The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society

By accepting that we are human and addressing our human weaknesses, we can then turn them into helpful resources to extend the gift of emotional healing to others. Because, in order to reach people, we need a point of connection. We can all relate to experiences of emotional woundedness, and within appropriate relational boundaries, they can become instruments of healing.

Nouwen shares several stories, and conversations that he had with persons going through various experiences of emotional woundedness. One of the most poignant of these was a visit he made to a man who was about to go in for surgery to have a leg amputated. By offering himself as a compassionate listener, he was able to help the man find peace in the midst of a devastating loss.

A point of clarification that Nouwen makes well is that becoming a wounded healer does not mean that we dump all of our problems on people, or seek to wear them like badges. Instead, by being aware of our woundedness, and facing it, we can become more sensitized to the needs of the people around us- after all we are all subject to human imperfection.

If you are ready to find hope and a renewed perspective on helping others- read this book! I would highly recommend "The Wounded Healer" to all persons in caring professions, as well as anyone who just want to find peace in the midst of human challenges.


A necessary commentary on the life of a healer   June 29, 1999
39 out of 41 found this review helpful

Nouwen, in this classic work, explains how in one's weakness, one can still participate in the healing of others. A major theme of most of his books, Nouwen stresses that only in one's brokenness before God and humankind can people really transform community. Admittedly, the philosophy of the wounded healer offered at the beginning and end of the book gets a little thick, but both portions offer excellent insights that make it a great read. The great benefit of the book is the clear examples offered in the middle of the text. Examples of people dealing with terminal patients and the like really clarifie the condition that Nouwen addresses. A must-read for people in the helping professions and anyone else looking to impact people!


The Wounded Healer   February 27, 2000
Teri Lynn Schons (Wayata, MN)
27 out of 29 found this review helpful

Henri Nouwen has been blessed with true vision of the human condition. Mr. Nouwen has also been gifted with the answers to solve the condition of "Nuclear Man" and isolation. Anyone who is a minister or healer of any kind should read this book. It is a "must read". I appreciated Mr. Nouwen's synopsis' at the end of each chapter. This truly helped me to "drive the point home". I thank Mr. Nouwen for writing this book. I am presently reading his "Return of the Prodigal Son" book. Another "must read" book if one is interested in reaching the center of man.

Gratefully, Teri Lynn Schons


This was a revelation ...   July 7, 2005
Thinker (West Coast)
14 out of 17 found this review helpful

This is the first time I ventured outside the evangelical / protestant circles, and I was amazed at the simplicity with which this author was able to present some pretty deep material.

The part that spoke to me the most was 'if we can live our lives as authentically as Jesus lived his, then there are many ways to live like Christ'. This was a revelation, I no longer have to stand a street corners, etc. to live like Christ.

The good author is gone now, but his many books are available for us all. A very good alternative the usual a,b,c ... 1,2,3 stuff I was used to.


A welcomed guide through the wild   November 25, 2002
Peter H. Day (Bloomington, Indiana)
14 out of 18 found this review helpful

Nouwen offers a deep challenge to those who would minister the Love of Christ in this world. Using his characteristically insightful prose Nouwen articulates the post-modern dilema (he calls post-modernity the dilema of "nuclear man"). From there he proceeds to challenge traditional models of ministry, preaching and healing. Nouwen, I would argue through his own expierence, teaches those who would minister to lead others towards the healing love of Christ. He creatively suggests that ministers should change hats, leading people to freedom by articulating empathetically their own woundedness. In essence he is both challenging and inviting the Church to be a fellow wounded traveler in and through the darkness of our wounded world. It is a brilliant work that rewards re-reading.