Murder and Redemption at a Benedictine Abbey [Paperback]

Paul Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2009

On the morning of June 10th, 2002, the tranquility of Conception Abbey in Missouri was violently shattered when an emotionally troubled man named Robert Lloyd Jeffress quietly walked in and shot four Benedictine monks, killing two and injuring two more, before turning his weapon upon himself. No motive was ever given for this senseless act. Paul Johnson was a professor at the abbey seminary who had lost his faith in the wake of his younger brother's sudden death in 2001. In Murder and Redemption at a Benedictine Abbey he describes how the Benedictine faith community responded to the horrible tragedy, how it affected his own spiritual journey, and how healing and faith were ultimately restored, both in the larger community to which he belonged, and in his own heart.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: HiddenSpring (June 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587680351
• ISBN-13: 978-1587680359
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,061,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Johnson grew up on the Mesabi Iron Range in northeast Minnesota. He went to college in Bemidji, Minnesota, and then on to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for graduate school. He wanted to teach writing and literature to college students. The position at Conception Seminary College was his first and only job after grad school. Never totally comfortable being a narrowly focused researcher, Paul found the job at Conception and its emphasis on teaching to be a perfect fit for him. Moreover, as described in his book, he fell in love with the Benedictine character of the Abbey and seminary college almost immediately. Over the two decades he has worked there, the monks and students have formed his life and faith in significant ways. As for his future writing plans, he's been thinking lately about the idea of God as a kind of poet and artist. An amateur artist himself who works in a variety of media, Paul is fascinated by the creative process and its relationship to spirituality, especially in the modern age.