Beyond the Ordinary: The Spiritual Journey of a Missionary. ISBN: 9966-08-127-5; Nairobi: PaulinesAfrica, 2006.
This book is a moving example of a popular autobiographical literary genre: the personal spiritual journey. It is also an example of African narrative theology. The author describes Beyond the Ordinary as “reminiscences of my spiritual journey” inEast Africaover a period of 12 years (1992 to 2004). He says: “The collection [of reflections and stories] simply commemorates the spiritual lessons that I have learnt as an expatriate missionary in East Africa.”
Sahaya G. Selvam describes African Safari as “reminiscences of my spiritual journey” inEast Africa over a period of 12 years (1992 to 2004). He says: “The collection [of reflections and stories] simply commemorates the spiritual lessons that I have learnt as an expatriate missionary inEast Africa.” They include a wide variety of narrative genre: personal experiences, vignettes, spontaneous prayers, entries in a spiritual diary, personal testimonies, pointed observations, and random thoughts.
(From Foreword by Fr. Joseph Healey, M.M.)
If this book were to go for another edition I would change the subtitle to: A spirituality of daily life. That is what it is! The book was greatly influenced by the style of Prayers of Life by Michel Quoist, and You Surprised Me by Joe Mannath. For sure, it is an outcome of living the Salesian spirituality in the African context.
The book has been translated into German, and we are still looking for a publisher.
Anyone interested in translating the book in any other language is welcome to contact me.
Copies of this book are still available from Paulines, Africa. Practically any Catholic Bookshop in Africa owned by the Daughters of St Paul would be able to provide you a copy.