Review of A Joyfully Serious Man by Matteo Bortolini

November 29, 2021

A Joyful and Serious Experience

“In reading this riveting book, I felt we were back together, and I was grateful.” These were the words of Harvey Cox as stated on the book jacket (and above as one of the “editorial reviews”) of Bartolini’s biography. I had the same experience in reading this remarkable story of Robert Bellah, through the lens of Bortolini. It is a very personal book. It is personal in that Bellah, “the man,” is revealed to us in the depth of his achievements and his life struggles. It is personal in that we get a sense of Bortolini’s sensitive engagement with Bellah in his decade of writing the book, Bellah was a teacher, friend, and the object of a critical perspective. It is personal in that the reader will find themselves in the life and world of Bellah, a mirror by which to understand and be challenged. In this sense Bortolini matched the role Bellah’s magnum opus, Religion in Human Evolution has played for many a reader. A friend and former editor at University of Chicago Press said as related by Bortolini, “Freedom is the achievement of your inquiry…and, as the reader realizes the potential in himself that your narrative adumbrates…, freedom is achieved by the reader.” This assessment of Bellah’s work is also the achievement of Bortolini’s achievement as we read the life and work of A Joyfully Serious Man. The reading of this biography will make the reader grateful, even if you never personally knew Robert N. Bellah. No “spoiler alerts” here. Read, enjoy and be grateful for Bellah and Bortolini. Particularly be grateful for the treatment of Bellah’s lifelong commitment to understanding the modern world and our religious nature.

Harlan Stelmach,

Emeritus Professor, Humanities

Dominican University of California