In a Dark Wood

by Jones, Linda

• ISBN13: 9780800636241
• ISBN10: 0800636244
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-02-01
• Publisher: Fortress Pr

Summary

Doubt is as natural an experience as faith, and theologian Paul Tillich called it an indispensable component of authentic faith. In this book an extraordinary range of writers talks about the moment -- often devastating -- when they turned to God only to find neither God's presence nor consolation. Where once silence was filled with peace, now that silence signaled only emptiness. In a Dark Wood features a diverse group of voices describing unlikely and often moving journeys toward or away from faith -- Protestants, Catholics, and Jews; laypeople and religious professionals; activists, poets, politicians, and ordinary people. In addition, dozens of accompanying readings, poems, and prayers reflect on belief and doubt, on the loss of faith and its rediscovery, from the Psalmists, medieval saints, and such luminaries as W. B. Yeats and T. S. Eliot, James Baldwin and Joseph Heller, Maya Angelou and Isabel Allende, Henri Nouwen and Walter Brueggemann, Nelson Mandela and Daniel Berrigan. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
Part One --- There Is No God	1	(28)
Anonymous	3	(16)
Jane Harvey	19	(10)
Part Two --- Doubts on the Journey	29	(90)
Tony Benn	31	(8)
Rupert M. Loydell	39	(8)
John Bell	47	(14)
Sr. Petra Boex	61	(4)
Annabel Shilson-Thomas	65	(10)
Christopher Hall	75	(8)
Bruce Kent	83	(8)
Colin Parry	91	(8)
Lionel Blue	99	(14)
Chris Cole	113	(6)
Part Three --- The Phoenix of Faith	119	(90)
Gerard W. Hughes	121	(8)
Jeannine Gramick	129	(8)
Bernadette Farrell	137	(10)
Myra Poole	147	(14)
Dame Joanna Jamieson	161	(8)
Geoffrey Duncan	169	(6)
Stephen Timms, MP	175	(10)
Gerald O'Mahony	185	(8)
Denis Hurley	193	(10)
Dr. Hans Popper	203	(4)
Joan D. Chittister, OSB	207	(2)
Acknowledgments	209	(4)
Bibliography	213	(4)
Index of Authors	217