An Emptyful Chair

An Emptyful Chair: Journeying into God’s Mystical Presence is the story of a man who experienced a Christian beginning of life, subsequent darkness of failure and despair, and the gradual gift of return to life in the Divine Presence. As the story unfolds, the author shares the totality of his life-his upbringing and schooling, pastoral ministries, rejection by conservatives, popularity as a university professor, along with a life common to many who have experienced self-disappointment, rejection, tragedy, and failure. An Emptyful Chair reveals how spiritual mentors such as Richard Rohr and Carl Jung, contemplatives like Phyllis Tickle and Basil Pennington, and mystics akin to Meister Eckhart and Thomas Merton can serve as openings to ways of Christian living now re-emerging from the Church’s often forgotten past. Written for all who imagine the possibility of radical renewal and freedom, each chapter provides nuanced reflections on spiritual groundings, deeper delvings into mystery of God, un-ordinary prayerful living, and twenty-four-hour unitive consciousness—all enjoyed with the pleasures of life, a vision renewed, and commitments to the Christ who lives within. Conservatives and fundamentalists will enjoy reading An Emptyful Chair, especially if they wish to move beyond where they are now.