Godawful: Connections Between Biblical Journeys and Life Transitions

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Summary: "Godawful" brings light into the darkness of transitions.
Review: Andre Papineau has done a masterful job of weaving scriptural stories and professional insights into the sometimes frightening and confusing world of transitions. "Godawful"
is intellectually stimulating and comprehensible. I highly recommend this book to teachers in religious education, Bible study groups, psychology students and anyone who has ever has gone through a significant process of change.


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Summary: GODAWFUL is GOD AWESOME? A Must Read
Review: As sobering as a cup of strong coffee is to a drunkard, GODAWFUL awakened me yet again to the unpublicized Jesus - interpretations of Scripture that are often found on the back pages of newspapers, if at all.

Beginning with the story of the Prodigal Son, Papineau does on paper what his mind did to me when I was a student of his in 1981. At any given moment, I could be howling from his quips and one-liners and crying from his poignant grasp of the human condition and the Incarnation - God becoming Human.

GODAWFUL is a series of reflections taken from Biblical journeys, as he calls them, that can speak to every generation and each pivotal threshold of one's life, from the journey of divorced person to the path of a misfit in society.

Papineau's insights were most prophetic in chapter 3, From Who's Out to Who's In. With the power of excellent scriptural scholarship as his cleanser, he ironically wipes off the dust of a "purity code" that thrived not only in the day of Jesus, but which is a constant threat in all living institutions.

Whether he is a aware of his neat packaging or not, GODAWFUL ends where it begins, by challenging communities to be Holding communities, whereby people in difficult transitions can all at once be held, let go and know that the community will endure.

What more could a community of faith want to be than a stable container that holds the person who is falling, lets them go to re-establish themselves, and opens the door of welcoming home, knowing that the community of faith was ever present.

For this reader, those images were his most powerful, and if there was anything negative I would say about his work, it is that he teased us with these powerful concepts.

Hopefully, the next book will take us even deeper.


Rating:
Summary: Godawful is Godhelpful
Review: Father Papineau is a gifted and loving priest. For over a quarter century his books have been helping people deal with and grow through the inevitable transitions on the soul's journey through life. Godawful helps us to see how God works through crises to bring personal healing and spiritual growth. It helps us to put our own pain into context: everyone faces crises, transitions and periods during which self-esteem is no where to be found. From the cast of the Bible to the guy working the corner deli, everyone has to pass through transitions on the journey of life. Father Papineau helps make the trip much easier. For those first time readers, I strongly recommend his other books: Jesus and the Kingdom of Nobodies; Biblical Blues; Breaking up, down and Through; Jesus Stories For the Losers, the Lost and the Least; Let Your Light Shine, Scripture Stories for Self-Esteem; Breakthrough, Stories of Conversion; Lightly Goes the Good News; Sermons for Sermon Haters. Father Papineau will touch your soul and lift your spirit.

Rating:
Summary: GODAWFUL is a godda-have-kind-of-book
Review: Fr. Andre Papineau's latest book, GODAWFUL, appears to be a culmination of all his years of research, writing and experience on transitions and biblical studies. He is able to creatively draw from biblical references insights that illustrate the human and yet divine experience of transitions in all our lives. He has a masterful grasp of the topic and presents it with charm, wit, and profundity. His format is an excellent tool for personal reflection and for teaching. The questions at the end of each chapter are engaging and thought provoking. Anyone involved with religious education and spiritual formation for young and old alike need to add this to their library. Developing awareness of transitions in our faith journey is a gift to anyone who has a soul. And you don't need to sell yours to buy it... It is very reasonably priced!