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An honest, authentic voice in the spiritual wilderness, Rolheiser's The Holy Longing has been something of a sensation, selling over 100,000 copies. Now he tackles one of the plagues of the modern era---loneliness and alienation. Technology just can't fill our need for intimacy and friendship. 224 pages, hardcover. Doubleday.
In this re-issue of a book first published more than two decades ago,
Rolheiser, a Catholic priest and author, looks at the deep longing every
person experiences and often names as loneliness. He examines its nature and
inherent dangers at some length, but also shows how loneliness can bring great
benefits, as it often does in the lives of artists. Loneliness, he writes,
presents both potential peril and tremendous opportunity for growth, giving
birth to the latter when "understood and channeled creatively." Rolheiser
develops his ideas by showing how the Hebrew and Christian scriptures and
various theologians from Augustine to Karl Rahner have dealt with this basic
human problem. He also draws on writers as diverse as the mystic John of the
Cross, philosopher Siren Kierkegaard and novelist John Updike. Kierkegaard, he
says, was able to mine beauty from his loneliness by seeing it as a "vocation"
and himself as someone who could form his pain into "beautiful music-music
that could bring healing to those who hear it." Rolheiser goes on to propose
a "spirituality of loneliness" rooted in prayer and "the community of life."
Readers who have delved into spiritual classics and the works of contemporary
religious writers for answers to this basic human question will be attracted
to this book, which eschews spiritual fluff. Rolheiser is not given to
romantic illusions or easy answers, but serves as an informed guide who is
familiar with the challenging territory about which he writes. (June)
Forecast: Rolheiser's book The Holy Longing has sold more than 100,000 copies.
Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Availability: Only 2 in stock - order soon! Additional quantities may be backordered.
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