Teresa of Calcutta: Dark Night, Active Love (People of God)

Most human beings living in the last quarter of the twentieth century knew Mother Teresa by name and appearance. Most people on the planet could identify her as the saint of the gutters of Calcutta. She was regularly named as one of the most recognized and influential people in the world. International polls ranked her beside Billy Graham as one of the most popular religious figures. Good Housekeeping magazine, in 1980, had her atop their list of the world’s “most admired women,” an honor captured the previous year by the singer, antigay rights activist, and Evangelical Christian Anita Bryant. Two years after her death, she topped a CNN/USA Today Gallup Poll as “the most admired person of the century” ahead of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., President John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, and Helen Keller.So, what really is there still to say about her? Quite a bit, as it turns out. The stories of both her public and private lives remain little known. We also continue to grapple with the extraordinary things she did, as well as the way that she interpreted the vocation of any would-be follower of Jesus.“Sweeney contributes something which has been sorely missing from the discourse surrounding Mother Teresa in recent years—nuance and context. It is refreshing to finally read an account of Mother Teresa’s full humanity—her complexity and her sainthood. Sweeney captures the life and spirituality of one of the most influential religious voices of the twentieth century, refusing to reduce reflections on her inner life to clichés and platitudes.”—Emilie Grosvenor, PhD Candidate, Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics, St. Mary’s College, University of St. Andrews "Most people living in the last quarter of the twentieth century knew Mother Teresa by name and appearance. They could also identify her as the saint of the gutters of Calcutta. Two years after her death, she was still recognized as 'the most admired person of the century.' So, what is there still to say about her? Quite a bit, as it turns out. The story of both her public and private lives remains little known, and we continue to grapple with the extraordinary things she did, as well as the way that she interpreted the vocation of any would-be follower of Jesus. This biography shows Mother Teresa as the first great saint of television. We came to know her on the screen, and, as such, we felt we knew her in a way that we could not have known the saints before her. Presented in three parts, this biography looks at the preparation, the call, and the legacy of the extraordinary woman whom Pope Francis named Saint Teresa of Calcutta in 2016" -- Page 4 of cover