Religion in Exile: A Spiritual Homecoming [Paperback]

Diarmuid O'Murchu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

Diarmuid O'Murchu offers pentrating and original insights into the changing spiritual awareness of our time. He believes that we are rapidly out-growing the time honored but exhausted vision of formal religion.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Diarmuid O'Murchu works as a counselor and social psychologist in London. He has lectured internationally and written extensively on spiritual issues of our time.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: The Crossroad Publishing Co. (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824518411
• ISBN-13: 978-0824518417
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #495,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spirituality without religion, January 23, 2001

By 

John Rice (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Religion in Exile: A Spiritual Homecoming (Paperback)

Diarmuid O'Murchu is a counselor and former (I believe) religious priest who explores the idea of a spirituality without religion. He speaks of conemporary experience as being in exile from the earth and from the presence of God that the earth manifests. Christianity, Judaism and Islam have been patriarchcal religions which have divided and conquered the world. They rely heavily on authority to promote their revelation. What is most appreciative about this work from one Roman Catholic's perspective is that a fellow Catholic, who has been imbued with the theology and spirituality of that religion has discovered what other Catholics have. Namely that religion can take a person only so far in the discovery of God. There is a truth that exists beyond all religion. O'Murchu explores the Mother Earth Goddess spirituality pre-existent of the modern religions as well as aspects of it in those religions. He explores current ecological and political movements for a sense of "homecoming" as he calles it. This is a short book that is tantalizing in some aspects. His bibliography points to longer, more focused works that have been part of his research. The view that O'Mucho presents does not mean one must leave one's religion. It is simply a way of seeing in anew.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Horizon Expander, December 26, 2002

By 

Charles W. Hoofnagle (Portsmouth, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Religion in Exile: A Spiritual Homecoming (Paperback)

As a novice to readings in spirituality, I claim no special intellectual or spiritual insights into the mind of God. But as a seeker and traveller, I grow in mind and spirit, advancing from the words and wisdom of John Shelby Spong and Marcus Borg, to Michael Morwood, to Matthew Fox, to, now, Diarmuid O'Murchu.
It is an ever-increasing circle. There is much in RELIGION IN EXILE to stimulate the imagination and engender spiritual reflection. The interrelationship of humanity with the cosmos and all life within it directly supports and reinforces the spiritual viewpoint of the mystics who precede us. This book is for all who are open to becoming spiritually a part of the whole.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Psychological or Theological Homecoming?, November 3, 2001

By 

Allan M. Savage (Thunder Bay, Ontario) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Religion in Exile: A Spiritual Homecoming (Paperback)

O'Murchu states that he seeks to befriend religious questions rather than seek answers to them and, in fact, he does just that. Not much by way of an answer is provided. He offers a critique of the underlying assumptions to religious and spiritual issues which he has identified as problematic for the individual seeking a spiritual home, or an understanding of a world in which to be "at home." His is a phenomenological approach that presents current religious and spiritual issues in the popular vocabulary of religious critique. I can identify with his critique. However, doubt I can agree with all of his interpretations. Agreement among academics is a perpetual problem. For theologians who read about religious issues treated by competent individuals in other disciplines agreement seems particularly problematic. Although theologically trained, O'Murchu thinks about religious issues from a perspective more properly psychological than theological. This is not necessarily an undesirable approach but a theologian needs to be cautious and not accept psychological thinking as theological thinking. As I understand him, O'Murchu speaks more of the psyche than of the pneuma. The psychological perspective of the book makes this a good "self-help" resource for those troubled or curious minds who desire more than a shallow presentation or description of spiritual or religious issues. O'Murch says: "The need to talk things out is the pastoral context where possibilities begin to unfold"(p.198). Issues are "talked out" in the book. But as I read I found myself asking: "So what?" and "Yes, but how is change to happen?" Thus, while I have no reservation about his description about returning home, I am disappointed to find no suggested direction on "how to return home." I suggest that theologians could benefit from reading this psychological work.