In Search of Grace: A Religious Outsider's Journey Across America's Landscape of Faith - Hardcover

Hahn, Kristin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 038097701X ISBN 13: 9780380977017

Publisher: William Morrow, 2002

Synopsis

Like so many of us these days, Kristin Hahn was raised without much religion. And like so many of us, she sometimes wondered if the practice of a faith might offer some solace or substance otherwise lacking in her life.

An adventurous spirit, Hahn set out to explore faith in America. Wary of the dogma that too often separates both religions and people, she homed in on the actions that speak most convincingly of one's beliefs. Her journey commenced at a unique point in history, at a time and place marked by a vast array of choices -- ancient and new, sacred and secular -- and the freedom to choose among them.

Crisscrossing the nation, Hahn spent a week cloistered in prayer with convent nuns and a month of Ramadan fasting with Muslims. She went door-to-door with young Mormon missionaries and head-to-head with turbaned Sikh yogis. She sat through marathon meditations with Buddhist masters and spent days in conversation and ceremony with an Ojibwe medicine man. Her explorations exposed her to the rich, ancient culture of the Jews and brought her into the enclaves of Christian Scientists and Amish farmers, as well as the less traditional realms of Scientology, neopagan witchcraft, and the congregations of new-age gurus. And this was only the beginning.

What started out as curiosity soon blossomed into something greater, a powerful appreciation for the ways in which Americans observe their faith and how these rituals infuse lives with dimension and meaning.

This book is Hahn's chronicle of an unaffiliated pilgrim's progress across a uniquely American topography of sacred traditions, practices, and beliefs. Openhearted, insightful, humorous, and always thoughtful, it is a book that will speak to the universal need in all of us to seek a spiritual home.

About this title

Review

In Search of Grace chronicles Kristin Hahn's two-year journey through the smorgasbord of America's religious and spiritual communities. Like many Generation Xers, Hahn was raised in a home that wasn't affiliated with any particular religion. This didn't seem like much of a handicap until, at age 29, Hahn realized that she had become dependent on hiring people to make her feel better, whether it be acupuncturists, palm readers, or weekend seminar leaders. Hahn sensed that it was time to cultivate a spiritual practice that she could do to create more enduring stability and peace. So she did what any self-respecting American would do, she went faith shopping. "Born at the end of the 1960s ... my peers and I have at our disposal a staggering numbers of options, whether in the market for underarm deodorant or inner solace." This particular quest is not new to Americans or the spirituality genre (Godtalk, Memoirs of a Spiritual Outsider). Yet Hahn's vibrant writing, as well as her ability to be open-minded while still being savvy, makes her a fresh and trustworthy guide through this fascinating landscape. She communes with medicine men, fasts with Muslims, converses with rabbis, interviews Ram Dass, wobbles through Tantric yoga, and allows herself to be audited in the Church of Scientology. Despite the superficial limits of exploration, where every encounter is just a toe-dip into a faith, as a shopper's guide this can't be beat. --Gail Hudson

About the Author

Kristin Hahn grew up in New Mexico, then moved to Los Angeles, where she spent a decade working in the television and film industry. With Shainee Gabel, Hahn wrote, produced, and filmed the acclaimed independent documentary Anthem and wrote the book based on the film. She currently lives in California with her husband and son.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 038097701X
• ISBN 13: 9780380977017
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320