How to Believe

December 24, 2007
Impelled by a life-changing religious experience and a host of questions about God's role in the world, Spayde set out on a road trip to “understand Jesus and the people who love him.” The former editor of the Utne Reader
, Spayde also sought to confront some of his own liberal preconceptions about Christian conservatives and to explore the tension between faith and intellect. Crisscrossing America in his search for revelatory spiritual narratives, Spayde interviewed 34 men and women of very diverse beliefs and experiences. They included a controversial retired Episcopal bishop, married evangelical urban missioners, a Mormon convert and screenwriter, a bisexual author and spiritual director and the Catholic priest who is Toronto's poet laureate. Weaving his own narrative with those of the women and men he portrays, Spayde came to believe that faith is more about action than about correct doctrine. Surrendering to God, he asserts, is encouraged through tradition, relationship and community, and cultivated in an appreciation of the mystery at its heart. So many of the stories recounted here are compelling that readers may wish that Spayde had gone into some in more detail—or saved some for another volume.

February 1, 2008
Spaydes religious upbringing was typical for a middle-class baby boomer: Bible stories in Sunday school, boys choir (Episcopal), rote memorization of the confirmation class catechism. It didnt really mean anything to him. By adulthood, demon alcohol had taken over. His boozing-writers life in New York was dire until an epiphany of sorts one Friday night when a middle-aged drunk requested assistance and asked an improbable question, Are you an angel? From then on, Spaydes life changed. Spayde also portrays believers famous (e.g., Franciscan Richard Rohr, Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong, Catholic sister Joyce Rupp) and not (Christian music singer-songwriters, missionaries, theologians, preachers) who have struggled with their faith and practice Christianity in their own individualistic ways. By asking them questions, Spayde hoped to move beyond doctrine and dogma to explore what he calls the realm of lived experience. A moving, thoughtful portrait of disparate people of faith.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)