When 'Spiritual but Not Religious' is Not Enough: Seeing God in Surprising Places, Even the Church

New
Paperback
2014
$20.82

People find it comfortable and convenient to create their own version of God-but can they really face the God who created them? The phrase I'm spiritual, but not religious has been used so much as a blanket statement of faith that it has become a cliche. Some users have been damaged by particular traditions; others cannot settle for just one. Often religious people - especially if they are open-minded and progressive themselves - don't know how to respond. Lillian Daniel answes the dilemma with real, compelling stories of what a life of faith can truly be: odd, wondrous, God-soaked and worth trying. Here are people looking for God in the midst of everyday life, unashamed to be religious in the full and wonderful sense of the word. Private spiritual life keeps people self-focused and vague, depriving them of centuries of careful religious thought, current debate, and most importantly, a community of support. It is not remarkable to see God in sunsets and mountaintops; what is remarkable is to find God in the midst of fallible human beings. When Spiritual but Not Religious is Not Enough is the book for people who want to find God in nature and in other weird places: prison, airports, yoga classes, committee meetings, and even the weirdest of all places, the local church.

Synopsis

People find it comfortable and convenient to create their own version of God-but can they really face the God who created them? The phrase I'm spiritual, but not religious has been used so much as a blanket statement of faith that it has become a cliche. Some users have been damaged by particular traditions; others cannot settle for just one. Often religious people - especially if they are open-minded and progressive themselves - don't know how to respond. Lillian Daniel answes the dilemma with real, compelling stories of what a life of faith can truly be: odd, wondrous, God-soaked and worth trying. Here are people looking for God in the midst of everyday life, unashamed to be religious in the full and wonderful sense of the word. Private spiritual life keeps people self-focused and vague, depriving them of centuries of careful religious thought, current debate, and most importantly, a community of support. It is not remarkable to see God in sunsets and mountaintops; what is remarkable is to find God in the midst of fallible human beings. When Spiritual but Not Religious is Not Enough is the book for people who want to find God in nature and in other weird places: prison, airports, yoga classes, committee meetings, and even the weirdest of all places, the local church.

$20.82

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 16 Jan 2014
ISBN 10: 1455523097
ISBN 13: 9781455523092

Media Reviews

Marvelously gritty wit...an impassioned and winning case for why church, community, and formal religious traditions are so integral to creating a fulfilling life....her ideas are thought provoking and infectious. Booklist, Starred Review
Intelligent, inviting and nurturing, these essays...offer a rich banquet for pastors, lifelong congregants, disaffected Christians, and confused seekers alike. Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
This is the wonderful, essential Lillian Daniel at her best-earthy, perceptive, devout, tough-minded, angry and laugh-out-loud funny, all in one. Daniel's easygoing style is just right for revealing her great gift of finding God in the everyday. Sometimes she is biting. Sometimes she is tender and often what she says is stunningly beautiful. Bob Abernethy, Executive Editor, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, PBS
You read some things because you have to or need to or ought to. You'll read Lillian Daniel for the pure pleasure of pitch-perfect writing-she has the rare talent of a natural. Along the way, you'll discover enrichment and insight that you needed and wanted ... Lillian cooks up a delicious and nourishing feast for readers. Don't miss it! Brian McLaren, author of Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? (brianmclaren.net)
In short, zingy anecdotes, Daniel strikes out at what she sees at the spiritual laziness of those who opt for personal faith outside of a church community. Controversial but powerfully argued. Booklist, starred review
Here is why I love Lillian Daniel's writing: it is honest; it is funny; and it teaches me about Mary and Martha via a yoga class. The church she describes is the place that has sustained my spiritual life when my own interior sense of God's presence has faltered; and it is the place that, as often as not, is where I am sitting when my sense of God's presence reignites. Lauren F. Winner, author of Girl Meets God and Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis
Lillian is as fed up with bad religion as anyone else, but she's also careful to celebrate good religion and good spirituality that brings people to life and makes the world a better place. May her book invite us to stop complaining about the Church we've experienced and work on becoming the Church we dream of. Shane Claiborne, author and activist, facebook.com/ShaneClaiborne

Author Bio

Lillian Daniel has served as the Senior Minister of the First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn in Chicago since 2004. A regular contributor to the Huffington Post, she is an editor at large for Christian Century Magazine, a contributing editor at Leadership Journal, and the host of the Chicago-based television show 30 Good Minutes. Her Huffington Post article Spiritual but Not Religious? Please Stop Boring Me gained widespread interfaith attention after going viral on the Web. She is the author of two previous books: Tell It Like It Is: Reclaiming the Practice of Testimony, and This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers. She has taught preaching at Yale Divinity School, Chicago Theological Seminary and the University of Chicago Divinity School.