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In
Our Hearts Are Restless, Richard Lischer takes readers on a guided tour of spiritual autobiography, examining the life writings of twenty-one figures from the obvious (Thomas Merton) to the surprising (James Baldwin); and from the ancient (Augustine) to the contemporary (Anne Lamott). Readers will come away with new insights into these figures' lives but also a new appreciation of the art and craft of spiritual writing.
List of contents
- Introduction: The Artistry of the Soul
- Search and Surrender
- 1. Augustine: Restless Traveler
- 2. Augustine: Traveler's Rest
- 3. Thomas Merton: Journey Through Purgatory
- Revelations
- 4. Julian of Norwich: Seeing is Believing
- 5. Emily Dickinson: Camera Obscura
- How Goes the Battle?
- 6. John Bunyan: The Uncertainty Principle
- 7. Agnes Beaumont: Persecution and Defiance
- The Stripping of the Altar
- 8. Peter Abelard: Ruined
- 9. Heloise of Paris: What Will Survive of Us is Love
- 10. Etty Hillesum: The Radiance of a Yellow Star
- 11. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Last Lessons
- 12. C. S. Lewis: Surprised by Death
- 13. Reynolds Price: An Illness and a Healing
- Pilgrimages
- 14. Thérèse of Lisieux: The Little Way
- 15. Harriet Jacobs: Witness
- 16. Dorothy Day: A Life for the Poor
- 17. Kathleen Norris: A Revised Itinerary
- New Every Day
- 18. Anne Lamott: Adventures with Jesus
- 19. Heidi Neumark: A Ministry in the South Bronx
- Nomadic Faith
- 20. James Baldwin: Autobiography as Exorcism
- 21. Dennis Covington: A Snake Handler's Faith
- 22. Richard Rodriquez: The Long Way Home
About the author
Richard Lischer is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Duke Divinity School. He is the author or editor of fifteen books, including The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America (OUP, 1995, Expanded, 2020), as well as two spiritual memoirs, Open Secrets: A Memoir of Faith and Discovery and Stations of the Heart: Parting with a Son.
Summary
A guided tour of spiritual autobiography that grants readers new insights and appreciation of the genre
The genre of spiritual autobiography has flourished ever since Augustine essentially invented it in the fourth century. In Our Hearts Are Restless, Richard Lischer--himself the author of two spiritual memoirs--takes readers on a guided tour of the genre, examining the life writings of twenty-one figures from the expected (Thomas Merton) to the surprising (James Baldwin); from the sublime Julian of Norwich and Emily Dickinson to the outrageous Anne Lamott.
Lischer is a perceptive reader and an engaging guide in the art and craft of spiritual writing. Our Hearts Are Restless shows readers how history's most brilliant spiritual writers have sought and found a pattern of meaning in the face of tragedy, conflict, and the responsibilities of daily life.
Additional text
Lischer is a gifted stylist, who writes beautifully, and there are gems of wisdom and insightto be found on every page. This is an extraordinarily rich book, in which we are offered awindow on the workings of God amidst the messiness and brokenness of a cast of flawed individuals, and in which its grittiness is evenly matched by its holiness. It is both deeplyhuman and deeply authentic. For this reason, and for so many others, tolle lege.
