Working on God

Rating:
Summary: 317 pages of text, maybe 50 pages of content
Review: A nice piece of work that takes a good shot at what may be an impossible question to answer: What sort of religion can make sense to the educated person of the 21st century? She goes at it with energy and a nice touch with words, but she doesn't provide an unambiguous answer, and I don't think she promised one, either.

(And a short note to the dude or dudess who penned the review directly below this one: Read James 2:26: "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead." Or do you not read anything that isn't Paul?)

Some quibbles: This is a bicoastal book. The author flits between New York and California, but doesn't seem to be interested in anything lying between, so we get a lot of gonzo stuff that isn't much in evidence in, say, Springfield, IL. Other answers are trying to sort themselves out. Old Catholicism is one, but it hides well. Willow Creek is another--but you'd have to be a Midwesterner to spot it.

On the other hand, it's a good, thoughtful read, and sent me in some interesting directions on my own exploration of the same difficult question. I chose Old Catholicism, and it works for me. I won't be so prideful as to assume that God has only one plan for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Who does the work?
Review: A profound book, but because of its depth, objectivity, intimacy, and clarity, rather than by merely riding the coattails of what is presumed to be a profound topic. Ms. Gallagher presents an examination of the role and value of religion, particularly to those whose mindset, or schedule, keeps them from "practicing" a religion yet does not let them sever their religious impulses. This examination, delivered in consistent journalistic fashion, but with a feeling that becomes increasingly personal as the pages turn, takes the reader through discussions and illustrations of why those who disdain religion because they fancy themselves intellectuals or those who resist orthodoxy in their religious teachings or practices are only reacting superficially to perhaps the least intellectual aspects of the vital and extraordinary concepts and rewards that religion can offer the mind and the soul. Ms. Gallagher's chapters build upon each other, as she takes the reader to all manner of persons, including herself, and their descriptions of how being religious helps them in ways that nothing else quite matches. Neither a pitch for religion, nor a long rationalization to her Manhattan friends of why she is religious, Ms. Gallagher's book carries weight because it shows that working on God is a personal and universal challenge particularly well-suited to those who resist religion because they view it as a list of obligations or creeds, and thus never reach the most challenging and reward aspects of what it means to be religious. A very important book.

Rating:
Summary: Important essay on how intellect and religion can co-exist
Review: A profound book, but because of its depth, objectivity, intimacy, and clarity, rather than by merely riding the coattails of what is presumed to be a profound topic. Ms. Gallagher presents an examination of the role and value of religion, particularly to those whose mindset, or schedule, keeps them from "practicing" a religion yet does not let them sever their religious impulses. This examination, delivered in consistent journalistic fashion, but with a feeling that becomes increasingly personal as the pages turn, takes the reader through discussions and illustrations of why those who disdain religion because they fancy themselves intellectuals or those who resist orthodoxy in their religious teachings or practices are only reacting superficially to perhaps the least intellectual aspects of the vital and extraordinary concepts and rewards that religion can offer the mind and the soul. Ms. Gallagher's chapters build upon each other, as she takes the reader to all manner of persons, including herself, and their descriptions of how being religious helps them in ways that nothing else quite matches. Neither a pitch for religion, nor a long rationalization to her Manhattan friends of why she is religious, Ms. Gallagher's book carries weight because it shows that working on God is a personal and universal challenge particularly well-suited to those who resist religion because they view it as a list of obligations or creeds, and thus never reach the most challenging and reward aspects of what it means to be religious. A very important book.

Rating:
Summary: Reads Like a Long Newspaper Article
Review: Having "Worked on God" myself for quite a while, and still finding religion a mystery, I set out to read a book with a promising premise. I suppose I would fall in her created category called searching "neoagnostic," but I found little new, educational, or rewarding after reading this book. In fact, by the end, I grew irritated at Gallagher's cafeteria approach to experiencing spirituality.

Joseph Campbell said one purpose of religion is to throw you out of the focus on yourself and into a relationship with the mystical. Gallagher seems enamored by this aspect of religion brought about by the holiness and solemnity of a church, synagogue, zen retreat, etc., but never commits beyond a sentimental brush with each faith. Her book is just one warm and fuzzy feeling after another. She never really makes any progress on her work, and I find it hard to understand why she decided to document her disconnected experiences in a book.

If you're looking to expand your knowledge with a comparison of different religions, skip this book and pick up Huston Smith's classic "The World's Religions." If you'd like any easy book with the depth of a newspaper series, this book might just do.

Rating:
Summary: Reads Like a Long Newspaper Article
Review: Having "Worked on God" myself for quite a while, and still finding religion a mystery, I set out to read a book with a promising premise. I suppose I would fall in her created category called searching "neoagnostic," but I found little new, educational, or rewarding after reading this book. In fact, by the end, I grew irritated at Gallagher's cafeteria approach to experiencing spirituality.

Joseph Campbell said one purpose of religion is to throw you out of the focus on yourself and into a relationship with the mystical. Gallagher seems enamored by this aspect of religion brought about by the holiness and solemnity of a church, synagogue, zen retreat, etc., but never commits beyond a sentimental brush with each faith. Her book is just one warm and fuzzy feeling after another. She never really makes any progress on her work, and I find it hard to understand why she decided to document her disconnected experiences in a book.

If you're looking to expand your knowledge with a comparison of different religions, skip this book and pick up Huston Smith's classic "The World's Religions." If you'd like any easy book with the depth of a newspaper series, this book might just do.

Rating:
Summary: This book just makes me feel better
Review: Having been raised by atheist parents, I always felt that there was "something more" out there, yet was completely turned off by the dogma, intolerance, and narrow-mindedness I found in the churches I attended. After reading Ms. Gallagher's book, I felt so much better about things - even religion. I always wondered why I felt so peaceful just to be sitting inside the Catholic church before the service started, yet not always agree with what was being said to me in the sermon. I always wondered if maybe I wasn't "getting it" because I could not identify with those people who talked like Jesus was their best buddy and how every decision in their life was governed by Him as opposed to their own free will. I now understand that religion and spirituality is so much more, and that is it OK to reach into the toolbox of religions to use what is best for me. It doesn't matter what religion you follow, if any, because all of them point in the same direction essentially - be good to yourself, be good to others, live in the here and now, know that somehow everything will be alright in the end, and that there is indeed something more out there than just you and your physical body; you are not alone. Thanks, Winifred. I look forwarding to reading your other books.

Rating:
Summary: To Seek a Newer World
Review: I think that it was Karl Marx who wrote that religion is the opiate of the masses. Certainly we all know folks who are extremely devote and yet we all could admit that probably more wars and carnage have taken place in the name of religion than any other subject. Winifred Gallagher, in her book, is attempting to show us another side of religion, a side where religion is a process, a process of "working on God". For this is a book both about and for independent thinking people who are attempting to reconcile spiritual beliefs with their own somewhat skeptical intuitive rationales. For me, this was a book that confirmed my beliefs and yet challenged me, all at the same time. A central theme is that we are all, more or less, on a spiritual journey, and are called, if you will, to this time and this place, be it Reston, Virginia or Greenwich, Connecticut or wherever. According to Ms. Gallagher, this journey is most important because it is not made alone but with others, others of even differing faiths than our own. Her sense of spirituality is not the opiate of Marx but rather is one of being aware, awake, and living a life that is present.

Many of the people that she writes about start out in life having more than enough and yet, they don't have enough. In their growth, if that's the right word, something starts to happen, something that has to do with holding on to what's important to them and letting go of what is not. Ms. Gallagher presents some heartwarming instances, such as the stranger in church who tells her that he will pray for her critically ill son or the young Hasidic mother she sits next to on a cross country flight. These people give her a different view of "other" and allow us to realize that, when it comes to things that matter, we are more alike than we all care to admit. For that reason, she would probably argue that perhaps we should center our lives on the charity of our being and not in the virtue of religion.

This is the type of book that looks at both sides of the spiritual coin. Along these lines, St. Paul is attributed to have said, "In order to know thyself, prove all things to strengthen your faith". Leonardo Da Vinci once wrote that man should have faith in his own gifts and nurture them to the fullest. Ms. Gallagher would appreciate the irony here, for a scientist is saying "have faith" while a saint is saying "prove all things". Towards the end of the book, she makes an interesting statement: "Faith is the meaning of history". Teilhard de Chardin might say it is even (dare I use the word) evolutionary. So, therefore, I came away from this book feeling that I understand what Ms. Gallagher is saying about anyone's spiritual journey. The message may very well be that all that was is part of me, as I am part of what's to be. Well done, Ms. G.

Rating:
Summary: From a skeptic's point of view
Review: That's how Winifred Gallagher, self-avowed neo-agnostic, approaches her exploration of the various religious paths available today. She investigates the whole gamut of spirituality from New Age practices at Esalen to Islam, Zen Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity in its various forms. Although by the end of her journey, she has settled into life as an Episcopalian with Judaic study habits and Zen meditation practices, she admits this is not the path for anyone. Gallagher is essentially an encourager, pushing each of us to explore the spiritual dimensions of life and find a path that resonates for us... a path we can follow with passion. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: An American-Spirituality Travelogue
Review: _Working on God_ covers a number of themes, all of which are intertwined with one another, yet could be somewhat categorized if needed. These three are the three that I believe are the most important and prevalent in the work.

Topic 1: American Spirituality

Can one possibly be a religious - or even "spiritual" - person in turn of the century/end of the millenium America? If so, how is this done? Gallagher visits a number of "millenial" houses of worship and discusses through her own insights and conversations with those attendees, how one may actually make this work.

Topic 2: Baby Boomer Spirituality (Or, American Spirituality II)

Gallagher, a baby boomer, is at many points in this book wrestling with her own previously held notions about spirituality and life - it makes me think, in many ways, of a sort of mid-life spiritual crisis. Is it possibly to be a child of the sixties, yet believe in the usefulness of science, and the reality of God? For the baby boomer generation, how will their own spirituality going to be sought after and found? Again, Gallagher turns to those who seem to make it work to find answers to these questions.

Topic 3: Millenial Religion

Perhaps one the biggest theme in the book yet, in the end, I feel that it may also be the least discussed and least well-defined. Sure, one can throw around the term "millenial religion," but that doesn't mean one understands it. Yet, who does understand history when it is in the making? Gallagher turns to the world-renowned Huston Smith to discover some of the issues (possibly) confronting religion at the turn of the century/millenium, as well as several other experts on point.

It would have been nice if this book had been more documented with footnotes, so that the reader could look up some of the sources that are quoted. There are a number of books listed in the footnotes section that will certainly make for interesting reading, though.

I do not know what Gallagher's purpose in writing this book was. She does not seem to hold any dogmatic agenda whatsoever, and if anything, the book seems to be more of a portrait of current American Spirituality than anything else. I think that it may actually be good that Gallagher does not - or, is not able to - answer the above questions, though, since at this point in the game, discussing millenial religion will be a topic for the history books of the future, not one for believing, dis-believing, or non-believing writers today. Her work is a good insight, though, into the current trends in the religious attitudes of Americans, and is better company on a rainy day than a number of other contemporary religious works.