Keeping Faith: A Skeptic's Journey [Paperback]

Fenton Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2004

In his resonant account of a spiritual quest, Fenton Johnson examines what it means for a skeptic to have and to keep faith. Exploring Western and Eastern monastic traditions, Johnson lives as a member of the community at the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky and at the branches of the San Francisco Zen Center. Ultimately his encounter with Buddhism brings him to a new understanding and embrace of Christianity. Weaving together meditations on Johnson's spiritual journey with history and insights from modern monks, Keeping Faith offers a blueprint for a new way of practicing faith.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Spiritual homecoming stories are often predictable in both form and content, but Johnson's account of his passage from skepticism to faith is exceedingly refreshing and pure in its honesty. Raised in a Kentucky community that is home to the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani, Johnson, a novelist (Crossing the River and Scissors, Paper, Rock) grew up in a Catholic family that was intimately acquainted with the monastery's monks. But in leaving home and living as a gay man, he closed the door on religion only to come face to face with it again at Gethsemani in 1996. When, as an invited observer at an international gathering of Buddhist and Christian monks and lay contemplatives, Johnson was unable to lift his hand to join in making the sign of the cross, he became aware of a deep anger within. To delve into it, he set out on "a skeptic's journey" in which he explored both Buddhist and Christian monastic life. His quest recalls that of Thomas Merton, Gethsemani's most famous monk, who was known for his interest in Buddhist monasticism. Johnson's sensitively written tale is also notable for dealing with homosexuality in the Kentucky monastery, even as some Catholic leaders discuss banning homosexuals from priesthood. Because the faith Johnson has found departs from certain official church lines, this memoir is unlikely to resonate with traditionalist readers. However, its authenticity and depth will appeal to a varied audience of skeptics and believers.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Johnson, raised Catholic in a small southern town, is gay and for many years was fiercely angry at the church, which he felt rejected him for being himself. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he watched friends, acquaintances, and his lover die of AIDS as the church stood by in silence, and later he saw the church as failing to confront an epidemic of sexual abuse. Meanwhile, his spiritual journey was cyclical, from Catholicism to Zen Buddhism and back to Catholicism, though the Catholicism he embraces now isn't the Catholicism of his youth. He had grown up near the Trappist abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, and one day became a member of the community. Something about that experience and its rituals touched him deeply, and he came to understand his profound anger at the church, in particular, and at institutionalized religion in general. His account of his journey is a fine and erudite combination of memoir, history, and personal reflection, in which faith and desire finally meet at a crossroads in a particular life. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 338 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (November 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618492372
• ISBN-13: 978-0618492374
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #334,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening personal tale, December 25, 2004

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keeping Faith: A Skeptic's Journey (Hardcover)

As the author moves into history and doctrine in the second and third sections of this book, I was often tempted to quibble. His comments about sexuality and religion ignored the Buddhist tantric tradition of Tibet, his discussion of St. Augustine ignored Augustine's "God became man that man might become God," he accepts the questional premise of the feminine goddess preceding the masculine god as universal ... However, this "imprecision" is a strength in this book. The book is a personal account of an individual's working through of issues regarding religious institutions, spirituality and dogma through his exploration of monasticism in the Zen Buddhist and Latin Rite Catholic traditions. It is not the work of a religious scholar - historian, theologian or spiritual director.

The issues for Fenton Johnson revolve most strongly around the issues of sexuality, sexual abuse, discrimination by gender or sexual preference ... What is most impressive about his account, is the gradual change in his questions - as his questions become better formulated, tentative answers begin to form. In these questions and answers, the author recognizes the similarity of the religious journey as experienced through different paths. He learns to question and address his anger towards the institutional Catholic Church.

The end of the journey as reported at the end of this volume implies significant room for and capacity to further modifications of his view. I would readily recommend this book to individual's seeking a role for faith in their lives. Fenton Johnson's account of his personal search should encourage others to recognize that in their struggle and skepticism they are not alone, that there are at least partial answers available if they learn to frame their questions appropriately.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide to beginning a spiritual journey!, February 24, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Keeping Faith: A Skeptic's Journey (Hardcover)

This is a fantastic book. As someone who has been working hard to understand religion and its influence on western culture, I have to say this book is a great first step. I found Johnson asked many of the same questions that I was asking. He then did the legwork to answer those questions, always including plenty of support for his points. Often, I would read a paragraph and write a thought about it in my reading journal only to reach the end of the page and find the exact thought I had just written right there in the book. This was like reading a book about myself...and yet it would seem johnson (a middle aged gay man who lives in san francisco) and I who am an 18 year old female and have rarely been out of my sheltered hometown in Idaho would have little in common. This is a fantastic book and has provided guidance for where to go next on this journey which will no doubt be quite long indeed. I recommend this book to anyone who is ready to begin a spiritual quest.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One Man's Faith Journey, March 7, 2007

By 

J Martin Jellinek (Memphis, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Keeping Faith: A Skeptic's Journey (Paperback)

After Reading Scissors, Paper, Rock, I was anxious to read more of Fenton Johnson's work. Keeping faith is a very different book in that it is non-fiction, deeply spiritual and very personal. The book basically consists of three parts, although the boundaries between the sections are not altogether precise. The first and longest part discusses Mr. Johnson's journey of searching for what faith means to him as a lapsed and disenfranchised Roman Catholic. The second part discusses the historical background of monasticism, shedding new light on church history (at least for me). The third part deals with Mr. Johnson's integration of his understanding of church history and personal experience to find a way to reclaim his personal faith. He very strongly emphasizes that searching for faith is a journey that never ends.

For me, as a gay man, the most interesting part of Keeping Faith is the understanding of the juxtapositioning of Christian materialism (the incarnate Christ) with the emphasis on celibacy, as seen through a Buddhist lens. This discussion opened new vistas of understanding that help me integrate sexuality with faith.

The journey, being very personal, sometimes makes for strange sequencing in the text. I really had to work at following Mr. Johnson's train of thought at times. But the writing itself is very clear and precise, much like in Scissors, Paper, Rock.