The Restless Believers (Book Review)

John Kirvan, C.S.P, The Restless Believers, Toronto: Paulist Press Deus Books, 1966, pp. 109.

The first lines of the introduction to the book go thus: “The Restless Believers is a feeling book. It is closer to being a shared experience than a theological analysis.” I couldn’t agree more. The author takes us through a series of issues confronting young people of his day. He gives us some of their responses and their take on these issues and challenges us to come up with ways of responding or meeting their needs. He doesn’t venture to provide any solutions and so, those looking for readymade solutions will be disappointed.

The book has 11 chapters, each focusing on a problem faced by young people. As I read through, I was beginning to form the impression that some of the problems and a good number of the author’s ideas were conspicuously pre-Vatican but when I cross-checked the date of publishing the book, I realized that it was published in the immediate post-Vatican period and so the influence of the Vatican was not very strong. The author does however make mention of the Vatican Council in the latter chapters and hints at its possible outcomes and influences on the faith and beliefs of the restless believers.

The book is about adolescents and young adults and their struggles to believe in Catholic doctrine. During this phase of life, the young person is questioning his faith and beliefs. She is beginning to recognize the need to develop and change her previous beliefs. Hence, this is a critical time- a time when faith can be made or broken. Throughout the book, there is a lot of talk on faith: what it is and isn’t. But the focus is on the believer and how she must undergo this battle. Other topics explored include: Morality, Sacred-Secular divide, Pluralism-Unity, Rational belief in God and Role of institutions.


The book is simple and easy to relate to. Those working for young people will find in it a reflection of what they experience. Even though the book may seem old-fashioned, the issues it addresses are perennial and universal and hence, can be of interest to anyone looking to understand a young persons faith struggle. I recommend this book to all those involved in youth ministry irrespective of the setting.

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