Praying in the Dark: Spirituality, Nonviolence, and the Emerging World

by Daniel O. Snyder

Overview

Nonviolence for the soul. Nonviolence for the world. The future of democracy. How are we going to find our way through all the polarizations to a new world that works for everyone? Against the backdrop of his Quaker heritage and his own life story, Dan Snyder brings together the four disciplines of theology, depth psychology, strategic nonviolence, and spirituality. The resulting conversation points toward a reimagining of God, self, and world. We can be both incredibly joyful and deeply responsible citizens. We can drink from the deep wells of compassion and mercy. Those wells are fed by hidden springs that are beyond fixed ideologies, beyond belief and doubt, beyond action and inaction, even beyond all of our convictions about religious, moral, or political correctness. We are created by Love, for love. We drink deeply from Love's hidden spring when we learn to pray in the dark.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666724974
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	10/04/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	236
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Daniel O. Snyder is a pastoral counselor and spiritual director in Black Mountain, NC.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“From the boundary between contemplation and action, Dan Snyder shares his wilderness journey into the depths of self and world. . . . In anguish, uncertainties, and joyful discoveries, he wrestles with God. Listening to the soul in clients, dreams, and Scripture, he redefines nonviolence as inner as well as outer activism. This book reveals how psychotherapy, theology, and prayer each can open us to divine mystery and love.”

—R. Melvin Keiser, Guilford College, emeritus



“Dan Snyder is a skilled guide to personal and collective integration, reconciliation, love, and joy. Drawing from an array of disciplines and from his experiences as a peace activist, therapist, educator, jazz lover, and Quaker Jesus follower, he shows us ways to ‘become true’ and whole. This book offers illumination, healing, and generative wisdom. It is a rich and good gift, worth reading, rereading, and pondering.”

—Guy Sayles, Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity



“Powerful, clear, poetic, and deeply relevant to our times, this book is distilled from a lifetime of faithful seeking. Beginning with a profound adolescent awareness of being fully loved by God, Dan invites us into the currents of this mystery fed by the tributaries of Quakerism, theology, nonviolence, biblical studies, philosophy, depth psychology, and jazz. In the multiple-sourced writing, he revives and rehabilitates the seriously endangered words in our day: God, prayer, truth, and Jesus.”

—Mahan Siler, author of Exile or Embrace



“Praying in the Dark is a must-read for all who understand that nonviolence is the only way forward for our world. Dan Snyder does a masterful job of joining contemplation to action, calling us to engage with our deepest selves in order to engage in life-giving ways with the needs of the world. A longtime explorer of the inner life, Dan is a trustworthy guide for anyone willing to plumb the depths of being human in quest of the beloved community.”

—Parker J. Palmer, author of Healing the Heart of Democracy

Editorial Reviews

From the boundary between contemplation and action, Dan Snyder shares his wilderness journey into the depths of self and world. . . . In anguish, uncertainties, and joyful discoveries, he wrestles with God. Listening to the soul in clients, dreams, and Scripture, he redefines nonviolence as inner as well as outer activism. This book reveals how psychotherapy, theology, and prayer each can open us to divine mystery and love.”

—R. Melvin Keiser, Guilford College, emeritus



“Dan Snyder is a skilled guide to personal and collective integration, reconciliation, love, and joy. Drawing from an array of disciplines and from his experiences as a peace activist, therapist, educator, jazz lover, and Quaker Jesus follower, he shows us ways to ‘become true’ and whole. This book offers illumination, healing, and generative wisdom. It is a rich and good gift, worth reading, rereading, and pondering.”

—Guy Sayles, Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity



“Powerful, clear, poetic, and deeply relevant to our times, this book is distilled from a lifetime of faithful seeking. Beginning with a profound adolescent awareness of being fully loved by God, Dan invites us into the currents of this mystery fed by the tributaries of Quakerism, theology, nonviolence, biblical studies, philosophy, depth psychology, and jazz. In the multiple-sourced writing, he revives and rehabilitates the seriously endangered words in our day: God, prayer, truth, and Jesus.”

—Mahan Siler, author of Exile or Embrace



“Praying in the Dark is a must-read for all who understand that nonviolence is the only way forward for our world. Dan Snyder does a masterful job of joining contemplation to action, calling us to engage with our deepest selves in order to engage in life-giving ways with the needs of the world. A longtime explorer of the inner life, Dan is a trustworthy guide for anyone willing to plumb the depths of being human in quest of the beloved community.”

—Parker J. Palmer, author of Healing the Heart of Democracy

From the Publisher