Amazing grace
Subtitle: a vocabulary of faith
By: Kathleen Norris
Edition: 1st Riverhead trade paperback ed.
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 384
ISBN-13: 9781573227216
Subjects: Christian life; Presbyterian authors; Terminology; Christianity
Description: "Struggling with her return to the Christian church after many years away, Kathleen Norris found it was the language of Christianity that most distanced her from faith. Words like "judgment", "faith", "dogma", "salvation", "sinner" -- even "Christ" -- formed what she called her "scary vocabulary", words that had become so codified or abstract that their meanings were all but impenetrable. She found she had to wrestle with them and make them her own before they could confer their blessings and their grace. Blending history, theology, story-telling, etymology, and memoir, Norris uses these words as a starting point for reflection, and offers a moving account of her own gradual conversion. She evokes a rich spirituality rooted firmly in the chaos of everyday life -- and offers believers and doubters alike an illuminating perspective on how we can embrace ancient traditions and find faith in the contemporary world." -- from back cover.
Table of contents: title: Eschatology; title: Antichrist; title: Silence; title: Salvation; title: Inheritance: blessing and curse; title: Incarnation; title: Detachment; title: Conversion: the family story; title: Exorcism; title: Perfection; title: Prayer; title: Belief, doubt, and sacred ambiguity; title: Repentance; title: Annunciation; title: Inheritance: what religion were you raised in, and what are you now?; title: Commandments; title: Idolatry; title: Bible; title: Righteous; title: Conversion: the stories; title: God; title: Blood; title: Virgin Mary, Mother of God; title: Anger; title: Conversion: The feminist impasse; title: Chosen; title: Fear; title: Conversion: one more boom; title: Grace; title: Intolerance/forbearance; title: Christ; title: Sinner, wretch, and reprobate; title: Faith; title: Good and evil; title: Preaching; title: The Bible: illiteracies and ironies; title: Heresy/apostasy; title: Creeds; title: Orthodoxy; title: God-talk; title: Inquisition; title: Oppression; title: Herod; title: Conversion: the wild West; title: Ecstasy; title: Medieval; title: Christian; title: The Bible study; title: Worship; title: Conversion: my Ebenezer; title: The Bible: give me a word; title: "Organized" religion; title: Hospitality; title: Church; title: Lectio Divina; title: Mystic; title: Trinity; title: Seeking; title: Conversion: the scary stuff; title: Evangelism; title: Imagination (or, How many Christians does it take to balance N. Scott Momaday?); title: Unchurched; title: Hell; title: Judgment; title: Apocalypse; title: Prayer as remembrance: the expert marksman's medal; title: Dogma; title: Angels; title: Wickedness; title: Interpretation: "I know not"; title: Revelation; title: Pentecostal; title: Prayer as mystery; title: Neighbor; title: Theology; title: Asceticism; title: Heaven; title: Infallibility; title: Truth; title: The new Jerusalem.