September 10 Lamott, Annie: Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith (288 pgs)
Amazon.com For most writers, the greatest challenge of spiritual writing is to keep it grounded in concrete language. The temptation is to wander off into the clouds of ethereal epiphanies, only to lose readers with woo-woo thinking and sacred-laced clichés. Thankfully, Anne Lamott (Operating Instructions, Crooked Little Heart) knows better. In this collection of essays, Lamott offers her trademark wit and irreverence in describing her reluctant journey into faith. Every epiphany is framed in plainspoken (and, yes, occasionally crassly spoken) real-life, honest-to-God experiences. For example, after having an abortion, Lamott felt the presence of Christ sitting in her bedroom:
This experience spooked me badly, but I thought it was just an apparition born of fear and self-loathing and booze and loss of blood. But then everywhere I went I had the feeling that a little cat was following me, wanting me to reach down and pick it up, wanting me to open the door and let it in. But I knew what would happen: you let a cat in one time, give it a little milk and then it stays forever. Whether she's writing about airplane turbulence, bulimia, her "feta cheese thighs," or consulting God over how to parent her son, Lamott keeps her spirituality firmly planted in solid scenes and believable metaphors. As a result, this is a richly satisfying armchair-travel experience, highlighting the tender mercies of Lamott's life that nudged her into Christian faith. --Gail Hudson
October 8 Townsend, Kathleen Kennedy: Failing America’s Faithful: How Today’s Churches are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way (224 pgs)
Two-term Maryland lieutenant governor Townsend makes a valid point: in America, faith is no longer about community. She longs for the Catholic Church of her youth, that "dealt with issues at the core of the Gospel—suffering, injustice, sickness, and poverty" rather than a Christianity influenced by a crop of preachers who seem to believe that "Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry and cared for the poor just so we don't have to." Addressing a broad range of issues including women, the religious right (and left), the GOP and her own political party, the Democrats, Townsend hopes to appeal to a wide audience, not just a Christian one. Personal anecdotes, including the text of a note from her father, Robert Kennedy, written to her on the morning of her uncle John F. Kennedy's funeral, make this a very personal discussion of faith, religious history and politics. Unfortunately, this doesn't always translate into a cohesive discussion, and the workmanlike style coupled with a doe-eyed earnestness leave the reader wanting. Townsend's call for the disillusioned to stay in church, meet with the priest or minister and help the community comes off more as a catechism than a battle cry. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
November 12 Ferrol Sams, Run with the Horseman (432 pages)
Ferrol Sams presents stories of a bright, sensitive lad growing up on farm in Georgia during the Depression. The stories are rich with Southern culture.
December 10 McKinnon, Mag, The Spiritual Path of Contemplative Love leads to Social Action: Teresa of Avila and Interior Castle and Therese of Lisieux and Story of a Soul (Mag will provide a copy of the manuscript)
January 14 Sanford, John: Dreams: God’s Forgotten Language (208 pgs)
First published twenty years ago, this revised edition of John Sanford's classic exploration of the psychological and spiritual significance of dreams draws on the work of C.G. Jung to show how dreams can help us find healing and wholeness and reconnect us to a living spiritual world.
Featuring a new preface by the author and using case histories from his own experience as a counselor, Dreams traces the role of dreams in the Bible, analyzing their nature and examining how Christians, through fear and the constraints of dogma, have come to reject the visions through which God speaks to humanity, making dreams -- in Sanford's words -- "God's forgotten language."
February 11 Hirschfeld, Brad: You Don’t Have to be Wrong to be Right: Finding Faith without Fanaticism (288 pgs)
From Publishers Weekly In this compelling and engaging volume, Hirschfield urges people of all faiths to accept their differences while seeking commonality and reaching out to one another with love and forgiveness. As an Orthodox rabbi, Hirschfield bases his faith on Jewish tradition, yet he draws on his unusually varied upbringing in a secular home to implement his own strategies and theories for living a fulfilling life, and is not afraid to reference Jesus or Muhammad as great teachers. In his teens, Hirschfield joined a small group of fanatical Jewish settlers defending Hebron, but renounced that way of life after witnessing a scene of inexplicable and unrepentant violence. Now he posits that there is room for more than one religious or moral viewpoint to be correct. Hirschfield integrates this thesis with many personal anecdotes to keep the text alive and interesting. He shares his memories of participating in the groundbreaking ceremony for a synagogue rebuilt near Auschwitz, and he remembers taking part in a meeting of the Islamic Society of North America. At times, the text feels a bit longwinded, but Hirschfield's admirable objective of expanding ourselves to let others in comes across nicely and should attract a wide interfaith audience. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
March 11 Thurmond, Howard: Jesus and the Disinherited (112 pgs)
In this classic theological treatise, the acclaimed theologian and religious leader Howard Thurman (1900-1981) demonstrates how the Gospel may be read as a manual of resistance for the poor and disenfranchised.
About the Author Howard Thurman (1900-1981) was the first black dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University and cofounder of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, California, the first inter-racially copastored church in America
May 13 O’Donohue, John: Beauty the Invisible Embrace (272 pgs)
The author of the bestselling Anam Cara hits a lyrical mark again with this book that boldly takes up an eternal verity and ideal—beauty. O'Donohue's premise is urgent and sweeping: "Politics, religion, and economics and the institutions of family and community all have become abruptly unsure. At first, it sounds completely naive to suggest that now might be the time to awaken and invoke beauty. Yet this is exactly the claim that this book explores." And so the author, who has a background in philosophy and has written about Hegel, seeks "intimations" and manifestations of beauty, finding it in music, color and movement, as well as some less likely locations—imperfection and death. Beauty is sensuous and present, but it is also always pointing to the transcendent. Its trail leads to the recognition of God, with O'Donohue quoting the novelist Dostoyevski—"Perhaps it is beauty that will save us in the end"—as well as medieval Christian mystic Meister Eckhart, whose thought he weaves through the book. O'Donohue writes like the poet he is ("Memory is the place where our vanished days secretly gather"), and he generously quotes from other poets across cultures and times. He also liberally draws into his circle of imagination the great philosophers of beauty, from Plato and Aquinas to contemporary German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. The resulting book is a lively and informed discussion among great minds—a digest of provocative views on an inexhaustible and compelling topic. This refreshing book falls like rain on the parched plain of contemporary discourse. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
About the Author John O'Donohue was awarded a Ph.D. in philosophical theology from the University of Tübingen in 1990. He is the author of several works, including a book on the philosophy of Hegel, Person als Vermittlung; two collections of poetry, Echoes of Memory and Conamara Blues; and two international bestsellers, Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes. He lectures and holds workshops in Europe and America, and is currently researching a book on the philosophical mysticism of Meister Eckhart. He lives in Ireland.
June 10 Yankoski, Mike: Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America (224 pgs)
Yankoski's parents were right: It was crazy to live as a homeless person in six American cities for five months; fortunately, this crazy idea makes for quite a story. Yankoski, a Christian college student, challenges the reader to learn about faith, identify with the poor and find "more forgotten, ruined, beautiful people than we ever imagined existed, and more reason to hope in their redemption." The journey begins at a Denver rescue mission and ends on a California beach. Along the way, Yankoski and a friend learn the perils of poor hygiene and the secrets of panhandling. They meet unfortunates like Andrew, who squanders his musical talent to feed his drug habit, and hustlers like Jake, who gives the pair tips about how to look and sound more pitiful to get more money. Yankoski tends to moralize: "If we respond to others based on their outward appearance, haven't we entirely missed the point of the Gospel?" Still, the book features fine writing ("I awoke, rolled over and saw beads of sweat already forming on my arms. Saturday, early morning, Phoenix") and vivid stories, authentically revealing an underworld of need. (Apr.)
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