Exploring the religious impulse known as mysticism the "silent cry" at the heart of all the world's religions.Mysticism, in the sense of a "longing for God," has been present in all times, cultures, and religions. But Soelle believes it has never been more important than in this age of materialism and fundamentalism. The antiauthoritarian mystical element in each religion leads to community of free spirits and resistance to the death-dealing aspects of our contemporary culture. Religion in the third millennium, Soelle argues, either will be mystical or it will be dead.

Therefore, Soelle identifies strongly with the hunger of New Age searchers, but laments the religious fast food they devour. Today, a kind of "democratized mysticism" of those without much religious background flourishes. This mystical experience is not drawn so much of the tradition as out of contemporary experiences. In that sense, each of us is a mystic, and Soelle's work seeks to give theological depth, clarity, and direction.

This, her magnum opus, conjoins Soelle's deep religious knowledge and wisdom with her passion for social justice into a work destined to be a classic of religious literature.

Here one of the most widely read theologians of our time returns to the most basic question of all: God. Yet she does so with a twist. Soelle's work invites the reader on a personal quest for a new, world-embracing notion of God, one that can counter the gravitational pull of first-world people's political apathy, material acquisitiveness, and spiritual numbness.

In these nine short chapters, Soelle seeks to leverage our incipient desire for social, political, and gender justice into commitment to God's justice. The question of God becomes, then, not an argument or even a summons but a deeper engagement with life itself and its central mysteries.

One of Soelle's most beautiful books, Theology for Skeptics is a brave confession and an engaged meditation on the central themes of religion.