The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People [Paperback]

Cathleen Falsani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2007

“This sensitive spiritual portrait of popular culture evokes, in thought provoking fashion, the vibrant and highly individualized nature of contemporary faith. ” — The Christian Science Monitor

It goes without saying that spirituality now plays an enormous role in the United States. But while this may be a nation of believers, it’s not of one belief, but of many. To shape a candid picture of modern faith, the popular Chicago Sun-Times religion writer Cathleen Falsani—who the Chicago Tribune praised as “above all, an exemplary conversationalist”—sat down with an array of people who shape our culture. She discussed Jesus with Anne Rice; explored “Playboy theology” with Hugh Hefner; talked about evil with crusading attorney Barry Scheck and heaven with Senator Barack Obama. Writers Laura Esquivel and Jonathan Safran Foer, guru Iyanla Vanzant, rocker Melissa Etheridge, economist Jeffrey Sachs, Pulitzer-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley—all opened up to her.

The resulting interviews, more than thirty in all, offer an illuminating look at the beliefs that shape our lives. In the words of one reviewer, Falsani “has done what only great interviewers have the wisdom and patience to do. She has set the stage and dimmed the lights just so. She has invited us into the conversation and left us with wonder, confusion, elation and grace.”

“Whimsical and absorbing . . . Falsani handles the profiles with sensitivity, painting the book’s diverse spiritual seekers with compassion and grace.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

 

Included are interviews with Sherman Alexie, Bono, Dusty Baker, Sandra Bernhard, Sandra Cisneros, Billy Corgan, Kurt Elling, Laura Esquivel, Melissa Etheridge, Jonathan Safran Foer, Mike Gerson, Seamus Heaney, Hugh Hefner, Dr. Henry Lee, Annie Lennox, David Lynch, John Mahoney, Mark Morris, Mancow Muller, Senator Barack Obama, Hakeem Olajuwon, Harold Ramis, Anne Rice, Tom Robbins, Russell Simmons, Jeffrey Sachs , Barry Scheck, John Patrick Shanley , The Reverend Al Sharpton, Studs Terkel, Iyanla Vanzant, and Elie Wiesel.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Religion reporter Falsani dishes up a whimsical and absorbing collection of interviews with assorted literati and glitterati, dissecting issues of faith, ethics and personal spirituality. Since several of these profiles originated as columns in the Chicago Sun-Times, it is perhaps not surprising that many of the interviewees have a Chicago connection, like radio shock jock Mancow, Smashing Pumpkins lead Billy Corgan and Dusty Baker, the manager of the Cubs. But the questions undertaken are truly universal. Some of the stars evince a fairly traditional stance on faith, including observant Muslim basketball star Hakeem Olajuwon, who prays in Arabic daily and runs all of his businesses according to the anti-interest tenets of Islamic law; novelist Anne Rice, who has recently returned to the Catholic faith and written a novel about Jesus' childhood; or Bush speechwriter and policy wonk Michael Gerson, a committed Protestant who like Falsani is a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois. Others, like musicians Annie Lennox and Melissa Etheridge, fall into the spiritual-but-not-religious crowd, borrowing creatively from both Eastern and Western religions to craft a personal spiritual practice that works for them. Still others—primarily writers like Studs Terkel, Tom Robbins and Jonathan Safran Foer—place themselves in the agnostic camp. Falsani handles the profiles with sensitivity, painting the book's diverse spiritual seekers with compassion and grace. (Mar. 14)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Library Journal
In this charming book, Falsani, columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, interviews more than 25 people of note—politicians, celebrities, writers, and musicians—about their spirituality in an effort to lift the reader's spirit while satisfying a certain guilty delight in gossip; indeed, some hitherto-unrevealed divine secrets of the famous and infamous are as tasty as their first marriages and real names. Who could have predicted that Hugh Hefner would describe himself as "a moral guy"? Or that, according to popular novelist Tom Robbins, we live in hell "because we take ourselves too seriously"? By turns surprising, dismaying, and entertaining, this work is recommended for most collections.

 

Christian Science Monitor

In an absorbing first book - The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People - she takes the reader along on spirited, often-surprising interviews with more than two dozen creative artists and thought-leaders. The journey becomes engrossing because of the remarkable openness and candor she encounters among the famous, as well as the depth and variety of their beliefs... This sensitive spiritual portrait of popular culture evokes, in thought-provoking fashion, the vibrant and highly individualized nature of contemporary faith.

 

Chicago Tribune

Cathleen Falsani is above all else, an exemplary conversationalist...She is enthusastic, well-read, articulate and open-minded. [In The God Factor,] she sweeps us right along... She has done what only great interviewers have the wisdom and patience to do. She has set the stage and dimmed the lights just so. She has invited us in to the conversation and left us with wonder, confusion, elation and grace.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (May 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374530920
• ISBN-13: 978-0374530921
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cathleen Falsani is an award-winning religion columnist for Religion News Service and Sojourners Magazine in Washington, D.C., and author of the critically acclaimed books The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006), Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace (Zondervan, 2008), and The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers (Zondervan 2009) -- and the forthcoming Belieber: Fame, Faith & the Heart of Justin Bieber (Worthy 2011).

Cathleen was the religion writer and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times from 2000 to January 2010. As a writer for Sun-Times and other publications, Cathleen has covered her diverse "God beat" from locations as far afield as Vatican City, Vedic City, Ireland, Germany,the Caribbean, the West Wing, the Playboy Mansion and the dugout at Wrigley Field.

She was honored as the 2005 James O. Supple Religion Writer of the Year by the
Religion Newswriters Association, and twice has been a finalist for the Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year award. She goes by the nickname "God Girl," a moniker given to her by her friend and fellow writer Bill Zehme back in 2002. It started as a greeting Bill yelled to across a crowded bar the day she came off a 10-day stint on the road with Bono of U2, chronicling his humanitarian efforts to raise awareness in U.S.religious communities about the AIDS emergency in sub-Saharan Africa. It was funny -- an affectionate joke -- but it stuck. Hence, www.godgrrl.com.

Cathleen began writing her popular column on spirituality and popular culture for the Sun-Times in 2001, and also writes as a columnist for Religion News Service, Sojourners Magazine and The Huffington Post. Her work has
appeared in many media outlets including Rolling Stone, Harvard Divinity School Bulletin, Christianity Today and Christian Century magazines, as well as the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, the Toronto Star and other publications in North America and Europe. She has appeared as a commentator on CNN, Oprah Winfrey's "Soul Series," NPR, FoxNewsChannel, Moody Radio, The Tavis Smiley Show, PBS's "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly", and a host of other radio and television venues.

Since 2004, she has maintained the religion-and-popular-culture blog "The Dude
Abides," (www.godgrrl.com and/or www.cathleenfalsani.com)

Cathleen is perhaps best known for the April 2004 interview she did with U.S. President Barack Obama (then an Illinois State senator running for U.S. Senate) about his faith -- the lengthiest and most exhaustive Obama has granted to date about his personal spiritual and religious beliefs. A profile of the President, based on that interview, appeared in her 2006 book, The God Factor, alongside profiles of other notables including Bono of U2, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Hugh Hefner, Anne Rice, Dusty Baker, Hakim Olajuwon, Tom Robbins, John Patrick Shanley, Melissa Etheridge, Billy Corgan, Harold Ramis, Studs Terkel, Bush administration speech writer Michael Gerson, Annie Lennox, and Russell Simmons.

A Connecticut native and granddaughter of Italian and Irish immigrants, Cathleen is a graduate of Wheaton College, the alma mater of the Rev. Billy Graham, former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and horror film director Wes Craven. (Though she often finds more common ground with Craven and Graham than Hastert.)

She holds a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University as well
as a master's degree in theological studies from Garrett-Evangelical Theological
Seminary. She is also a 2009 Divinity School Media Fellow at Duke University,
a Gralla Fellow in Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, and was the 1996
Stoody-West Fellow in Religious Journalism.

She is a sought-after public speaker having presented lectures and talks at
colleges, universities, civic organizations, houses of worship and large faith-based conferences nationwide, including the National Pastors Convention, the Buechner Institute, the Catalyst Conference, the Los Angeles Book Festival, the Festival of Faith and Music, and the Festival of Faith and Writing,
numerous houses of worship and colleges including Westmont College, Andrew University, Southern Baptist University, Sacramento State University, Dominican University, and St. James Episcopal Cathedral in Chicago.

Cathleen is also an active social media maven, with more than 7,000 followers
on Twitter and 1,500+ members of her Facebook Fan Page. She blogs regularly
on her own site and for God's Politics (Sojo.net), Huffington Post, and Faith &
Leadership (Duke Divinity School), and elsewhere. She is also working on
the manuscript for a memoir about her real-life, life-changing experiences with
social networks tentatively titled, The Thread: Faith, Friendship and Facebook.

Chicago Magazine media critic Steve Rhodes has said Cathleen writes one of the city's "most compelling columns . . . despite her focus on a subject that often
is handled with a deadly dullness."

Of her longtime column, Cathleen says she likes to try to "find God in the places
some people say God isn't supposed to be," and that she defines both spirituality
and popular culture quite broadly.

In its review of her debut book, The God Factor, the Chicago Tribune said:

"Cathleen Falsani is above all else, an exemplary conversationalist...She is
enthusiastic, well-read, articulate and open-minded. [In The God Factor,] she
sweeps us right along... She has done what only great interviewers have the
wisdom and patience to do. She has set the stage and dimmed the lights just
so. She has invited us in to the conversation and left us with wonder, confusion,
elation and grace."

On a more personal note...

After 20 years in Chicago, Cathleen relocated in the summer of 2009 to Laguna
Beach, California, with her husband, fellow author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Maurice Possley. Most recently, Cathleen became a mother (officially, at least) for the first time. The High Court of Malawi approved the adoption of the Falsani-Possley's son, Vasco, in 2010.

The story of how the couple met the boy who would become their son is told, in part, in the chapter "Chisomo" in her 2008 memoir, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide
for Grace. A feature-length documentary film chronicling Vasco and his family's journey currently is in production. Filmmakers Keiko and Rob Feldman of Juris
Productions and Cinependent Films (cinependentfilms.com) plan to release "Vasco's Heart" in 2012.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What? Talking about God? Are you crazy?, March 10, 2006

By 

KRyan - See all my reviews

This review is from: The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People (Hardcover)

Finally, a book that gets the most taboo subject out there without blushing or politicizing. People certainly talk about sex more openly than they talk about how they really feel about Jesus and they'll talk about their psychiatric health with Dr.Phil before they'll talk about their spiritual life. Here, Falsani, makes the metaphysical, the existential, and the personal... tangible. I don't think Hugh Hefner has been as intimate with a woman as he is with Falsani in his interview. He is so shy, but when she reveals that her idea of a spiritual pop-culture cannon includes the cult favorite Harold and Maude, he virtually gushes with excitement and proceeds to divulge the most intimate of spiritual details about this own life. I never thought that I would learn something about God from Hugh Hefner, but as Falsani talks openly, without judgment, to these mostly American icons, we learn that God's truth permeates every pore of our culture. How inspiring and uplifting to know that God is that big!

Great stories from Studs Terkel, Tom Robbins, and Sherman Alexie. Best moment in the book, however, comes from Irish poet, Seamus Heaney. Moved me to tears.

Falsani is funny, self-depricating, and searching for truth not in an "I'm okay, you're okay" kinda way, but through a deep faith that God is good and just and loves us all - even if we don't know He's there.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now the rest of you can enjoy Cathleen Falsani's writing, March 26, 2006

By 

David P. Graf (Chatham, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People (Hardcover)

By way of disclosure, I have never met Ms. Falsani in person, but we have corresponded via email on various issues. Now-on with the review!

One of the joys for people living in Chicago is the vibrant writing found in the city's newspapers. Cathleen Falsani is on the religion beat for the Chicago SunTimes and she brings a new and fresh and dare I say "fun" perspective to writing about religion. She does the same in the "God Factor". Her style of listening and careful questioning brings out unexpected insights from people you might be surprised to find out even think about issues of faith.

Originally, I was going to give this book only four stars. I wish she had been a bit more challenging of some of the answers to her questions. In her shoes, I would have gagged on some of the replies given by interviewees. However, that's not her style and that's why Falsani could bring us a book as good as this. In constrast, I will only bequeath book reviews to posterity.

If your view of religion extends beyond the stained glass stereotypes, Falsani is going to be one of your favorite reads.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gems Within, March 21, 2006

By 

Danusha Goska (Bloomington, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People (Hardcover)

I wasn't crazy about this book as a whole, but there were some gems within that moved me deeply.

First, why I wasn't crazy about it: "God" shouldn't be the first or second word in the title; "Celebrity" should be. The premise of the book is that famous people talk about their take on God.

There are a few problems with that. One is that many of these folks aren't much interested in God, and aren't the most interesting people when talking about God.

The other problem is that if you are attracted to a book that talks about celebrities' take on God, you'll probably want bigger name celebrities. There are quite a few folks here who aren't all that famous. So, if celebrity is what draws you, you might not be drawn by the celebrities here.

The other factor that didn't work so well for me was Cathleen Falsani's extremely gentle interview style. Falsani lets her subjects say pretty much whatever they want, and does not press them when another interviewer, a Terry Gross, say, might.

For example, performance artist and practising Jew Sandra Bernhard rants against non-Jews who are attracted to Kabbalah. She also condemns those who claim to follow Kabbalah and who get tattoes.

Bernhard's ranting has its value, but I wish Falsani had pressed her a bit harder. Bernhard, after all, is an openly gay woman who posed for Playboy and who speaks, especially in her interview here, in four letter words.

There are many Jews who would object to Bernhard's word choice, her Playboy photos, and her orientation. (For the record, I do not.) How does Bernhard reconcile her own departures from what many regard as Jewish orthodoxy, even as she inveighs against others whom she identifies as inappropriately unorthodox in their following of Jewish tradition?

I'd like to know the answer to that question, but I didn't find the answer in this book; there is no record of Falsani asking.

But I loved a few of the interviews here.

The interview with Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel was outstanding. I've read Wiesel's books, and heard him speak, and read others work about him, and, even so, I cherish his interview in this book.

As ever, Wiesel, who survived the worst hell on earth, talks about how and why someone who has suffered profoundly can continue in a life of faith. This is very, very worth reading.

The interview with U2 lead singer and political activist Bono astounded me, mostly because of Bono's beautiful and unique language use. Example: "The idea that some love and logic would choose to describe itself as a baby born in [dung] and straw and poverty is genius. And it brings me to my knees."

Seamus Heaney, Nobel Prize winning poet, politely declined to be interviewed, but sent along a lovely poem instead. His brief poem is as good as any other lengthy interview in the book.

The interview that surprised me by bringing tears to my eyes was with John Mahoney, the actor we all remember from the Cher movie "Moonstruck," where he was so memorably dating younger women who threw drinks into his face, and as Kelsey Grammer's father on the NBC sitcom, "Frasier."

I don't want to say much of anything about this interview; I don't want to reveal its details so as to spoil it for you. I will just say that I've been watching, and appreciating, Mahoney for years, and this interview offered me a glimpse into this celebrity's, and human being's, life, that gave me pause, and made me think, and really touched me.

It's worth the book to read the Mahoney interview.