From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart - Softcover

Chris Haw

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1594712921 ISBN 13: 9781594712920

Publisher: Ave Maria Press, 2012

Synopsis

The bestselling coauthor of Jesus for President chronicles his spiritual journey through evangelical Christianity and his return to Catholicism. A respectful and engaging look at the megachurch movement and a heartfelt expression of love for the Catholic Church's liturgy and its commitment to the poor.

In the spirit of Merton's Seven Storey Mountain and Dorothy Day's The Long Loneliness, Chris Haw's From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart recounts the journey of a young Christian seeking a personal relationship with Christ within the context of a faith community committed to love, justice, and solidarity with the poor. Haw's journey spans contemporary American Christianity--from a nominal Catholic background to megachurch Evangelicalism, to a new monastic community, and then back to Catholicism after an intense spiritual experience on Good Friday. Haw's story and style will appeal to Catholics who champion the Church's social teachings, those drawn to monastic practices and living in intentional community, and those seeking solidarity with the poor and marginalized.

About this title

About the Author:

Chris Haw is a husband, father, carpenter, potter, adjunct professor at Cabrini College, and founder of Camden Houses, an intentional community. Raised in Chicago's northern suburbs, Haw was baptized Catholic but joined Willow Creek Community Church as a teenager. Here he met and became friends with Shane Claiborne; the two would later become leaders in the New Monasticism movement along with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.

He earned his double bachelor's degree in theology and sociology from Eastern University and his master's degree in theology and religious studies from Villanova. Upon returning from studies in Belize, Haw started an intentional community in an economically devastated section of Camden, New Jersey, which operates in partnership with Sacred Heart Church. This connection fostered Haw's reassessment of his own faith and in 2006 he returned to the Catholic Church. In 2008 he cowrote Jesus for President with Shane Claiborne. He has been interviewed by Christianity Today, Sojourners, CNN, and Al-Jazeera. Visit Haw online at chris-haw.com.

Review:

"Sometimes you hear someone share their story and you get the sense that they are pioneers, scouts, groundbreakers...blazing a trail that a lot of people will hike on after they are long gone. Chris Haw is one of those trailblazers."--Shane Claiborne, Author of The Irresistible Revolution

"Because of Chris Haw's beautiful prose, From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart reminded me of Thomas Howard's Christ the Tiger. Because of Haw's lucid line of thought, it reminded me of G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy. But the book offers today's readers unique gifts as well, because Chris feels the peculiar challenges of the present moment. He proclaims a catholic faith (big or small "C") that is simultaneously rooted in history and engaged with our gritty, conflicted, often superficial, and yet profoundly questioning world."--Brian McLaren, Author of Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?

"This book is really excellent, and reveals the maturity that seems to be showing itself in so many of our churches today. It is an ideal example of "non-dual thinking", the contemplative mind that can see 'beyond the shadow and the disguise' of things. Before returning to the Catholic Church, Chris Haw did courageously from the outside what so many of us cradle Catholics seldom do--but need to do--from the inside."--Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, New Mexico

"With an appealing candor and a storyteller's skill, Haw explores here a principal question of contemporary western Christianity: What is the role and proper place of the praxis, traditions, and theology of Inherited Church in shaping the religion of today's Christians? I must add as well that only rarely, if ever, have I seen a more persuasive or compelling apologia than the one he makes."--Phyllis Tickle, Author of The Great Emergence

"Chris Haw's journey from Willow Creek to Sacred Heart (and the Roman Catholic tradition) is an important addendum to the story of 21st century American Christianity--not only because Haw's journey is representative, but because he has engaged the questions that come up along the way so well. You don't need to believe that all roads lead to Rome to see that we can all learn something from a faithful pilgrimage in that direction."--Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Author of The Wisdom of Stability

"Much more than an already fascinating Chestertonian re-discovery of the Catholic Faith, Chris Haws bears witness to the slow, patient, ideology-busting determination of God. This has brought him, via the dying reefs of Belize and the apocalyptic landscape of Camden, New Jersey into one of our faith's best-kept secrets: a deep, delighting love for our material, corporal, human life--in all its vulnerability."--James Alison, Author of Broken Hearts and New Creations

"This book is in part about why the Catholic communion is good, but it is not about why the Protestant communions are bad. It is blissfully free from polemics, which we don't need. Haw's book is a gift to a Church too often divided by 'conservatives' who demand submission and 'liberals' who demand freedom. Chris Haw has, through his witness and his words, opened up a broader vision of a truly Catholic life beautifully lived." --William Cavanaugh, Ph.D. , Professor of Catholic Studies and Senior Research Fellow, DePaul University

About this edition

• Publisher: Ave Maria Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1594712921
• ISBN 13: 9781594712920
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 234