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Awakening the Spirit, Inspiring the Soul: 30 Stories of Interspiritual Discovery in the Community of Faiths

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Awakening the Spirit, Inspiring the Soul, edited by Brother Wayne Teasdale and Martha Howard.

This gives me the rare opportunity to offer a review which may reply to the comments offered by one of my classmates, who happened to have this book as a text in a class we shared.

Very briefly, the title and subtitle tell the story. It has thumbnail spiritual biographies of thirty individuals with several different starting points, primarily from Christianity (especially Protestant), Judaism, and Islam, who are dissatisfied with their spiritual traditions, or lack of spiritual tradition, in which they have grown up. None of the subjects have formal training (No Thomas Mertons here) and almost all depend on the guidance which good fortune may have brought their way. The result is what many of us have seen in our friends. The first place people go when they are dissatisfied or disillusioned is outside their own faith. (The book does not discuss those whose endpoint is non-spiritual agnosticism or athiesm).

There is a certain sense of serendipity in the choice of studies. By that I mean there seems to be virtually no plan to how the stories were selected. Of course, we do not see what stories went into their shredder, but there is no perceptible intention to single out a certain point of origin, destination, or method of making the journey. And, if you are writing in contemporary America, you are more likely to find Protestants who feel the need for spiritual renewal than Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, or whatever. And, if you turn from Protestantism, your first choice is not likely to be either Catholicism or Judaism. It is likely to be either Islam, because that is a common choice, or Buddhism, which is the religious inclination best known for its spirituality. It is also a not uncommon phenomenon for those who begin life in a Biblical literalist community to become disenchanted. One famous example is Bart Ehrman, who is one of the leading Biblical scholars, and who is now an agnostic, because of difficulties in resoling scripture with the world.

This is because a fundamentalist belief requires a far more sophisticalted understanding of the Bible than the average Protestant or Catholic has. While one of Luther's main tenants was study of the Bible, most Lutherans skate by on the 20 minutes they get in the sermon each week, if they are lucky. One of the strengths of Judaism is that it fosters deep bibical study among its members.

Because the approach of this book is so ecumenical, it is probably of little value to the average reader, unless you happen to have a career interest in pastoral counciling. It's purpose is to uncritically present as wide a range of journeys of spiritual discovery as one is likely to encounter at the local library or laundramat. Thus, it had some value as a text on that subject.

The stories are mini-autobiographies, showing how people came to faith in a variety of faiths. I enjoyed the book - but it required some deep thinking about new ideas.

1. No one from a conservative bend is in this book. All of the people of supposed Christian faith were nominal at best. The book boosts of having viewpoints from the whole spectrum but that is far from true.

2. Buddhism seems to be the common link in this is, especially for the supposed Christians. More often then not someone in here that was raised Christian moved into a more Buddhist sphere.

3. There is a strong disdain for those labeled "fundamentalists" and "extremists". Little tolerance is given for these positions though they claim to be open-minded and accepting.

4. The Lutheran girl at toward the beginning of the book was utterly illogical. She wanted to be a Christian but go against cardinal Christian truth and belief. That's illogical. It's like me being a vegan but eating meat. I'm violating a code of my beliefs.

All in all I found this book to be neither insightful or entertaining, or even interesting for that matter. Well, the bashing of "fundamentalists extremists" was interesting in how prejudice they were.