God Knows My Heart: Finding a Faith That Fits [Paperback]

Christine Wicker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1999

When a Christian fundamentalist-turned-scoffer becomes the senior religion reporter for one of the nation's top newspapers, she and God find themselves on a collision course. As her journey begins, Christine Wicker knows God primarily as "the source you never get to interview." Despite this, she pursues Him anyway and begins to glimpse a God she hasn't dared hope might exist. She finds Him in unlikely places--the ceremony of a Wiccan coven, an East German shop window, a Northern Ireland breakfast table. To her grumpy amazement, she also finds Him in a place she swore she would never again look--the confines of a Southern Baptist church. It's a hard trip with surprising turns, but in the end Wicker finds a faith that answers the soul's call without ignoring the world's realities.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Raised as a fundamentalist Southern Baptist, religion journalist Wicker (Dallas Morning News) fell away from her faith as a young woman and spent several years searching for God and meaning in different religious and cultural settings. In this rather typical memoir of a fall from grace and a return to the fold, she tells us about her youthful religious idealism, her rebellious years, her failed marriages, her materialism and her looking for God in all the wrong places. After she leaves her Southern Baptist roots, Wicker continues to search for a way of being religious that fits with her own ideas about God and the world. Though she cannot express her goals articulately, she knows she is searching for a religion that is as far away as possible from the rigidity of her Southern Baptist church. When she begins working for the Dallas Morning News, she focuses on her material success rather than her spiritual goals. When she loses her original position with the paper, she is given the task of religion reporter. Despite her initial negative reaction to this job, she slowly comes to recognize, primarily through the interviews she conducts with ordinary religious people, the presence of God in the world around her. Wicker's honest skepticism about the possibility of having faith and knowing God pervades her memoir. She includes some of her interviews, including one with biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann, and she adroitly draws insights from her readings of Buddhist, Jewish and Christian writers. In the end, she admits that, in spite of all she continues to learn in her search, she cannot journey away from the teachings of her childhood, and she returns to her Southern Baptist roots. Wicker's memoir is a record of a spiritual search that is by turns both painful and exhilarating.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Early in this journalistic look at late-20th-century religion and religious practice, Wicker (Dallas Morning News) honestly assesses her own place in the world as a self-absorbed, somewhat manipulative former Baptist fundamentalist turned seeker. Eschewing traditional denominational forms, she uses her position as a religion reporter to encounter a panoply of faith expressions and experiences around the globe, never scoffing and often awed by the true fervor and commitment she encounters. Interspersing articles and columns with personal ruminations, she doesn't often let her focus stray from herself. Using whatever paradigm she studies as a means to say something about who she is and what she believes, Wicker succeeds in conveying a breadth of faith expressions while still holding on to her own rather meager, often conflicted spirituality. Though one might wish for a richer experiential voice from the author, as a catalog of religion in the world, Wicker's insights prove intriguing.ASandra Collins, Univ. of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (November 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312292589
• ISBN-13: 978-0312292584
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,419,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expands the horizon for those disillusioned by religion., March 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: God Knows My Heart: Finding a Faith That Fits (Hardcover)

It is difficult to find books that discuss what to do when one becomes disillusioned with religion. While I have met many people who have abandoned organized religion, I have not met many who have suggestions as to how to fill the gap that remains - the longing for the safety of the past, unquestioning belief, especially in times of trouble. Ms. Wicker's book offers illuminating insights in dealing with that loss and with those with whom one might relate who hope to bring you back to the "fold." Perhaps the best part is that she doesn't end up with "The Answers," just her experience. Most of us who gave up organized religion did so because we did not want to be given "The Answers." I am hoping to read more by this author.

0 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Where is it?, January 23, 2007

By 

F. Curzan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God Knows My Heart: Finding a Faith That Fits (Paperback)

I purchased the book for a Christmas present. I paid close to $10.00 for shipping so I would get it in time. Four days later I didn't recieve it so I called the company that was supposedly shipping it. They claimed it was still on the dock of the establishment I purchased it from. Five days later, after Christmas I recieved the book. All for the price of $10.00. What a deal. Haven't read the book because I bought it as a gift. Will forward request for review to them. However, heard it was a good book.