Knowing Beyond Words : Reflections on the Inexpressable

by MCQUISTON JOHN

• ISBN13: 9780819219015
• ISBN10: 0819219010
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Abingdon Pr

Summary

"God employs many translators, " said John Donne. In John McQuiston's new book Knowing Beyond Words, the bestselling author of Always We Begin Again collects inspired and inspiring prose and poetry from many of the brilliant men and women who have tried to translate the inexpressible.

The words of any one person, McQuiston says, may simply be inadequate to talk about the nature of God, the creation of joy, the search for meaning, giving, prayer and meditation, humility, and death. But we are compelled to try to say something. The contributors here, representing the variety of world religions and philosophies, attempt to bring illumination to what is ultimately difficult or impossible to say.

McQuiston uses the classic images and language of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a starting point, and proceeds to the words of writers and thinkers across centuries and traditions. These include Teresa of Avila, T.S. Eliot, Reinhold Neibuhr, Rabbi David Cooper, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Confucius, Thomas Merton, John Shelby Spong, Annie Dillard, Krishnamurti, The Dala

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Attempts to Speak of the Nature of God	1	(36)
Attempts to Speak of the Creating Joy	37	(34)
Attempts to Speak of the Search for Meaning	71	(16)
Attempts to Speak of Giving	87	(24)
Attempts to Speak of Prayer and Meditation	111	(18)
Attempts to Speak of Forgiveness	129	(16)
Attempts to Speak of Humility	145	(22)
Attempts to Speak of Death	167	(22)
Notes	189	(1)
Acknowledgments	190	(3)
Selected Bibliography	193