Sidney Callahan

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  Created For Joy

  $19.95

  In the face of suffering, is it possible to believe in God? In this heartfelt and thoughtful new book, revered Catholic columnist Sidney Callahan answers yes, offering a reflection on suffering from a Christian perspective. Taking on C.S. Lewis and other traditional writers, she introduces the reader to new insights from fields such as the psychology of human emotion and evolutionary biology. Drawing from her own harrowing experience of a mother’s loss, she shows that Christians view suffering in a different way, with the expectation-in the face of all evidence to the contrary-that we are created to experience joy. Topics include Sept. 11, traditional justifications, a new story of God and creation, Jesus-man of sorrows, suffering and joy in Christian practice, the emotions, prayer, and transformation.

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  Women Who Hear Voices

  $8.95

  More than a few people today scoff at the notion of “religious experience.” What the believer accepts as God acting in human lives, the skeptic attributes to delusion or hysteria-especially when the believer is a woman. Indeed, the possibility of self-deception in the realm of religious experience is sufficiently great that even devotees tread softly around it. At what point does mindless enthusiasm come to an end and actual, transcendent reality begin?

  Sidney Callahan, a psychologist, author and Christian ethicist, describes authentic religious experience as the work of “a creative God of love who gives totally and renounces coercion.” Human beings, she says, “are wired for relationship.” They move instinctively toward a dynamic presence who abides within the world and in human affairs. In this Madeleva Lecture delivered at Saint Mary’s College in Indiana, Callahan affirms not only the reality but the usefulness of private religious experiences, especially those of “women barred from hierarchical authority,” which, she says, “can be a rich source of strength for the church.” Beginning with the insights of William James and Rudolf Otto, and borrowing from contemporary theologians Karl Rahner and John E. Thiel, Callahan describes the way religious “signals” emerge into society through the attentive reflection of individuals. And the world is better for it. “Women who hear voices and see visions and have prophetic and intimate religious experiences,” she states, “have given witness to God’s justice and equality while affirming God’s maternal love.”

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