false 44892117 28743 2650339 0807010685 9780807010686 14 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255569145m/2650339.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255569145s/2650339.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2650339.Surprised_by_God_How_I_Learned_to_Stop_Worrying_and_Love_Religion 3.83 36
At thirteen, Danya Ruttenberg decided that she was an atheist. Watching the sea of adults standing up and sitting down at Rosh Hashanah services, and apparently giving credence to the patently absurd truth-claims of the prayer book, she came to a conclusion: Marx was right.

But as a young adult immersed in the rhinestone-bedazzled wonderland of late-1990s San Francisco, she found herself yearning for something she would eventually call God. And taking that yearning seriously, she came to find, would require much of her.

Surprised by God is the memoir of a young woman's spiritual awakening and eventual path to the rabbinate. It's a post-dotcom, third-wave, punk-rock Seven Storey Mountain—the story of integrating life on the edge of the twenty-first century into the discipline of traditional Judaism without sacrificing either. It's also a map through the hostile territory of the inner life, an unflinchingly honest guide to the kind of work that goes into developing a spiritual practice in today's world—and why, perhaps, doing this in today's world requires more work than it ever has.]]> 240576 3.71 86 21 2008 0 0 false Fri Jan 30 15:19:01 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 30 11:35:07 -0800 2009