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aberdawn's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
This book was a game-changer for me. I read it in a chapter-by-chapter book club with my husband and SILs, and the book/the discussion we had around it healed a lot of things in my soul. The only reason that I would take off a half a star would be because while the language was beautiful, it was also either elevated or abstract enough that my brain struggled to understand it amidst the sleep-deprivation of raising toddlers. I needed the discussion to get all the points. I don’t feel like that happens when I listen to Terryl and Fiona speak, though, so maybe they should record an audiobook. 😂
I appreciate that the Givenses don’t shy away from difficult topics, don’t explain them away too readily, and don’t tell the reader they must come to the same conclusions—if they even offer conclusions at all. Most of the book was simply offering information for consideration. People in my faith tradition tend to approach questions, doubts, faith transition, or loss of faith with a lot of anxiety and hand-wringing. This is not one of those messages, and I loved them for that.
I appreciate that the Givenses don’t shy away from difficult topics, don’t explain them away too readily, and don’t tell the reader they must come to the same conclusions—if they even offer conclusions at all. Most of the book was simply offering information for consideration. People in my faith tradition tend to approach questions, doubts, faith transition, or loss of faith with a lot of anxiety and hand-wringing. This is not one of those messages, and I loved them for that.
jeremiah_scanlan's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Picked this off the shelf on a whim while I was home. The God Who Weeps didn't make a huge impression on me, but I loved this. Basically a collection of ways to reorient thinking about issues of faith, where the Givenses wisely let a lot of other voices, from Julian of Norwich to Phil Barlow, do a lot of the talking. I feel particularly indebted to the Givenses for modeling how to gather light and truth from wherever it can be found.
tanyarobinson's review
5.0
I feel like this book was written just for me, a person who has struggled with the phrase "I know" when it comes to religion. It's full of beautiful insights, and reminds me there are many who don't enjoy the spiritual gift of sure knowledge. My faith is a choice, and it is an offering that God is happy to accept.
I plan to buy a copy so I can highlight significant passages to return to again and again.
Thank you, Terryl and Fiona Givens. You are a gift to hard-thinking Mormons everywhere.
I plan to buy a copy so I can highlight significant passages to return to again and again.
Thank you, Terryl and Fiona Givens. You are a gift to hard-thinking Mormons everywhere.
mikeypwest's review
4.0
I read this after Patrick Mason's 'Planted' as I read reviews saying this one was a bit better. And I agree.
While they are very similar books, my bigger beef with 'Planted' was some of the approach on apologetics. While still a bit "Neo", they didn't quite match up to the philosophical and doctrinal viewpoint the Givens' provide in this book. This is an excellent book that may not be as up front as 'Planted' gives you a larger point of view on what to do with your doubts and questions.
The main (minor) issue I have with this here is some of the approaches the Givens' gives doesn't quite jive with what top church leaders would say is appropriate. Aka, you would never hear some of this taught from the pulpit over General Conference (let alone some local Utah wards). Some of their thoughts, while great, don't seem that doctrinally sound (and, hey, maybe they could be). But,overall, a very well put together treatise on doubt in the LDS church and I would highly recommend it.
While they are very similar books, my bigger beef with 'Planted' was some of the approach on apologetics. While still a bit "Neo", they didn't quite match up to the philosophical and doctrinal viewpoint the Givens' provide in this book. This is an excellent book that may not be as up front as 'Planted' gives you a larger point of view on what to do with your doubts and questions.
The main (minor) issue I have with this here is some of the approaches the Givens' gives doesn't quite jive with what top church leaders would say is appropriate. Aka, you would never hear some of this taught from the pulpit over General Conference (let alone some local Utah wards). Some of their thoughts, while great, don't seem that doctrinally sound (and, hey, maybe they could be). But,overall, a very well put together treatise on doubt in the LDS church and I would highly recommend it.
tranne30's review
5.0
Excellent book! This is one I want to buy a physical copy of and underline, highlight, make notes, share with others, etc.
kennyahlstrom's review
3.0
I first stumbled upon Terryl and Fiona Givens when I had to listen to a Maxwell Institute podcast featuring them and this book. I was intrigued with what they had to say and the academic language they employed during the interview. Well I finally got around to reading their book. A lot went over my head. Some words, quotes, and poems were just hard for me to understand haha.
But overall I thought it a great read. A lot related to Planted by Patrick Mason. The two work well together.
Thought I wrote as I read:
Chp 2 - the gospel isn’t meant to have all the answers. Christ came here to discomfort. He taught hard and uncomfortable doctrine. The apostles decided to stick it out but that didn’t make them automatically understand. Part of faith is the ambiguity.
Chp9 - instead of explaining our suffering, God shared it.
Suffer with someone. Don’t always need a happy ending. Look at the end of the Book of Mormon! Just sit and participate in pain.
God will sanction an order made in error. Sustain the leaders in their decision. Our first obligation is to our conscious. The conscious can be infallible. There’s a limit to faithful dissent. There’s grey area between the mountain meadow massacre and the wrong person being called as EQP.
Not put our trust in the arm of flesh. Yet our leaders are human. There’s discordance there. Be generous.
You can disagree with church leaders, but cannot make efforts to destroy the church. If the behavior is destructive, then that’s gone past disagreement.
Faith is a choice. Religion is messy. But it’s ultimately good and worth the fight.
But overall I thought it a great read. A lot related to Planted by Patrick Mason. The two work well together.
Thought I wrote as I read:
Chp 2 - the gospel isn’t meant to have all the answers. Christ came here to discomfort. He taught hard and uncomfortable doctrine. The apostles decided to stick it out but that didn’t make them automatically understand. Part of faith is the ambiguity.
Chp9 - instead of explaining our suffering, God shared it.
Suffer with someone. Don’t always need a happy ending. Look at the end of the Book of Mormon! Just sit and participate in pain.
God will sanction an order made in error. Sustain the leaders in their decision. Our first obligation is to our conscious. The conscious can be infallible. There’s a limit to faithful dissent. There’s grey area between the mountain meadow massacre and the wrong person being called as EQP.
Not put our trust in the arm of flesh. Yet our leaders are human. There’s discordance there. Be generous.
You can disagree with church leaders, but cannot make efforts to destroy the church. If the behavior is destructive, then that’s gone past disagreement.
Faith is a choice. Religion is messy. But it’s ultimately good and worth the fight.
catherine_christensen's review
4.0
This was an excellent book about acknowledging, even appreciating, our questions and doubts. I fully agree when the authors suggest that actually we can not receive full clarity and enlightenment if we just accept everything told to us, in the church or other settings. Our quest is to ask the right questions that help us grow, to overcome the “hard-shell of habit,” to embrace light wherever we find it (the Church does not have a monopoly on truth).
I love their beginning premise that life simply does not answer all our questions—and that we grow more through the grappling than we would if such answers existed. Adulthood can be a rude awakening after the innocence of childhood with few loose ends. I’ve 100% felt that transition, where my certainties dropped away and I had to rebuild fully, examining what I really believed and why. It is painful process honestly, but I like what I’m rebuilding. It’s already different, but it’s good. It’s interesting, nuanced, creative, embracing. I’m more empathetic than I was, more open to ideas, more unsure, more outspoken, more passionate. As the book says, “it is not surprising that we look to religion, the great comforter, to ‘resolve us of all ambiguities,’ in the words of Dr. Faustus. But perhaps providing conclusive answers to all our questions is not the point of true religion. Jesus, on assorted occasions, chided His listeners for just such misconceptions. The gospel Christ taught was spectacularly designed to unsettle and disturb, not lull into pleasant serenity.”
I appreciated their thorough, scholarly style, the beautiful use of poetry and great thinkers, and their openness to different ways of thinking.
I love their beginning premise that life simply does not answer all our questions—and that we grow more through the grappling than we would if such answers existed. Adulthood can be a rude awakening after the innocence of childhood with few loose ends. I’ve 100% felt that transition, where my certainties dropped away and I had to rebuild fully, examining what I really believed and why. It is painful process honestly, but I like what I’m rebuilding. It’s already different, but it’s good. It’s interesting, nuanced, creative, embracing. I’m more empathetic than I was, more open to ideas, more unsure, more outspoken, more passionate. As the book says, “it is not surprising that we look to religion, the great comforter, to ‘resolve us of all ambiguities,’ in the words of Dr. Faustus. But perhaps providing conclusive answers to all our questions is not the point of true religion. Jesus, on assorted occasions, chided His listeners for just such misconceptions. The gospel Christ taught was spectacularly designed to unsettle and disturb, not lull into pleasant serenity.”
I appreciated their thorough, scholarly style, the beautiful use of poetry and great thinkers, and their openness to different ways of thinking.
talkwordytome's review
5.0
This book could not have come to me at a more perfect time.
It was like balm to my soul.
In an intelligent, well-researched, reassuring way, it validated my season of doubt as necessary and fruitful, instead of shame-filled and weak.
It gently, lovingly pulled out the mustard seed of faith lodged deep below the questions and lifted me to a place of hope and happiness. Highly recommend to anyone wanting to re-examine their faith.
It was like balm to my soul.
In an intelligent, well-researched, reassuring way, it validated my season of doubt as necessary and fruitful, instead of shame-filled and weak.
It gently, lovingly pulled out the mustard seed of faith lodged deep below the questions and lifted me to a place of hope and happiness. Highly recommend to anyone wanting to re-examine their faith.
bucketheadmary's review
5.0
I loved this perspective and a lot of it resonated with my own thoughts on my religion. Mormonism has been my spiritual home all my life and the more I make my faith a choice rather than a habit the more I am able to bring it into harmony with the other aspects of myself.