Title: Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks
Author: Diana Butler Bass
Reviewed by: Teresa Kaldor, CENetwork of the ELCA
In one of her most recent books, Grateful, Diana Butler Bass challenges us to look at gratitude from a new perspective. An accomplished writer, religious scholar, and respected commentator on contemporary spirituality, Bass uses historical research, deeply personal anecdotes, and recent events in American politics to explore the complex nature of gratitude for both individuals and communities.
Bass starts with a personal confession of how she has struggled throughout her life with expressing gratitude. She is not alone. Surveys of Americans find that a majority of people feel gratitude on a regular basis and yet there seems to be little evidence of it in our current culture. The author continues by exploring the concept of gratitude, finding that it includes a wide range of emotions as well as actions taken in response to gifts received (what she calls the ethics of gratitude). In addition, gratitude is both personal and communal. For Bass, it is essential to have all these aspects of gratitude for the health of the individual and for the well-being of our society.