The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen
Week 6: Review & Reflection — The Whole Journey
No new reading this week. Return to any passages that marked you deeply. Re-read Luke 15:11–32 one final time.
Previewing Week 6 of The Return of the Prodigal Son
Read 3 of 8 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 6-week guide when you’re ready.
This final week is a chance to step back from the painting, as Nouwen did in the Hermitage, and take in the whole — to ask what the journey through this book has revealed, changed, or challenged in you.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Looking back across the whole book, which of the three figures — the younger son, the elder son, or the father — did you find yourself most resisting? What does that resistance tell you about yourself?
2.Nouwen's book is as much memoir as theology — it is a confession as much as an argument. Has reading a theologian's honest account of his own lostness changed how you think about spiritual leadership, spiritual writing, or the relationship between personal struggle and public faith?
3.What is the single idea or image from the book that has stayed with you most persistently? It might be Rembrandt's hands, the concept of the "far country," the elder son standing in the dark, or the call to become the father. Why do you think that particular thing lodged itself in you?