Flirting with Monasticism: Finding God on Ancient Paths [Paperback]

Karen E. Sloan (Author), John Ortberg (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2006

This is a love story. Girl meets boy. Boy joins a monastic order. Their relationship sets a young woman on a much different path than she ever imagined. Woven together in Karen Sloan's Flirting with Monasticism are two stories of love and commitment: her exploration of monastic spirituality set against the yearlong journey of a novice class of men preparing to join the Dominican order. Each breathlessly confusing but ultimately fulfilling step leads to unexpected treasures: new ways to pray, a deeper experience of Christian community, and closer communion with God.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers from an evangelical background who want some sense of the riches of liturgical traditions, particularly Roman Catholicism, will find an apt guide in Sloan, a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary who is a Presbyterian campus minister. Having grown up in a megachurch, she writes of finding herself drawn to the Dominicans. Part of the appeal is her romantic attraction to a male novice in training to enter the Dominican Order. Readers who understand the vows monks take will probably grow weary of Sloan's unrequited infatuation and apparent lack of realization that the relationship is a dead-end. That aside, Sloan is an excellent translator of Roman Catholicism for evangelical readers. The book, which reads like a blog, explores areas where evangelicals may feel at home with monasticism (community life) as well as with practices that feel foreign (praying to the saints and the Virgin Mary). She reflects early on about being an outsider and getting little help learning Catholic traditions, but the year she spent "flirting with monasticism" left her with a deep appreciation of things Catholic, especially those related to contemplative life and practices. Young evangelicals, particularly those who self-identify with the emerging church movement, will find her narrative intriguing. (Dec.)
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Review

"As Karen Sloan takes us into the hallowed hallways of a Catholic Dominican community through the hallowed hallways of her own seeking heart, she unearths priceless treasures from our ancient Christian past. Flirting with Monasticism is a wonderful guidebook that calls us to be rooted in our own traditions and open to the God who expands our hearts and minds, and leads us through uncharted terrain toward fullness of life." (Beth Slevcove, Spiritual Director, Youth Specialties )

"I have never read a gentler, more fully human or more candid story about the intersection of evangelical and Catholic ways of being the body of Christ on earth. Our tradition would be well served if there were more such stories and such Christian candor." (Phyllis Tickle, compiler of The Divine Hours )

"Karen Sloan is an emerging leader whose honest voice, thoughtful insight, personal vulnerability and theological generosity deserve respect and careful attention. Many sincere followers of Christ will, like me, feel a deep resonance as they read Karen's story of coming of age in the context of passionate spiritual aspiration." (Brian McLaren, author/speaker (brianmclaren.net) )

Product Details

• Paperback: 163 pages
• Publisher: IVP Books (November 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830836020
• ISBN-13: 978-0830836024
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,782,939 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rediscovering Monasticism, December 18, 2006

By 

Jeremy J. Priest (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Flirting with Monasticism: Finding God on Ancient Paths (Paperback)

This is a wonderfully auto-biographical search for Christian community which starts with the prospects of connecting with a potential husband, but points toward a spousal relationship with Christ in monastic community.
Ms. Sloan taps into a need that has been constant since the foundations of God's creation: "it is not good for man to be alone." This community life finds its first realization in the human family as it embodies trinitarian love: the two become one and this one begets three.
Yet, this is a need that human family cannot fully satisfy: the need for communion with God and Him alone. This need has borne fruit in God's calls to the solitary life of hermits and also to the communal monastic tradition.

While these communities flourished from the 5th through the early 20th centuries, the monastic life has seen a serious decline these days. What's more, the general Protestant turning-away from the traditional Christian practice of celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom has largely hidden monasticism and cloaked it as some kind of forgotten medieval superstition.

Yet, the desire to live the Christian life in a radical way has not abated. More and more people are desiring to live this life in communities of like-hearted souls.

People are REDISCOVERING the long-standing monastic tradition of the Church.

This story is a story of Ms. Sloan DISCOVERING monasticism. She narrates her story to us with a tremendous willingness to open up the journey of her heart so that she might share with us the fruits of her contemplation--to use a Dominican motto.

You will find in this book a "way in" to the life of monastic spirituality. She shares her delight, frustration, hesitation, and exhileration over so many different or strange practices: the wearing of a habit, the Mass, the Rosary, Eucharistic Adoration, life lived in community, vows, obedience to a superior, etc.

Encountering all of these practices in her experiences with the Dominicans, Ms. Sloan does not simply describe them as though she's writing a history or sociology textbook. Rather, she wonderfully recounts her experiences of these practices and what they meant to her and how they changed her as she walked this path in her mega-church--seminary--pastoral shoes.

Her "flirting" with Brother Emmanuel was an interesting part of this book. At times it was clear that Ms. Sloan was sharing some very personal parts of her journey with the reader. This intimate sharing was suprising and gave me the feeling of accompanying her in many of the experiences: discovering them, delighting in them, and crying over them at times.

As a Catholic I was somewhat annoyed with the editorial practice of not capitalizing the words, "Mass," and "Church." Certainly not capitalizing "church" comes out of theological reasons, but the "Mass" is a proper name for Catholic worship--my apologies if that sounds nit-picky to some.
Yet, I always felt that Ms. Sloan treated Catholicism with a sympathetic heart, even when she didn't see eye-to-eye with this or that practice or belief. There is no sense of judgment in Ms. Sloan's story--it is, as she says, a love story...and it is simply delightful to share this journey with her.

Catholics can also rediscover so much of their heritage from sharing this journey with Ms. Sloan. Sometimes it takes a foreigner to explain it to the natives.

Perhaps this is a challenge to Catholics to step out and learn from our brothers and sisters who have been separated from us for too long.

To Protestants: for those of you familiar with the "spiritual disciplines," this book is a great way to DISCOVER how some of these "disciplines" are lived-out in the community life of a Catholic order.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real, Enlightening and Unexpected., May 30, 2007

By 

Thundering Legion "One:21" (Navarre, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flirting with Monasticism: Finding God on Ancient Paths (Paperback)

This book was a pleasure to read. The combination of personal narrative writing and 'off the beaten path' subject matter captured my attention, I read it all in one sitting. The author's own story and feelings play an integral part in the book, yet they do not detract from learning about the monastic life and thought. The classic monastic books, Practice of the Presence of God and the like are great, but they assume much context. The author does a great job of conveying that context to those who may not be familiar with it. An experiential book, a journey book, but one that is actually about something. Excellent.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Lovely Tale of a Jouney, August 17, 2007

By 

Chad Davies "Downhill" (Barnesville, GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flirting with Monasticism: Finding God on Ancient Paths (Paperback)

Karen Sloan's book is simultaneously a introductory discussion of the traditions of western monasticism and a narrative of a portion of her personal journey through her relationships and her faith. What I found so wonderful aobut this book was the authenticity and openness with which the narrrative is told. We see Reverend Sloan's discovery of one of the most ancient traditins of her faith and the journey of spiritual formation she takes within her desire to understand it.

The only quibble I might have about the book is that it only addresses one monastic expression, (that of the Dominicans) without much conversation about the other monastic traditions in the West (i.e.-monastic expression in married life or in cloistered life) or the traditions of monasticism found in the Orthodox church. On the other hand, as strength of Sloan's writing is found in that she is drawing directly from the experiences of her journey, inclusion of these would have seemed out of place.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is unfamiliar with monasticism and is interested in understand that path in spiritual formation.