Godlust: Facing the Demonic, Embracing the Divine - Softcover

Walters, Kerry

3.4

5 ratings by Goodreads

9780809139156: Godlust: Facing the Demonic, Embracing the Divine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809139154 ISBN 13: 9780809139156

Publisher: Paulist Pr, 2000

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Godlust is our desire to be like God corrupted into a lust to become God--to become the personal judge of Truth, Beauty, and Good. Because we aren't God, we corrupt Truth into whatever is convenient; we corrupt Goodness into forced social altruism; and we corrupt Beauty by divorcing it from the natural world. Godlust affects every aspect of our life--from our worldview, to our relationships, to our very desire, intellect, and will. But there are strategies that can help us escape, open ourselves to grace, and re-establish our relationship with God.

To illustrate his points the author draws from Jonathan Edwards, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Dorothy Day, and Frederick Buechner; from the New Testament; from such philosophers as Rahner, Weil, Heidegger, Rorty, and Nietzsche; and from personal anecdotes. This is an original and compelling book, a unique work of spiritual theology made clear and accessible.

Godlust is absorbing reading for Christians of all denominations, especially spiritual seekers. It's also a stimulating title for clergy and religious, Christian counselors, and both students and professors in the fields of spirituality, philosophy, or theology.

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About the Author:

Kerry Walters is the Edwin T. and Cynthia Shearer Johnson Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities and professor of philosophy at Gettysburg College. Among his books are Benjamin Franklin and His Gods, Ethical Vegetarianism from Pythagoras to Peter Singer, Religious Vegetarianism from Hesiod to the Dalai Lama, and Paulist Press's™ Spirituality of the Handmaid. He lives in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

Review:

A probing insight into the origins of our present disturbed relationships with the primordial source of our being. -- Thomas Berry

A probing insight into the origins, of our present relationships with the primordial source of our being. -- Thomas Berry

Important for believers who cherish both the religious dimension of culture and truth, beauty, and goodness as signals of transcendence. -- Theological Studies

Kerry Walters' book is a fresh, readable and insightful interpretation of timeless religious freedom. -- John F. Haught, Professor of Theology, Georgetown University

Kerry Walters' book is a remarkably fresh, readable and, above all, insightful interpretation of timeless religious freedom. Strongly recommended. -- John F. Haught, Professor of Theology, Georgetown University

The way he proceeds from the eating in the Garden of Eden to the Eucharist is especially instructive. -- Harvey D. Egan, S.J., Professor of Systematic and Mystical Theology, Boston College

This book is an astute analysis and warrents prayerful consideration. -- Theological Studies

Walters elucidates original sin as the lust to be God, and the demonic attempt to devour all truth and beauty. -- Harvey D. Egan, S.J., Professor of Systematic and Mystical Theology, Boston College

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