Paths of a Prodigal: Exploring the Deeper Regions of Spiritual Living

Can fundamentalist Christianity reach out to mystical tradition and find in it a transforming energy that will revitalize the institutionalized faith of conservative Christians? Young asks this question as he charts his own spiritual growth as a Baptist, his education as a clinical psychologist and his career as a successful academic and father, only to suddenly discover the profound unhappiness and depression that was at the center of his existence. Although his religious training had taught him that a fervent and stringent faith would bring him happiness, he finds fundamentalist Christianity incapable of bringing deep meaning to his spiritual search. He thus becomes a prodigal, searching for a variety of different religious expressions to satisfy his spiritual longings, and he finds such an expression in various religion mystical traditions. Young reveals his journey into the realization that ""for the past several hundred years our institutionalized religions have given us a totally inadequate definition and understanding of the profound transformation of consciousness that constitutes true salvation."" Part autobiography and part confession, this book offers a clarion call to the Christian community that religious practice without an emphasis on the mystical and the mysterious often becomes merely another civic chore. (Apr.)