Jean Vanier Wins $1.7M Templeton Prize
With a strong Canadian connection, you probably caught the news on Thursday of Jean Vanier being awarded a $1.7M Templeton Prize.
Jean Vanier, a Canadian who launched an international network of communities for mentally disabled people, has won the 2015 Templeton Prize worth $1.7 million for affirming life’s spiritual dimension.
The U.S.-based John Templeton Foundation announced the award on Wednesday in London, calling him “this extraordinary man” whose message of compassion for society’s weakest members “has the potential to change the world for the better”.
read more at CBC news.
While Vanier has 22 book titles listed at Ingram — his top 3 titles are all from 2014, followed by From Brokenness to Community and the 10th anniversary edition of Becoming Human — the thought occurred to me as I watched the news story was that this also, albeit indirectly, shines the spotlight on Henri Nouwen, who has 167 products listed at Ingram, bestsellers being Return of the Prodigal Son, In the Name of Jesus (a leadership book) and Life of the Beloved.
While customers may want to know more about Vanier, both authors have titles which look at the issue of how society regards the developmentally challenged.
Incidentally, before her life turned in a different direction, Corrie Ten Boom worked with the developmentally handicapped in her native Holland. She wrote about it the small book, Common Sense Not Needed: Bringing the Gospel to the Mentally Handicapped available from CLC for only $4.99 US. Her book is one of very few (besides Nouwen and Vanier) that deal with this particular topic.
Vanier is also featured in the Vision Video documentary The Heart Has Its Reasons.
