Scan barcode
A review by catherine_christensen
The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections On the Quest for Faith by Terryl L. Givens, Fiona Givens
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.