Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters - and How to Talk About It
Penguin, January 2008
A Thought-Provoking, Original Appraisal of the Meaning of Religion by the Creator of Public Radio's Speaking of Faith
Drawing from her own life experiences as well as the intimate
and intellectual conversations she's had on her popular public radio
program and podcast, Krista Tippett explores complex subjects like
science, love, virtue, and violence within the context of spirituality
and everyday human life. Profoundly inclusive and deeply original in
her commentary, Tippett illustrates a way to speak about faith that
defuses the many conflicts surrounding religion. Her way of speaking
about the mysteries of life -- and of listening with care to those who
endeavor to understand those mysteries -- is nothing short of
revolutionary.
paperback | ISBN: 9780143113188 | Publication Date: January 2008
Reviews:
"In a day where religion -- or rather, arguments
over religion -- divide us into ever more entrenched and frustrated
camps, Krista Tippett is exactly the measured, balanced commentator we
need. Her intelligence is like a salve for all thinking people who have
felt wounded or marginalized by The God Wars."
--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
"We need to take religion seriously. We need to give voice in our
national life to religious and non-religious people alike who
understand, as Tippett does, that the crooked line dividing good from
evil runs through each of us . . . We should be grateful to Tippett not
only for amplifying voices of sane faith but also for modeling in
herself a public theology that manages to derive faith out of doubt and
hope out of paradox."
--Stephen Prothero, author of Religious Literacy
"At a time when professional contrarians like Sam Harris and
Christopher Hitchens take the meaning and mystery out of religion,
Krista Tippett is a welcome voice of literate faith."
--The Dallas Morning News
"Speaking of Faith is a
chronicle of ideas . . . It is also a memoir with a narrative thread
that makes this book as compelling as any novel. In her book as on the
radio, Tippett is an intelligent observer, sophisticated and
compassionate. Reading Tippett is like attending a dinner party with
some of the most interesting minds in America and standing at the elbow
of the hostess as she introduces each friend."
--Catholic Online
"Krista Tippett is a master of nuance for whom the great questions of
belief transcend the simple answers that modern religion too often
supplies. This is a vision of faith as a grand and unifying struggle
with the very nature of being, and it is both deeply thought and deeply
felt. It is a reminder, in a time when too much that is evil happens in
the name of creed, that the search for God can be transcendent and
exquisite. Tippett's prose is lyrical and elegant, and her formulations
are wise and profound; her arguments should move the secularist and the
dogmatist alike to a new vision of peace."
--Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon
"There is no more trustworthy guide to the challenges of faith in a
dangerous world than Krista Tippett. With this book she has created an
original and authentic place in the great debate of our time."
--Yossi Klein Halevi, journalist and author of At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land
"As Tippett takes on issues from the science-and-religion debates to
the future of progressive Islam, she shows herself to possess the same
'imaginative intellectual approach' that she admires in some of her
interview subjects."
--Publishers Weekly
"Overflowing with gems of wisdom, the book offers thoughts on matters
related to faith, religion and spirituality worth pondering as deeply
as one's imagination allows."
--Diane Raabe, Gather.com
"A thoughtful, wide-ranging and highly approachable introduction to the
possible in spirituality. It's one thinking person's open door to faith
in the twenty-first century."
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"The brilliance of Krista Tippett's idea is to trust people to use the
first person singular, to commit themselves with passion and clarity as
they enlarge our urgent national conversation."
--Martin E. Marry, Professor Emeritus of American Religious History, University of Chicago
"Speaking of Faith is of monumental importance and a source of light
in a day and age when the darkness of intolerance, ignorance and hate
blinds humanity from itself."
--Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl, professor of law, UCLA, and author of The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists
"Krista Tippett manages to claim the middle space -- a very large,
inclusive space -- where most of us live most of the time, a place in
which we must ponder and live the abiding questions of faith, doubt and
meaning that have been at the heart of human experience from time
immemorial."
--Patricia Hampl
"Speaking of Faith is a beautiful book written by one of public
radio's most beloved and respected interviewers. In Speaking of Faith Tippett embodies the humility and perseverance of the seeker and shows
us beyond doubt how questions and not answers can be trusted to lead us
closer to ultimate mystery. A wonderful read in a polarized world."
--Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, clinical professor, UCSF School of Medicine
and author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather's Blessings
