Contemplation

From the Author Dr. David F. Allen: "A book that goes beyond the search for the heart and the shattering of our resistances to love and encourages us to LIVE from the heart - moving from our false selves and opening our true selves in and to God. Even with our modern telecommunications revolution and email, we say less and have become even less intimate with those around us. Part 1 of this book discusses the relationship between contemplation, spirituality and intimacy. Part 2 revisits these themes in scripture with Abraham, David, Mary Magdelene, Ruth and Naomi.

Dr. David Allen studied medicine at St. Andrews University Medical School in Scotland, and Psychiatry and Public Health at Harvard Medical School where he was a Kennedy Fellow. He studied theology under Dr. Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri Fellowship in Switzerland, and did further work in Religion, Psychiatry and Ethics under Professor Arthur Dyck at the Harvard Divinity School. He was a visiting professor at Yale Divinity School where he was mentored by Fr. Henri Nouwen. In Washington, D.C., he was mentored by Dr. Gerald May of the Shalem Institute. Since then, Dr. Allen has taught Psychiatry and Religion at Harvard, Yale and Georgetown Medical School.

In 1987 he was awarded the Bennett Commonwealth Prize for his outstanding work in cocaine addiction. He was featured in the P.B.S. special, The Drug Wars, which documented his discovery of crack cocaine and its epidemic in 1985. Dr. Allen has established cocaine treatment centers in the Bahamas and Washington, D.C., and is a recognized expert in all types of addictions and their causes. For the past ten summers, Dr. Allen has taught at the Chautauqua Institution with Dr. Ross McKenzie and psychoanalyst Janet Gibbs in the field of Psychiatry and Religion and has been a regular facilitator for Young President Organization Group Forums.

Dr. Allen has published widely in the areas of Addiction, Spirituality and Psychiatry, including Mental Health Evaluation (1976), The Cocaine Crisis (1985) and Cocaine: The Broken Promise (1988). More recently Dr. Allen has been involved in the publication of a trilogy of books dealing with the integration of psychiatry and religion: In Search of the Heart (1993), Shattering the Gods Within (1997) and, most recently, Contemplation: Intimacy in a Distant World. Presently Dr. Allen has a international private practice in Psychiatry in Nassau, Bahamas. He was recently appointed by the Prime Minister of the Bahamas as Chairman of the National Urban Renewal Commission. Dr. Allen is a well-known public speaker and recent lectures include "Spirituality and the Addictions" (2003) in Washington, D.C., "Contemplation and the Meaning of Jesus Christ" in Italy (2003) and "Grief and Contentment" in Chautauqua (2003). Dr. Allen will be giving a major address at the conference of Episcopal Priests in Canada in 2004. Dr. Allen has a weekly radio program called "Coming Home: Facing our Heart" which explores themes relating to violence, anger, community, forgiveness and acceptance.