Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir

by Joan D. Chittister

Overview

This unique and intensely personal memoir is about spirituality, not about religion,and it is alive with the raw energy of a journal and polisjed with the skill of the master storyteller.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580512251
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/24/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	392 KB

About the Author

Joan Chittister is a Benedictine sister, best-selling author, and a well-known national and international lecturer. In 2007 she was awarded the Outstanding Leadership Award from The Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Prologue: The Journey from Religion to Spirituality	1
Chapter 1	Religion: A Finger Pointing at the Moon	11
Chapter 2	Spirituality: Beyond the Boundaries of Religion	17
	The Inward Life: A Discovery of the Obvious	25
Chapter 3	The God Within: Who Shall I Say Sent Me?	31
Chapter 4	The Presence of God: The Truth That Sets Us Free	37
Chapter 5	Prayer: Every Time I Do Get Time	43
Chapter 6	The Call of God: An Echo in the Heart	49
Chapter 7	Insight: The Alchemy of Experience	55
Chapter 8	Solitude: The Balm of the Soul	63
Chapter 9	The Self: The Ground of Our Becoming	71
Chapter 10	Commitment: The Place of Change in the Spiritual Life	77
Chapter 11	Balance: Going through Life Whole and Holy	83
Chapter 12	Darkness: A Way to the Light	89
	Immersion in Life: The Other Side of Inwardness	97
Chapter 13	Relationships: To Know and Be Known	103
Chapter 14	Friendship: The Gift of Independence	111
Chapter 15	Listening: The Beginning of Wisdom	119
	Resistance: The Gospel Imperative	125
Chapter 16	Justice: Passion for the Reign of God	131
Chapter 17	Power in the Powerless: The Courage to Refuse Evil	139
	Feminist Spirituality: The Coming of a New World	147
Chapter 18	Society and Women: The Loss of Soul	155
Chapter 19	Men and Women: The Discovery of the Adult	161
Chapter 20	The Church and Women: Speaking in the Name of God	169
	Ecology: The Other Side of the Spiritual Life	177
Chapter 21	Nature: The Voice of God around Us	185
Chapter 22	Creation: The Process That Never Ends	191
	Dailiness: The Gifts of the Mundane	199
Chapter 23	Struggle: The Search for God in Darkness	207
Chapter 24	Joy: The God Who Loves Laughter	215
Chapter 25	Sanctity: The Task of Growing into God	221
	Epilogue	227
	Notes	229
	About the Author	231

What People are Saying About This

Shirley Ragsdale

The book maps Chittister's 'conscious, perilous journey from religion to spirituality.'

Editorial Reviews

Sister Joan's book is an inner journey of the soul.

Messenger - Owen Phelps

In Called to Question, Joan Chittister calls us to enter deeply into ourselves as she enters into herself in this memoir that bears the compelling marks of a spiritual classic of our time. Already one of the true voices of the post-Vatican II age, she speaks to us as Woman, as Church, as Spiritual Guide but, most of all, following the mystical poet Blake, in a voice that cleanses the doors of perception so that we may see the universe as it is, infinite. Joan understands that religion is not the work of the will but of the imagination and that the Church is the sacrament of the world, just as it is. Read this to know Joan Chittister better, to know yourself more truly, and to grasp the meaning of sacramental faith more deeply.

Eugene Kennedy

Inspiring and edifying spiritual memoir. Consider this work as an example of the growth and transformation that can come from reading and savoring the spiritual words of others.

Spirituality and Health

The book maps Chittister's 'conscious, perilous journey from religion to spirituality.'

Shirley Ragsdale

This spiritual memoir is not only the story of how Chittister discovered that she was 'called to question,' but a prompting for all of us to discover that vocation within ourselves as well.

U.S. Catholic - Heidi Schlumpf

This candid memoir takes us immediately back to the challenging spirit of the gospels. Sister Joan reminds us that we have a religious duty to question any authority, however august, and to overturn the idols of orthodoxy. This wise, charitable, and humane book will give hope to anybody who has felt diminished by institutionalized religion.

Karen Armstrong

Chittister expertly and succinctly discusses the differences between religion, which she sees as an institution, and spirituality, which transcends dogma and creed, she says, and dwells in the heart. She reflects upon love and friendship, solitude and contemplation, power and evil, ecology and nature, and ultimately promotes a feminist spirituality to save the world from looming mass destruction.

Booklist

For Sister Joan Chittister, defiance is a form of obedience. And silence in the face of injustice is a sin.

USA Today

The powerhouse sister may come packaged like a powder puff—a powder-blue suit matching her powder-blue eyes. But her out spoken ways challenge any tired stereotypes of women religious, as catholic sisters and nuns are known.

Norwich Bulletin - Cathy Grossman

Some leading figures (like the Pope) never say, 'I don't know;' others (like the Dalai Lama) say it surprisingly often. Joan Chittister admirably demonstrates the sparkling wisdom which springs from befriending our uncertainty. Page after page, her spirited questioning makes us feel joyfully alive.

Brother David Steindl-Rast

For Sister Joan Chittister, defiance is a form of obedience. And silence in the face of injustice is a sin.

USA Today

Chittister expertly and succinctly discusses the differences between religion, which she sees as an institution, and spirituality, which transcends dogma and creed, she says, and dwells in the heart. She reflects upon love and friendship, solitude and contemplation, power and evil, ecology and nature, and ultimately promotes a feminist spirituality to save the world from looming mass destruction.

Booklist

Sister Joan's book is an inner journey of the soul.
— Owen Phelps

Messenger

The powerhouse sister may come packaged like a powder puff—a powder-blue suit matching her powder-blue eyes. But her out spoken ways challenge any tired stereotypes of women religious, as catholic sisters and nuns are known.
— Cathy Grossman

Norwich Bulletin

Inspiring and edifying spiritual memoir. Consider this work as an example of the growth and transformation that can come from reading and savoring the spiritual words of others.

Spirituality & Health

This spiritual memoir is not only the story of how Chittister discovered that she was 'called to question,' but a prompting for all of us to discover that vocation within ourselves as well.
— Heidi Schlumpf

U. S. Catholic

For Sister Joan Chittister, defiance is a form of obedience. And silence in the face of injustice is a sin.

Usa Today