Finding God Again: Spirituality for Adults / Edition 1

by John J. Shea

Overview

Growing out of two decades of teaching and practice, Finding God Again: Spirituality for Adults addresses, in an experiential and pastoral way, the need to re-envision God as we grow from an adolescent to adult spirituality. John Shea, a renowned pastoral counselor and teacher, shows how we can lose touch with religion, spirituality, and a belief in God because of times when our image of God is too narrow, unreal, or inadequate to make sense of our experience. Shea uses real life stories to illustrate and offer a life-changing challenge to leave behind the Superego God of childhood in favor of a Living God we can relate to as adults.

By showing the reader how to revisit God as an adult, Shea provides the motivation and method to embrace a Living God and claim the independence and responsibility that accompany genuine adulthood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742542150
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/20/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.08(w) x 9.22(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

John J. Shea is visiting associate professor of pastoral care and counseling at the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry, Boston College. For over twenty years, he taught psychology and pastoral counseling at Fordham University. Shea has lectured in the USA, Australia, India, Ireland, and Canada on the areas of psychology of religon, pastoral counseling, and life span development. He has written two books and is the author of numerous articles.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Part I: The Superego God Chapter 2 Chapter 1:The Adolescing Self Chapter 3 Chapter 2: Imaging and Fettered Imaging Chapter 4 Chapter 3: Characteristics of the Superego God Chapter 5 Chapter 4: Adolescing Religion and Formal Religion Chapter 6 Chapter 5: Images of the Superego God Part 7 Part II: The Living God Chapter 8 Chapter 6: The Adult Self Chapter 9 Chapter 7: Unfettered Imaging and Religious Experiencing Chapter 10 Chapter 8: Characteristics of the Living God Chapter 11 Chapter 9: Adult Religion and Integral Spirituality Chapter 12 Chapter 10: Images of the Living God Part 13 Part III: Transformation: From The Superego God to The Living God Chapter 14 Chapter 11: Transformation and Why It Gets So Little Attention Chapter 15 Chapter 12: What Hinders Transformation Chapter 16 Chapter 13: What Facilitates Transformation Chapter 17 Chapter 14: Images of Transformation Chapter 18 Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

This book is a wake up call: If we want to be truly religious, John Shea tells us that we must become adults capable of mutuality with God and others. We must move from the routine of religious practices to the engagement of a personal religion.

Ana-María Rizzuto

Our experience of things is shaped by our capacity to experience them. This is true of our image of God. As human beings grow and change and develop, so too does their way of understanding and relating to the infinite self-gift of God. With wisdom and insight drawn from both theology and counseling, John Shea leads us from a 'God' who is a (more or less) benign despot to the living God who is the source of all our creativity and energy and capacity to love. This is a book that will be of importance for all spiritual directors, counselors, religious educators, and pastoral ministers. Those they serve will be grateful that they read it.

Rev. Michael J. Himes

For so many of us, our God is too small--the one we learned about in first grade, alongside Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy. If we don't grow beyond this, our faith can falter and fail to sustain us, especially in difficult times. John Shea's book invites us to grow up and to bring God with us, to recognize that all of our symbols and language for the Divine falls far short of the reality and yet to know more deeply the Ultimate Mystery who loves us. This book will sustain, renew, or jump start again the reader's journey in faith.--Thomas H. Groome, author of What Makes Us Catholic and director of the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at Boston College

In our culture, so preoccupied with self-realization, human potential and spiritual practice, this book on spiritual transformation is both timely and solid. John Shea is extremely well-grounded in both psychology and spirituality. Using the wisdom of both, and with copious illustrations from the experience of real people, Shea offers a clear exposition of the inter-relationship between images of God's relationship to us and human maturity. This is not a simple self-help book. There are no easy fixes. What it offers is a penetrating and enlivening prospectus of why our images of God need to 'grow up', how this comes about and the impact such transformation has on our spiritual and psychological maturity and well-being.--Philip Sheldrake, William Leech Professor, University of Durham, UK

Our experience of things is shaped by our capacity to experience them. This is true of our image of God. As human beings grow and change and develop, so too does their way of understanding and relating to the infinite self-gift of God. With wisdom and insight drawn from both theology and counseling, John Shea leads us from a 'God' who is a (more or less) benign despot to the living God who is the source of all our creativity and energy and capacity to love. This is a book that will be of importance for all spiritual directors, counselors, religious educators, and pastoral ministers. Those they serve will be grateful that they read it.--Rev. Michael J. Himes, Professor, Theology Department, Boston College

From the Publisher

For so many of us, our God is too small—the one we learned about in first grade, alongside Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy. If we don't grow beyond this, our faith can falter and fail to sustain us, especially in difficult times. John Shea's book invites us to grow up and to bring God with us, to recognize that all of our symbols and language for the Divine falls far short of the reality and yet to know more deeply the Ultimate Mystery who loves us. This book will sustain, renew, or jump start again the reader's journey in faith.

Thomas H. Groome

This book is a wake up call: If we want to be truly religious, John Shea tells us that we must become adults capable of mutuality with God and others. We must move from the routine of religious practices to the engagement of a personal religion.

Ana-María Rizzuto

In our culture, so preoccupied with self-realization, human potential and spiritual practice, this book on spiritual transformation is both timely and solid. John Shea is extremely well-grounded in both psychology and spirituality. Using the wisdom of both, and with copious illustrations from the experience of real people, Shea offers a clear exposition of the inter-relationship between images of God's relationship to us and human maturity. This is not a simple self-help book. There are no easy fixes. What it offers is a penetrating and enlivening prospectus of why our images of God need to 'grow up', how this comes about and the impact such transformation has on our spiritual and psychological maturity and well-being.

Philip Sheldrake