Customer Reviews

Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you think academia has abolished the idea of a God who is intimately involved in our lives, check out this jewel. This is a collection of essays written by scholars who have attended, taught at, or spoken at Harvard. The compilation weaves in and out of lives in areas such as the sciences, education, politics and family. Not only is it well written and thoughtful, but (on a more personal side) it contains a warmth and purpose that I struggled to find in my higher education years.

This is the revised version of Finding God at Harvard, with a postscript updating readers on the essay writers' lives. I found several of the essays deeply meaningful, and several more to be beautifully written, but many were dense and uninspiring.

Although the collection as a whole was long and sloggy, there are a lot of gems worth reading, especially "The Inexplicable Prayer of Ruby Bridges" by Robert Coles (p.33-40), "From Prophets to Profits" by Robert K Massie Jr (207-217), and "In Sorrow, Joy" by Ruth Goodwin (219-222). Enjoy!

I don't concider myself an intellectual but I am a strong believer in God. These short accounts were well written (although at times the vocabulary required me to get out my dictionary) and gave me great encouragement in seeing the power of God at work in the lives of these learned men and women. It strengthened my faith.

This collection is written by Harvard students, professors and grads, and Harvard types can sure write well. I used The Inexplicable Prayers of Ruby Bridges (from this collection) with students in a teacher training class in Albania and it was a great hit.

The book was fine. But it took longer than I expect to get the book.