Book reviews
Christian Smith is the Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. He has led the National Study on Youth and Religion and in 2005 published Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press). That important work summarized an extensive study of the spiritual inclinations and aspirations of young people 13 to 18 years old. Five years later, Smith surveyed the same group of young people, who were by then 18 to 23 years old. In conjunction with Patricia Snell, he has recently published the results of this survey in Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (Oxford University Press, 2009).
December 4, 2009
Many things have been written about The Shack since it was published in 2007. The cover page informs us that it was the #1 New York Times Bestseller and that over three million copies are in print.
December 1, 2009
“If I ever become a saint – I will surely be one of “darkness.” I will continually be absent from heaven – to light the light of those in darkness on earth.”
When Mother Teresa’s letters to her confessors and Spiritual Directors were published in the book Come Be My Light, many people, Christian or not, were surprised by what had been revealed as her spiritual journey.
July 30, 2009
“Prayer is a lifting up of the heart, a directing of the mind, to God.” The previous quote is Karl Rahner’s definition of prayer. His book, On Prayer, offers many thoughts on the prayer life of a Christian. I found that reading his book was praying in and of itself. This book is not so much tips on how to pray, but a book on why Christians pray and how a deep, meaningful relationship develops through the course of a prayer life.
February 24, 2009
Jeremy Langford’s short book Seeds of Faith: Practices to Grow a Healthy Spiritual Life utilizes an extended metaphor of gardening to relay the intricate details of practicing spirituality. As the sower plants the seeds, nurtures their growth, and harvests the fruit, so too does the spiritual pilgrim sow, foster, and reap a positive spiritual life.
by Katie McKeon
January 15, 2009
Book Review: Seeds of Hope: Young Adults and the Catholic Church in the United States by Tim Muldoon
Tim Muldoon is a theologian and assistant to the Vice-President for University Mission and Ministry at Boston College. His book Seeds of Hope (Paulist Press, 2008) is a reflection on the spiritual needs and aspirations of contemporary young adult Catholics and their relationship with the church. Muldoon has a keen interest in the topic of young adults and the church, and his experience with students at Boston College and elsewhere informs his portrait of the landscape of young adult spirituality.
September 8, 2008
Culturally, we have an assortment of “rites of passage” that encourage and stimulate our mental, spiritual and emotional development. Different from tribal celebrations, we honor and value receiving a driver’s license, graduating from high school and college, developing personal and intimate relationships filled with respect and love. We savor the waves of joy and enshroud our being during bouts of pain. In our “rites of passage” we encounter ourselves and others in moments of intense vulnerability and receive the grace of illumined being. We come to know the pain, suffering and unknowing that is wrapped up in moving through life with intentionality.
July 29, 2008
“So what?” asks the former GE executive turned Jesuit priest. “So what?” asks the pilgrim on a journey of becoming, a pilgrim on the way in the company of Saints.
“So what?”
May 30, 2008
As a young adult reading Being Catholic in a Culture of Choice, I was challenged by my own adaptation and interpretation of what it is to be Catholic. Rausch states that “there is a discrepancy between the optimistic charting of spiritual interest and the low level of religious practice or spiritual growth.” Rausch’s book is constructed around the fact that Catholic young adults practice what they like about Catholicism and leave what they don’t. The reality that I too adapt and interpret can be difficult to digest. Falling into the target population of this book I turned the pages of Rausch’s text with an acknowledgement that I “take what I like and leave what I don’t.”
May 1, 2008
Integrity. Unknowing. Balance. Distraction. Wisdom. Despair. Authenticity.
Honoring the feelings of uncertainty is the beginning of courageously embarking on a journey of discernment with God in oneself. The discerning spirit is plagued and blessed with a litany of unknowns amidst a world that projects stark clarity. Daring to live in the spirit by going against the grain of mainstream society enables a vessel to form that asks: How is my life reflecting Christ in the world? What am I doing for Christ? And, what will I do for Christ?
February 21, 2008
