Customer Reviews

My God: Reappraisal of Normal Religious Experience

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This is a truly "personal" book. Thornton tells us: "I have collaborated with nobody and discussed it with nobody. Nobody has even read the proofs and offered valuable suggestions" (p.9). In this, his eleventh book, he shares the personal fruits of an ordered religious life. This is not a book on apologetics, doctrine or dogma. It is "faith speaking to faith". To my mind, the greatest contribution in the book is Thornton's suggestion on how to overcome the fear that the Church seems to have about ordinary religious experience. This book, with its roots deep in personal, not private, religious experience, is a valuable aid in understanding contemporary religious life. Professional theologians will gain insight from Thornton's existential distinctions in understanding the presence of God and pastors will appreciate his practical introduction to a "panentheistic" pastoral theology which moves away from an "intrusive" speculative or substantive theology. Readers of Thornton's earlier works will recognize how they have influenced the understanding of the experiences shared with the reader in this work.