A Religion of One’s Own: A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World

The author, whose bestselling Care of the Soul (1992) helped define an era of therapeutic spirituality, reprises many of the themes and preoccupations that he has written about in a dozen books: contemplation, eros, and intuition ought to play formative influences in a rich spiritual life. Moore updates his argument by considering it in the context that writings such as his helped to develop: the world of the secular, populated by those untutored in religion or critical of its institutions but interested in authentic living. For these he urges: pay attention to your dreams, desires, intuitions, and deep drives, and use religious traditions as resources in developing the titular religion of one’s own. Moore’s own spiritual formation is deeply Catholic. When he is read closely, his depth is apparent, but his heterodox syncretism makes him a natural target for less well-read enforcers of traditional religion. There’s not much new here for those who have followed him for two decades, but he stands to make some new converts to the noninstitutional ranks of spirituality. Agent: Todd Shuster, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth. (Jan.)