This is a love story.

Girl meets boy. Boy joins a monastic order. Their relationship sets a young woman on a much different path than she ever imagined.

Woven together in Karen Sloan's Flirting with Monasticism are two stories of love and commitment: her exploration of monastic spirituality set against the yearlong journey of a novice class of men preparing to join the Dominican order. Each breathlessly confusing but ultimately fulfilling step leads to unexpected treasures: new ways to pray, a deeper experience of Christian community, and closer communion with God.

"I have never read a gentler, more fully human or more candid story about the intersection of evangelical and Catholic ways of being the body of Christ on Earth. Our tradition would be well served if there were more such stories and such Christian candor."
-Phyllis Tickle, compiler, The Divine Hours

"Karen Sloan is an emerging leader whose honest voice, thoughtful insight, personal vulnerability and theological generosity deserve respect and careful attention. Many sincere followers of Christ will, like me, feel a deep resonance as they read her story of coming of age in the context of passionate spiritual aspiration."
-Brian McLaren, author/speaker (brianmclaren.net)

Karen E. Sloan (M.Div., Fuller Theological Seminary) is a campus minister at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, serving as a volunteer with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. She regularly leads groups in monastic practices such as the Liturgy of the Hours.

This is a love story. Girl meets boy. Boy joins a monastic order. Their relationship sets a young woman on a much different path than she ever imagined. Woven together in Karen Sloan's Flirting with Monasticism are two stories of love and commitment: her exploration of monastic spirituality set against the yearlong journey of a novice class of men preparing to join the Dominican order. Each breathlessly confusing but ultimately fulfilling step leads to unexpected treasures: new ways to pray, a deeper experience of Christian community, and closer communion with God.

Karen Sloan has spent the past few years exploring the Dominican order and monastic life—a story she recounts in the Likewise book As a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Karen often hosts conversations about monastic life and leads groups in ancient practices like the Liturgy of the Hours. As a leader in the Emergent movement, Karen travels the country networking for presbymergent (http://www.presbymergent.org). She was recently interviewed with Brian McLaren in an Emergent Village podcast. John Ortberg is teaching pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church and author of many books, including

Readers from an evangelical background who want some sense of the riches of liturgical traditions, particularly Roman Catholicism, will find an apt guide in Sloan, a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary who is a Presbyterian campus minister. Having grown up in a megachurch, she writes of finding herself drawn to the Dominicans. Part of the appeal is her romantic attraction to a male novice in training to enter the Dominican Order. Readers who understand the vows monks take will probably grow weary of Sloan's unrequited infatuation and apparent lack of realization that the relationship is a dead-end. That aside, Sloan is an excellent translator of Roman Catholicism for evangelical readers. The book, which reads like a blog, explores areas where evangelicals may feel at home with monasticism (community life) as well as with practices that feel foreign (praying to the saints and the Virgin Mary). She reflects early on about being an outsider and getting little help learning Catholic traditions, but the year she spent "flirting with monasticism" left her with a deep appreciation of things Catholic, especially those related to contemplative life and practices. Young evangelicals, particularly those who self-identify with the emerging church movement, will find her narrative intriguing. (Dec.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

"As Karen Sloan takes us into the hallowed hallways of a Catholic Dominican community through the hallowed hallways of her own seeking heart, she unearths priceless treasures from our ancient Christian past. Flirting with Monasticism is a wonderful guidebook that calls us to be rooted in our own traditions and open to the God who expands our hearts and minds, and leads us through uncharted terrain toward fullness of life."

"I have never read a gentler, more fully human or more candid story about the intersection of evangelical and Catholic ways of being the body of Christ on earth. Our tradition would be well served if there were more such stories and such Christian candor."

"Karen Sloan is an emerging leader whose honest voice, thoughtful insight, personal vulnerability and theological generosity deserve respect and careful attention. Many sincere followers of Christ will, like me, feel a deep resonance as they read Karen's story of coming of age in the context of passionate spiritual aspiration."

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