Touching the Rock: An Experience of Blindness - Softcover

Hull, John M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0281077479 ISBN 13: 9780281077472

Publisher: SPCK Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

Touching the Rock is a unique exploration of that distant, infinitely strange ‘other world’ of blindness. John Hull writes of odd sounds and echoes, of people without faces, of a curious new relationship between waking and dreaming, of a changed perception of nature and human personality. He reveals a world in which every human experience – eating and lovemaking, playing with children and buying drinks in the bar – is transformed. ‘The incisiveness of Hull’s observation, the beauty of his language, make this book poetry; the depth of his reflection turns it into phenomenology or philosophy.’

About this title

About the Author:

JOHN HULL (1935-2015) was Emeritus Professor of Religious Education at the University of Birmingham and Honorary Professor of Practical Theology in The Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education, Birmingham. In 2012 the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) granted him a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the literature of blindness. His writings in education, theology and disability have been translated into a dozen languages.

Review:

“John Hull goes a long way toward taking us with him through his descent into total blindness. . . . He lets us see with no trace of self-pity or self-praise how blindness has become far him a genuine acquisition, an unforeseeably rich gift that has made of him what so few of us are: excellent watchers and hearers of the world . . . triumphant in the teeth of ruin.” —Reynolds Price

“Glows with a light that enables the sighted to a world beyond ordinary experience. . . . We must all be grateful for the appearance of this stunning book.”  —The Washington Post 

“In 1983, Hull, a university lecturer who had lived with sight problems from the age of 13, found that the dark discs he had fought for 36 years had finally overwhelmed his sight. The spiritual and emotional reactions to his vision loss form the basis of this poignant memoir, and the many questions he asks contribute to his eventual acceptance of his fate. A richly textured dream life adds to his exploration of the ‘other world’ of blindness, and the understanding and meaning he finds coalesce into a powerful work.” —Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0281077479
• ISBN 13: 9780281077472
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216