And Tell Us What You See

And Tell Us What You See is a remarkable collection of articles he published during his retirement years over a ten year period in the 1990s with the Amsterdam, NY newspaper, The Recorder. As evidence of his willingness to explore complexity on the printed page, his articles are relevant to our day in that they take on the very issues that once were and continue to be the hallmark of the United States Episcopal Church and much of American culture, in general.

Fully human yet fully the Christian priest, Robert Haven here reveals remarkable ranges of passion regarding his loves, angers, faiths and doubts. As preacher and public speaker, par excellence, he was never one to shy away from controversy and so here, too, some of his work is political and some is religiously poetic. It is also occasionally contradictory from one page to the next. The fact is, he never claimed to have it all worked out theologically and when pressed in person on specific issues, he could wax eloquent, but could also just as easily be dismissive and silently keep his own counsel. But in these newspaper articles contained herein, there is no taking the "fifth amendment" as he opens up to us and explains his sometimes complex views. I think he ultimately felt, especially given his many years in church ministry, that he'd earned to right to speak as pastor to anyone who comes to him. He turns no one away. In this book, Father Haven engages our minds and allegiances as he attempts to provide some answers if not at least one meaning to his lifetime hero, Christ Jesus, his Lord.