The Geography of God's Mercy: Stories of Compassion and Forgiveness
By Patrick Hannon, CSC. ACTA Publications (Skokie, Ill., 2007). 159 pp., $17.95.

Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy
By Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt and David L. Weaver-Zercher. John Wiley & Sons (Hoboken, N.J., 2007). 230 pp., $24.95.

For me, the benchmark of a good book on a tough Christian issue is universality. That is, I expect such a book will evoke examples outside the book's scope. "The Geography of God's Mercy" and "Amish Grace" both do so, in different ways.

The authors --- Holy Cross Father Patrick Hannon, for the former book, and Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt and David L. Weaver-Zercher, for the latter --- also share the extraordinary ability to make events come vividly alive.

Through brief stories from the author's own life, first as a child growing up in a large family and then as a priest, "The Geography of God's Mercy" illustrates mercy shown through human actions.

Father Hannon demonstrates superb skill in paying attention to the moment, and uses both rich sensory detail and a conversational style in his writing. The book often reminded me of a favorite piece of advice to blossoming writers, from an episode of "The Waltons": "Write the little stories. ... Maybe the sum total ... is the big one."

The "Waltons" reference is also pertinent here, touching both on the book's strengths and weaknesses. The book is, in a sense, very Waltonsesque. Apart from the obvious large family parallel --- to which I related well, having grown up with 12 aunts and uncles, but with which many of today's readers may lack a common experience --- virtually all illustrations are of day-to-day matters within the fabric of a need for mercy or forgiveness. "Little stories."

For a book published in 2007, the absence of substantive mercy needs seems peculiar. Such transgressions as terrorist attacks, serial rape, serial murder, workplace or school shootings, and similar catastrophic events are notably absent. Domestic violence is touched on through a story involving Father Hannon's sister's work as an attorney, but somewhat peripherally. I came, ultimately, to regard the book in terms of "forgiveness lite."

The geography theme is also sometimes strained: For example, the story of a young boy in a bowling alley left me wondering what the ocean connection really was.

Father Hannon does, however, capture commonplace experiences such as revisiting old childhood haunts and there finding grace, and resulting mercies, through family memories.

"Amish Grace," in contrast, shows no hesitation to tackle hard questions. The authors, who had all written on Amish culture previously, set out to present to the mainstream an explanation of Amish reaction to the Nickel Mines school shooting. In so doing, they present intriguing questions, including:

--- Is forgiveness with such immediacy genuine/authentic?

--- Does anyone have the right to dispense forgiveness on behalf of another who cannot do so for himself or herself, such as a murder victim?

--- Does too-ready forgiveness possibly unleash serial predators into society to harm others?

--- Is not the grief process, over time, also a God-given mechanism, rightfully influencing forgiveness to occur gradually rather than with immediacy?

--- Where, if anywhere, does individual accountability fit into forgiveness models?

--- Should grief/healing and forgiveness be seen as separate, if related, processes that quite rightfully can proceed at different paces?

--- Do the Amish understand forgiveness differently from other Christians; or do they just more effectively practice what others preach but do not practice?

--- Are the Amish hypocritical in forgiving outsiders while practicing shunning in their own community?

The authors speculate on base-line answers; but avoid hard and fast conclusions. Instead they offer readers an opportunity to reflect and arrive at individual conclusions.

This book evoked reflections on such isolated (versus community-based) forgiveness events lived out by the families of Jeffrey Curley, a Boston-area murder victim; Todd Beamer and John Oganowski, victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; and both the personal- and family-forgiveness witness demonstrated by Kai Leigh Harriott, who was crippled by a stray gunshot, and her family. "Amish Grace" suggests the Amish would be quick to support such forgiveness witnesses elsewhere than in their own communities.

---CNS Christine Lebednik, a professional writer/editor since 1984, attends St. Agnes Church in Reading, Mass.