Pages

Romantic Adventure

Sunday, 24 June 2018

Naked As A Jailbird Review

By Jennifer Graham


Priests are viewed as the representation of what God wants of man towards the poor and less privileged in the society. Richard Shaw in Naked as a Jailbird gives an account of his life as a priest and the lessons it has taught him. He narrates his experiences and expectations of the church and its leaders regarding the treatment of the poor.

The message is clearly captured in the title. This title is an imagery of what happens in jail. Immediately one gets to prison, his clothes are taken away, leaving him naked. He has no title and his dignity is also gone. He does not enjoy even mere privacy. This is the nakedness referred to in the title. It refers to lack or the emptiness that comes with imprisonment.

The book focuses on the lives of people behind bars. Though they are human, there is nothing in them that can cover them. This is why they are regarded as naked. The experiences described are drawn from his time and responsibilities as a prison chaplain. Though he was ordained as an adult, he has a lot of growing up to do based on the experiences he encounters in prison.

The handling of wealth is a concern for Shaw as entered in his book. Richard Shaw contends that churches and persons within the institution should focus less on accumulating wealth and more on getting it to the hands of the needy. In his words, churches and church men should not hold more than 85cents in their accounts. By doing so, they will be stopping the resources from getting to the people who need it the most.

Priests and the church are supposed to take the vow of poverty. The minute they begin to amass wealth, they cease to resonate with the ordinary man who requires their attention. They will also lose focus on God and his requirements for his people. This book humanizes the priest to make him easy to relate with. He is seen as the link between those deprived of life and their salvation.

People rarely think about prisoners unless they have friends or relatives who have been incarcerated. Shaw presents the best narration of the experiences these people go through. In the presentation, you understand the setting and life behind bars. This makes it easier to understand what goes on behind bars. You will stop viewing those incarcerated as criminals but as people with feelings and human desires.

Jails are not made of prisoners alone. There are people working in the environment and tasked with keeping it as strict and almost in human as most people know it. Shaw gives an account of the lives and thoughts of these prison warders and the officers who come into contact with them. Read the book to know the impact this system has on their lives.

The book narrates about the intersection between prison and religious life. It is difficult to put the book down once you begin to read it. It is a demonstration of the passion with which Shaw has held his priestly vocation and how he is using it to transform the life of people he comes into contact with. The author calls on readers to recognize the contributions of different people in alleviating the lives of down trodden persons in the society.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment