Customer Reviews

In Search of Belief

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If this book were a stage performance I would be the first to rise to my feet and deliver a standing and lasting ovation! The author is absolutely brilliant! The work is exquisitely enlightening. Incredibly well thoughtout and written I found myself so engrossed I could not put the book down. Though it is the kind of book that you can easily read through, you will be left with the unnerving need to read it a second, perhaps third time, to fully digests its insights. I consider it a "must read" for every Catholic who has ever wondered about the personal relevancy of the Creed's Prayer in today's world. It is, especially, a "must read" for every Catholic woman who has ever felt frustrated by the patriarchical structure of the historic and modern church - or anyone who has perceived themselves as disenfranchised. I thank God for giving us in today's church people like Joan Chittister who shows the kind of courageous spirit, brilliant mind, and irrevocable conviction and bold faith reminiscent of the early church. Truly a CHRISTian work!

This book should come with the warning "Danger- reading this book will energize your spirit". It is scary to have someone so clearly break open the words of my belief. Until I read "In Search of Belief" my creed was just a weekly renewal of my membership in the church. The same as when I recited the pledge of allegiance or boy scout oath. No real deep thought, just go along with the group. But Sr. Chittister has put common sense meaning back into the words of the central prayer of my religion.

Funny thing is I thought I might be alone in my need to reconnect with the creed. That is far from the case. The response to the book has been unanimously positive from the 12 members of a book club where we are devouring it a section at a time.

Once in awhile a book comes along which touches something deep inside your heart and soul. This book is a wonderful journey through the Apostles Creed breaking apart each phrase to study and examine. Prayers too often become automatic. In Search Of Belief breathes new life and modern day sensibility into the Creed of Christianity.

As an author, I was asked to read In Search of Belief for a possible quotation for the cover and I fell in love with the book! I couldn't put it down.

Here's what I wrote for the back cover."Highly readable, yet deeply profound, In Search of Belief is laced with personal stories as well as transforming theological insights. A must read!"

The Rev. Elizbeth Rankin Geitz Author of Soul Satisfaction and Gender and the Nicene Creed

There is an often quoted maxim that expresses the fundamental rule of praying as "when you pray, say what you pray," (mentioned in the Pieta prayer book among other places). Some people believe that this translates to a warning not to use traditional prayers, and look down upon those who do. Teresa of Avila describes vocal prayers as a rudimentary practice; the bottom rung that one uses in a path of a spiritual development. The Apostles' Creed is an example of a prayer that many in the Christian tradition have said for over a millennium, but when something is known so well, the danger is that it can be said mechanical and vainly, without much thought. When this application occurs, the Creed is reduced to no more than a poem and ineffectual for the affirmation of faith that it was created to be.

"In Search of Belief" is a personal mediation directed by Dr. Joan Chittister, in which she articulates the meaning that the words of the Apostles' Creed have in her life. She explores the beliefs that she believed the words were meant to imbue to the prayer, based on history of the early church and beliefs that were held by the Jesus' society and the first Christian communities. She draws parallels between the application of these beliefs in Jesus' life time and in early Christian society, and how she has seen them articulated in her own life experiences, and how the modern world calls us to actively implement these beliefs in the modern world.

This is not a book about how you should interpret the Apostles' Creed. It is a book of how she personally interprets it and the responsibility she feels when she says the prayer, because she does not believe that God acts in a vacuum, but that God acts through all his creatures and that we are partially responsible for creating God's kingdom on earth. Chapters which I found particularly insightful were the mediations that analyzed the concepts of Goad Our Father, the sections on the Holy Sprit, the significance of Mary's role model for the Christian faith, suffering, and the implications of Pontius Pilate. The chapters are short, and despite the deep analysis with which each topic is addressed, the writing style is simple, making her exegesis easy to understand and memorable. The book is an excellent format for mediation.

Even if one does not agree with all her interpretations, the book is a valuable exercise in how to find meaning in traditional prayers; it's framework of analysis can be applied to any written prayer. After reading it, it is difficult to mouth another traditional prayer without reflection and meaning, so that all future prayers become more powerful by the learning the insight obtained in this book.

Altough I am a liberal United Methodist, this book by a Roman Catholic nun has validated and renewed my own beliefs, even as they are being assaulted by the rigid fundamentalist now in our local church's pulpit.

Having read more deeply in her later two books: "Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope" then "Called to Question" I can see Sister Joan thru different & totally unique eyes! She is True to Prof. Bruegge's description as that "One Fearsome Lady!

I am also struggling with "Genuine Faith" that can rest firmly upon the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. Growing-up serving on Baptist Church Staffs for 50 yrs I took neither Creed very seriously. From my perspective as new Episcopalian I've arrived at deeper understanding of ways Sister Joan defines her personal Faith, Hope, and her Belief.

I dare not miss being continually "Surprised by Joy" with her metaphors of the Suffering of Jesus! She refers to "this vale of tears" in her longer and stronger chapter!

A careful thoughtful reading of her quotations by Francis Bacon, John Donne, especially Kierkegaard could possibly convince her reviewers to avoid being critical of her Catholic Value as One Super Valid Scholar! Amen for our brightly Fearsome Lady!
...Retired Chap. Fred W Hood

You've lost your once-held faith?

Before you give up the search entirely, just read chapter 1 and then see...

In the face of doubts about the credibility of the Catholic Church in the world, Joan Chittister calls us back to the roots of our faith, our Creed, and invites those of us who question and challenge our Church to remember why we remain believing Christians!

Joan Chittister's approach to the Creed makes eminently good sense. Writing for the educated layperson, Chittister provides us a way of thinking about the Creed that allows us to say it and mean it, vs. recite it without really thinking about what we're saying because we don't hold with the meanings assigned it by catechists of yore.