The Wounding and Healing of Desire: Weaving Heaven and Earth

By Wendy Farley

Book Overview

Using refreshingly unconventional prose, rising theologian Wendy Farley has written a theological account of the human condition that delves into the deepest dimensions of the soul. Considering human life from the perspective of the wounding and healing of desire, with desire being that within us which longs for connection, home, and beauty, Farley presents a passionate, moving account of the human condition that draws strongly upon the Christian meditative and mystical spiritual traditions. In doing so, Farley shifts the traditional images of sin and redemption into images of healing and power. The result is a theological memoir that reaches into the human depths and draws forth a response of the soul--in courage, compassion, and delight.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 066422976X
• ISBN13: 9780664229764
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Wow...

I read this book for a class I am taking and thoroughly enjoyed it. Wendy Farley does an excellant job of explaining desire, passions and how a person may navigate between the two. I found the book to be easy to read but challenging (in a very positive way) to implement. She does a wonderful job of explaining spiritual concepts in a very earthy, practical way.

Redemption of Desire

Compellingly written, book offers precious and incisive wisdom about the transformative experiences that accompany our discovery of the nature of the enduring desires that bring us into greater intimacy with our souls, selves, lives, those of others, and perhaps even the loving divine that made us thus. Offering insights from experiences all too famiiar to those willing to face the most vulnerable truths about our human existence -- Farley offers a description of reality that is neither easily dismissed or embraced. Human nature is neither despised, nor demonized; neither romanticized nor justified. But for those aching for the grace of a kairos moment, reading the wisdom (her sources spanning the spectrum from Julian of Norwich to Apalachian folk music to the mothers' of tortured children in South America, to the irritating donkey in Shrek) offered in this latest of WF's works will be akin to finding an oasis. There is something profoundly empowering, even vindicating, about learning that the very vulnerabilities that can destin us to struggle and suffer (even so unbearably) in body, mind, and soul, nevertheless also mediate for us such incredible blessedess -- known best through struggling to contemplate Holy Love. It is not possible to lay down her work without having grown tremendously aware of the beauty of being human -- and perhaps not a little weepy with gratitude.