The Great Search: Turning to Earth and Soul in the Quest for Healing and Home
In the great tradition of authors who leave church but remain spiritual--such as Barbara Brown Taylor, Rob Bell--the author of Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul forges a new path toward a true spiritual home, embracing a deep connection to the natural world.
The story of Adam and Eve's fall from innocence in the Garden of Eden is a mythical account of humanity's broken relationship with the divine, with Earth, and with themselves.
In contrast, Celtic wisdom is built on a strong bond with Earth. In the prophetic figures that Newell draws from, the Garden of Eden represents the inner garden of our souls and the outer garden of Earth, which are seen as essentially one. To live in relation to what is deepest in us is to live in relation to the ground from which we and all things have come. Where are we today, in relation to our true selves and the sacredness of Earth? And how are we to find our way home again?
This life-affirming, nourishing book contemplates these questions at a moment of great spiritual awakening, an era characterized by religious exile on a vast scale. We need a new sense of home spiritually, deeply rooted within ourselves and in our shared journey with each other and Earth.
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John Philip Newell is an internationally acclaimed spiritual teacher, speaker, and author of several books. The former warden of Iona Abbey in the Western Isles of Scotland, he is the founder of Earth and Soul--a Celtic Initiative of Study, Spiritual Practice, and Compassionate Action. He teaches regularly in California, New England, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, and Canada and leads international pilgrimages to Iona.
"If I could introduce you to ten amazing people whose influence could transform your life by energizing your spiritual quest, they would be the nine visionaries featured in The Great Search... plus a tenth, John Philip Newell himself. What a treasure this book is. Enthusiastically recommended!" -- Brian D. McLaren, author of Life After Doom
"In magnificent cadences of measured writing, Newell profiles nine prophets of today's ecological crisis. Life and death are set before us. Choose life!" -- Alastair McIntosh, author of Soil and Soul
"A moving and powerful volume. This book points us in wise directions." -- Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
"I love books like this! Newell takes the urgent and timely issue of reimagining religion's relationship with Earth and shows how wise voices have been modelling this all along. ... [The Great Search] is such an engaging collection of prophets and poets that draws us into a more expansive relationship with the spiritual world of nature. Beware: reading this book will lead to ordering more books! -- James Stump, author of The Sacred Chain
"This book sings the songs of a loving heart, expressing the yearnings of the divine within. His words feel like touchstones, guiding lights in a time of darkness." -- Rabbi Nahum Ward-Lev, author of The Liberating Path of the Hebrew Prophets
"Here is a powerful book of stories of reconciliation with Earth so deeply needed in our time." -- Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
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