Customer Reviews

Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC

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This book is ostensibly a dictionary of terms related to religion and faith. In reality, it's a collection of Buechner's thoughts on these issues. Some of his "definitions" are a page long, some a paragraph, some just a sentence. They all manage to capture the essence of an idea and make you look at it in sometimes startling new ways. Take, for example, his definition for Lust: "Lust is the desire for salt from someone who is dying of thirst." Or Gluttony: "A glutton is someone who raids the icebox to try to cure spiritual malnutrition."

And that's just the short form. When Buechner lets his thoughts wander, the book goes from amusing to engaging and engrossing. It's like having an amusing conversation with a delightful person, who just happens to have a lot more insight into religion than you do.

I won't say this book changed my life, though I'm tempted. It did expand my perceptions, showed me alternate ways of looking at familiar things, and restored my sense of wonder in my (Christian) faith and in the world around me.

I heartily recommend it to any "Seeker" of any faith.

Buechner's Wishful Thinking provides thought-provoking ideas for well-read scholars, but is certainly accessible to anyone who is not afraid to think critically about matters of faith. It is a great resource for teachers and group leaders who want to get people talking, and it provides a useful challenge to typical opinions when discussion has reached a stalemate.

These warm but decidedly non-treacly theological mini-essays are just wonderful. I've never made any headway with Buechner's fiction, but this book reveals him as a superb aphorist. These essays were written to blow the dust off of shopworn religious words, to enable the reader to get at the great Christian themes afresh. They succeed--each essay is a pearl of homey wisdom and quiet wonder, soaked in tenderness and sensitivity and gentle humor. What's more amazing was that they were written at the close of the Sixties, during the Jesus Freak thing, yet very little residue of that era clings to them. They are darn near timeless.

This first of three volumes of theological essays is the best, but the other two, _Whistling in the Dark_, and _Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who's Who_, are also well worth dipping into. Readers who have enjoyed these collections of aphorisms better than Buechner's fiction and other long form writing would probably enjoy _Listening to Your Life : Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner_, which is a sampler of all his work.

There are few books I can say I've read twice and probably none I've read 3 times. I've read this book at least 10 times, not always straight through, but in its entirety. Buechner is thoughtful, poignant, and funny. If this book doesn't make you reflect on life and religion, you need help. I carry with me quotes like, "reading the bible as literature is like reading Moby Dick as a whaling manual" or "an agnostic is someone who's not quite sure about the existence of God; that is, some of us all of the time and all of us some of the time. Doubt is the ants in the pants of religion." Buy this book now!

This book is definitely one of my favorites. It isn't the kind you sit down and read cover to cover, although you could of course. I occasionally pick it up and read a definition or two and then need some time to digest it, because that is what I believe the author intends for you to do. His use of language is rich and I am left longing for more food for thought. Truly a treasure.

"Wishful Thinking" is Fredrick Buechner's lexicon of some "churchy" words that need some life breathed into them. Words like "faith", "grace", and even "religion" are examined, with entries ranging from a sentence to several pages.

Buechner's unorthodox style and unique point-of-view are what carry this book. Sometimes offensive, sometimes controvesial, the entries always seem to leave you wanting to ponder the meaning for a while. I have used quotes of this book constantly for leading devotions or Bible studies; they always seem to evoke a positive response. This book is one to read and keep forever.

This book is so much fun. Buechner writes so well and thinks so clearly. It's a kind of iconoclastic dictionary. He invites us to look at words, concepts and articles of faith differently and to shatter the platitudes-all by giving short definitions of the terms we use every day as people of faith.

I've found it especially useful when writing or preparing sermons as a way to get out of the box and see a text or a concept differently with a twist. Essential for the thinking preacher

This was the first book by Frederick Buechner I have read, and I have already ordered more.
It's a quick read, yet full of little treasures. I enjoyed some of his thoughts so much that I made a list of favorites while reading, so I could go back and read those parts again, such as "homelessness".
Written in a style that should prove an easy read for all, I found it thought provoking and heart warming.

The best way to describe Frederick Buechner's Wishful Thinking is to say that it is a dictionary of thought. The book can be read through from cover to cover but this reader thinks the best way to read the book is to randomly open the pages and start reading. It begins with Abraham and immediately takes you to a discourse on Faith beginning on page 29. The book ends with Zacchaeus. In the author's own words "The fact that his name begins with Z is only one reason why Zacchaeus makes a good place to stop." This book is full of wisdom and has application in all of our lives.

Buechner offers a fresh view of a worn-out theological language. As a preacher, who's medium is this language, his insights were much needed both practically and personally.