known its gnawing ache?The fear of loneliness causes anguish. It prompts reckless deeds. To this, every age has borne witness. No voice is more insidious than the one that whispers in our ear: ‘You are irredeemably alone, no light will pierce your darkness.’ The fundamental statement of Christianity is to convict that voice of lying. The Christian condition unfolds within the certainty that ultimate reality, the source of all that is, is a personal reality of communion, no metaphysical abstraction. Men and women, made ‘in the image and likeness’ of God, bear the mark of that original communion stamped on their being. When our souls and bodies cry out for Another, it is not a sign of sickness, but of health.A labour of potential joy is announced. We are reminded of what we have it in us to become. That our labour may be fruitful, Scripture repeatedly exhorts us to ‘remember’. The remembrance enjoined is partly introspective and existential, partly historical, for the God who took flesh to redeem our loneliness leaves traces in history.This book examines six facets of Christian remembrance, complementing biblical exegesis with readings from literature, ancient and modern. It aims to be an essay in theology. At the same time, it proposes a grounded reflection on what it means to be a human being.

Are we healed through our wounds or are our wounds themselves healed from some other source?In Healing Wounds, Erik Varden examines the New Testament where it spells out why Christ’s wounds were efficacious for the healing of humankind. He contends that while this theological perspective is fundamental, it often falls short of addressing the emotional and spiritual needs of believers.Bob Dylan once said, tongue in cheek, ‘Pain sure does bring out the best in people.’ The philosopher Donald MacKinnon said, ‘Suffering never ennobled anyone.’ Suffering by nature poses questions people wrestle with today in many fields of life with counsellors, therapists, philosophers, and spiritual directors. But the conundrum remains and in this book Varden sets out to resolve it.Structured to guide readers through a journey of reflection, beginning with the raw reality of suffering and moving toward the possibility of redemption and renewal. Varden employs a contemplative tone, inviting readers to sit with their own experiences of pain and consider how these might be transformed through faith and introspection.

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.

"The richness of [these] reflections will continue for a long time to be for us a source of blessing, of grace, of encounter with Jesus Christ." Pope Leo XIVAlight with Hidden Glory brings together the reflections preached by Bishop Erik Varden to Pope Leo XIV and the Roman Curia at the 2026 Lent retreat.Informed by Scripture and the liturgy, illumined by the insights of Bernard of Clairvaux, a man who helped shape medieval Europe, the book addresses questions of timeless relevance: What is the meaning of freedom? How can we speak well about truth? How do we respond when high ideals are compromised by human betrayal? Erik Varden reveals Lent not as deprivation but as a clarifying pilgrimage toward Christ’s ‘hidden glory’. This contemplative yet urgent work invites readers to walk the exodus path with renewed courage, vigilance, and hope.

"The richness of [these] reflections will continue for a long time to be for us a source of blessing, of grace, of encounter with Jesus Christ." Pope Leo XIVAlight with Hidden Glory brings together the reflections preached by Bishop Erik Varden to Pope Leo XIV and the Roman Curia at the 2026 Lent retreat.Informed by Scripture and the liturgy, illumined by the insights of Bernard of Clairvaux, a man who helped shape medieval Europe, the book addresses questions of timeless relevance: What is the meaning of freedom? How can we speak well about truth? How do we respond when high ideals are compromised by human betrayal? Erik Varden reveals Lent not as deprivation but as a clarifying pilgrimage toward Christ’s ‘hidden glory’. This contemplative yet urgent work invites readers to walk the exodus path with renewed courage, vigilance, and hope.