Reclaiming the Spirit: Gay Men and Lesbians Come to Terms with Their Religion

This is an important contribution to the literature on spiritual development, as significant for ""straight"" readers as for gay men and lesbian women. That it is a book about ""coming out"" as a spiritual experience and about spiritual experience as a coming out is captured most explicitly in Shallenberger's conclusion, in which he quotes the Gospel of Thomas: ""If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."" Shallenberger allows his informants, a total of 12 men and women, to speak for themselves in their distinctive voices. He then carefully weaves his own theoretical reflection and brief commentary into the text. The book is divided into four parts that correspond to significant markers on the journey of spiritual development: ""deep questioning,"" ""finding community,"" ""choosing to leave the mainstream"" and ""developing a ministry."" Shallenberger writes that the goal of his study is ""to understand the way coparticipants--gay men and lesbian women--describe their spiritual journeys, beginning with their own definitions of spirituality."" Written in accessible prose, the book deserves a broad audience. (Jan.)