Autumn: A Spiritual Biography of the Season
List Price:
Our Price: $18.39
You Save: $4.60 (20%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $2.08 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Editor: Gary D. SchmidtEditor: Susan M. Felch
Illustrator: Mary Azarian
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-06
ISBN: 1594730059
Number of pages: 299
Publisher: Skylight Paths Publishing
Book Reviews of Autumn: A Spiritual Biography of the Season
Book Review: Should be used in interfaith dialogue sessions
Summary: 5 Stars
A dearly beloved friend of mine purchased this book for me because she said, "It screamed out at me! I had to get it for you". Well, with that kind of endorsement, what truths does it teach?
Interfaith dialogue - it can be done terribly with overtures to fanaticism and bigotry, or it can be rational and tolerant, and even classy. This is such an example.
Readers will probably unconsciously 'feel' the pull of the priest's comments, but it is uplifting, respectful, questioning language, not an indoctrination session. If you are moved by words, allow them to move you. If you are a visual person, give them primacy. There is no right or wrong way to read devtional literature. The artwork is like a window onto heaven. Get it just for the contemplative mindspace the images make ready.
This book is not a 'competition'. Some Christians may 'rejoice' that a Christian got to "control" the words (content), and consequently some folks who are not Christian may pass on that basis. Yes, one might expect a priest to be inclined to have a few christological assumptions about this particular text (as he was ostensibly trained to do in seminary). that a Jewish rabbi, of course, would not. On the other hand, because the priest is also a monk, we could quibble and claim because he is celibate, he can't possibly begin to approach such a sensual subject. Knee-jerk reactions don't take into consideration someone's whole lifetime of experience. And as if the illustrations are not powerful enough to stand on their own, I found myself looking to the depth of spirituality in those as a capstone on the text. So there, am I being biased, in my own way? Hey, at least I can say the presentation "moved" me. One might say I'm an 'educated consumer' in the 'marketplace of religious ideas'. Or does that just sound too elitist?
The authors wouldn't have collaborated, or developed their ideas together, if those thoughts weren't teleologically interfaith. Sorry, but the "Christian ghetto" is built and maintained by Christian hands. So if you won't read this book because nothing is in it besides Christian slogans, your loss. Fine, become a hostile, combative minority, you are free to do just that. The rest of us will, I think, manage to survive without you. Thank God for free speech, my tongue is my freedom.
The publisher would do well to furnish a companion volume where a Jewish person writes the commentary and a Christian illustrates. And then, a Buddhist monk writes his or her reflections on a Koranic verse, with a Zoroastrian providing visualization. Eventually, it'd be like a Baskin Robbins of human creativity, wait, isn't that what we're all supposed to be striving for, anyway?
You may not agree with all viewpoints expressed, but for such a difficult book of the Bible to read, mark, and inwardly digest, the authors show us why the Song of Songs is the holiest and most eternally relevant gift the Hebrews ever gave to the world. You should read this book.
We spiritually inclined people, and especially our leadership, do need to stop speaking FOR the texts we canonized and made holy. This book is a gentle, yet passionately forceful, reminder of that.
And to the clergy/religious educators/intellectuals who write the books that train future spiritual leaders: Spewing "religious" b.s. is STILL b.s. And worse than that, it makes you a "religious jerk". How is that effective? Because if the people sitting in your audience rise up against you, and you by your arrogance allow the work of secularism to be finished, there will be no one left in the congregations for the clergy to talk to...except themselves.
Why not...buy it for your parish priest, send it to your local Rabbi, or even just a concerned friend? I'm so glad mine gave it to me.
Summary of Autumn: A Spiritual Biography of the Season
Discover how this transitional season can reveal both the abundance and the limitations of our everyday lives.Autumn, with all its traditional images of colorful trees, frost-covered pumpkins, and piles of wood stored up against winter's cold, can be a season filled with anticipation. The harvest, the imminent onset of cold and snow, the resumption of old routines, and the beginning of the school year all require preparation and planning. If summer has been something of a pause, autumn helps us to see the passage of time more clearly.
Autumn is a season of fruition and reaping, of thanksgiving and celebration of abundance and goodness of the earth. But it is also a season that starkly and realistically encourages us to see our own limitations. Warm and stirring pieces by E. B. White, Anne Lamott, P. D. James, Julian of Norwich, May Sarton, Kimiko Hahn, and many others in this beautiful book rejoice in autumn as a time of preparation and reflection, when the results of hard labor are ripe for harvest.
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in General Books
Things Fall Apart: A Novelby Chinua Achebe
Anchor; Published: 1994-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.40
Price in other shops:
To Kill a Mockingbirdby Harper Lee
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 1988-10-11; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Fahrenheit 451by Ray Bradbury
Del Rey; Published: 1987-08-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.32
Price in other shops:
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Seventh Edition: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)by Kate L. Turabian
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2007-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.92
Price in other shops:
The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternityby William Paul Young
Oasis Audio; Published: 2008-07-01; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $17.80
Price in other shops:
The Catcher in the Ryeby J.D. Salinger
Back Bay Books; Published: 2001-01-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.49
Price in other shops:
Atlas Shruggedby Ayn Rand
Plume; Published: 1999-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.44
Price in other shops:
Consider the Lobster: And Other Essaysby David Foster Wallace
Back Bay Books; Published: 2007-07-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.45
Price in other shops:
The Secret Life of Beesby Sue Monk Kidd
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2003-01-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.25
Price in other shops:
Watchmenby Alan Moore
DC Comics; Published: 1995-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.29
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
A Mind of Winter: Poems for a Snowy SeasonBeacon Press; Published: 2002-11-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $26.50
The Language of Spring: Poems for the Season of RenewalBeacon Press; Published: 2003-04-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.75
Price in other shops:
A Dream of Summer: Poems for a Sensuous SeasonBeacon Press; Published: 2004-06-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.77
Price in other shops:
The Heart of Autumn: Poems for the Season of ReflectionBeacon Press; Published: 2003-09-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.25
Price in other shops:
Spring: A Spiritual Biography of the SeasonSkylight Paths Publishing; Published: 2006-02-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.40
Price in other shops:
Summer: A Spiritual Biography Of The SeasonSkylight Paths Publishing; Published: 2005-06-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.54
Price in other shops:
Winter: A Spiritual Biography of the SeasonSkylight Paths Publishing; Published: 2002-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops: