The Hiding Places of God - Hardcover

Cornwell, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446514683 ISBN 13: 9780446514682

Publisher: Grand Central Pub, 1991

Synopsis

Shows how a journalist changed his beliefs after investigating spiritual occurrences around the world and interviewing the people who experienced them firsthand

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Reviews

In his excellent A Thief in the Night (1989), Cornwell looked into rumors that Pope John Paul I had been murdered. Here, the former seminarian conducts a yet more subtle and meaningful investigation--of the ``incidence and significance...of paranormal religious phenomena'': flying monks, weeping statues, divine apparitions, and the like. A professed agnostic, Cornwell a few years ago found his nonbelief undermined when he experienced a prophetic ``religious dream.'' His curiosity aroused, he set off on a worldwide hunt for earthly signs of a divine hand, beginning with a visit to the Yugoslavian town of Medjugorje, where, for years, three children have allegedly been conversing daily with the Virgin Mary. Although repulsed by the commercialization of the phenomenon--with souvenir- vendors and millions of tourists creating a ``spiritual Disneyland''--Cornwell found the sight of the children ``speaking silently'' to the invisible Virgin ``truly astonishing,'' with one girl's eyes seeming ``to shine with an unearthly light.'' But what to make of this? And of his subsequent experiences, including witnessing the stigmata of a Montreal recluse, the liquefaction of the dried blood of St Januarius in Naples, and the devotion inspired by the alleged miracles of Padre Pio (healing, stigmata, bilocation)--and, on the dark side, the terror of a man supposedly possessed by evil incarnate? As a journalist, Cornwell's trained skepticism compels him to dig out mundane, generally psychological, explanations for nearly all; and yet he finds himself profoundly moved by the ``symbolic'' power of these ``miracles,'' declaring- -especially after soul-stirring meetings with Briege McKenna, a nun with an apparent gift of healing--that the importance of ``prodigies'' lies not in whether they offer ``supernatural `evidence,' '' but how potent they are as living ``symbols'' of the ``religious imagination.'' An affecting personal spiritual memoir as well as a tantalizing tour through the miraculous, which reveals its mystery- -if not its secret--under Cornwell's fresh and compassionate gaze. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Cornwell, a former seminarian turned agnostic, took a year's leave from his job as a journalist in order to investigate contemporary paranormal religious occurrence, mostly within a Catholic context. He explores the authenticity of phenomena reported in Yugoslavia, Spain, Canada, Italy, and even the Bronx, New York. An Irish nun with a healing ministry appears several times in the book, as do several Jesuit priests, which helps convey the more-or-less official church views. Cornwell writes with color and strong personal bias and often employs severe characterization. However, healthy skepticism plays an important role in seeking evidence to justify faith. Does divinity hide within weeping statues, stigmatics, or shrouds? Cornwell suggests the answers lie within the seeking heart, and in discarding false idols through a skeptical approach. For general collections.
- Anna Donnelly, St. John's Univ. Lib., Jamaica, N.Y.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grand Central Pub
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0446514683
• ISBN 13: 9780446514682
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 302