What Adam Taught the Professor

In 1986, Henri Nouwen walked away from a tenured position at Harvard Divinity School. He was one of the most sought-after spiritual writers in the world, filling lecture halls from Boston to Amsterdam. Yet privately, he was hollowed out by a relentless hunger for approval. Every book, every standing ovation, every glowing review left him emptier than before. He moved to L'Arche Daybreak, a small community near Toronto where people with severe intellectual disabilities lived alongside their caregivers.…