Content centered on the heart, sincere and genuine search!
I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, I have read it with much interest because of the strong bond I have had with my dogs throughout my life.
The book deals with the subject in a very interesting way, on the one hand looking for rational or scientific arguments, and on the other honoring the possibility of a spiritual connection between dogs and humans. The author weaves the dilemma in a very interesting and illuminating way, with his scientific, philosophical and theological research.
In my opinion the most interesting turning point is that the author shares the family pain of losing his dog and seeks a transcendent explanation since many humans are experiencing something special in the link with our dogs.
For centuries culture has favored the objective way of thinking and devalued our intuitive perception and emotional wisdom, but fortunately we are entering into a more holistic and integral paradigm. Emotions help us to give meaning to our experience of life, make reality come to life in our inner reality. I read somewhere: "The most self-aware people are deep feelers".
My gratitude to the Publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review the book

More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn’t have to say that you love me
‘Cause I’d already know
- Extreme “More Than Words”

In the summer of 2002, Andrew Root and his wife Kara were new residents of Princeton, New Jersey, leaving behind the hustle and bustle (and, oh, the freeways jammed with traffic) of life in Los Angeles. Root had recently “survived” his introduction to Princeton Seminary’s PhD program.

Both he and his wife had grown up with dogs, hunting dogs in particular. Kara’s childhood included a black Lab who hunted, while Dr. Root’s childhood dog was a Brittany Spaniel who attempted running away every chance she got. It was only a matter of time, they both knew, before they would get a dog.

Then one day they went out for milk from a farm they’d discovered that had fresh milk and amazing ice cream, and on their way home a sign that led them to stop and look, peering “inside at the naked pink belly of a sleeping little Lab who was panting like a fat man on a long run.” With milk and ice cream growing warmer by the minute in the car, when they were asked if they wanted to hold him, the obvious answer was replaced by a mouth that uttered the complete opposite of common sense, and fifteen minutes later, they were on their way home with an eight-pound puppy, bags of dog food, etc. etc.

All the other dogs in the Princeton theology circle were, of course, named after theologians. Calvin, Augustine, etc., so it only made sense that he names their dog Kirby, a name reminiscent of youthful summer days, baseball and Minnesota Twins’ centerfielder Kirby Puckett. A name associated with being a winner by most standards, and certainly by baseball standards. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Kirby’s favourite pastime was fetching balls. Or snowballs.

Two years later their first child, Owen was born, and as time passed, Kirby became aware that this little squiggly and squirmy thing that had arrived was a miniature sized human, those creatures capable of throwing his favourite tennis ball. And like that, he became Owen’s best friend, his playmate, snack-mate, his entertainment, his pillow for television watching, and the self-designated watcher of Owen. Another two and a half years later, Maisy, Owen’s new baby sister, comes home and Kirby's focus expands to include not just one, but two young charges.

As a practicing theologian, Root explores the question of dogs having souls, the spiritual significance of the everyday, the caring of and for each other, including one his life’s greatest joys, caring for and being cared for by a dog. In attempting to answer his son’s questions, he asks his own.

”Could our connection with a dog in some way endure even into eternity?”

One of the first things he discovered in his research was that Konrad Lorenz, a Nobel Prize winning zoologist, had been interested in the unique quality of dogs and their relationships with people.

”The whole charm of the dog,” he wrote, “lies in the depth of the friendship and the strength of the spiritual ties with which [the dog has] bound himself to man.”

And so his search began.

The research he uncovers in this quest is pretty convincing from a theological point of view, a human-canine connection point of view, from several points of view. I wouldn’t say that this book is heavy-handed in any specific religious viewpoint, but there how does one talk about the soul of a person or a dog without invoking a religious perspective? There are multiple religious viewpoints included, along with scientific research, his personal perspective on their interaction with their dog, and his personal recognition of what feels true to him.

This was alternately interesting, charming, educational, emotional. I found that it had me often pause and reflect on what I had just read. Despite the potential for this being a heavy read, it’s not. It has some of the essence of something closer to Bruce Cameron’s “A Dog’s Purpose” than “Marley and Me” which keeps it lighter, and beyond the research it includes many touching family moments, and insights adding a more personal touch.

To sum it up for me, Root included a favourite quote of mine about the eternal nature of our relationship with our dogs.

”If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
– Will Rogers

Amen.

And because it bears repeating, from a dog's perspective:

More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn’t have to say that you love me
‘Cause I’d already know

Recommended if you have a love of dogs, and / or an interest in the bond between humans and dogs.


Pub Date: 06 June 2017

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Crown Publishing / Convergent Books