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Aileen's review

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
by Anne Lamott

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10890.Traveling_Mercies_Some_Thoughts_on_Faith?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1166338489m/10890.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10890.Traveling_Mercies_Some_Thoughts_on_Faith?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7113.Anne_Lamott">Anne Lamott</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6257088?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>I bought this book the day before I had a late-night conversation with life-time friends about religion, and heritage, rational thought vs "faith," and personal responsibility.  I learned a lot from that conversation.  Indeed, I think I keep learning from it.  Perhaps reading this book prolonged those lessions.  At the very least, it kept alive in my own mind the debate.  Can a rational, free-thinking, independent person have religious faith?  Is there any good in organized religion?  Do we have an obligation to preserve a heritage that our ancestors suffered to retain?  Does this obligation extend to a duty to be a member of a group with which you have many ideological and/or political differences?  I still don't know any answers.  But I do like that Anne Lamott shows that there is a benefit in this heritage.  I like to think that she also shows that it is possible to believe in the underlying principles without conceding to the myopic politics of many contemporary institutions.  But I shall save this conclusion for presentation at the next installment of our original discussion.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/379916?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Aileen's review
rating:

I bought this book the day before I had a late-night conversation with life-time friends about religion, and heritage, rational thought vs "faith," and personal responsibility. I learned a lot from that conversation. Indeed, I think I keep learning from it. Perhaps reading this book prolonged those lessions. At the very least, it kept alive in my own mind the debate. Can a rational, free-thinking, independent person have religious faith? Is there any good in organized religion? Do we have an obligation to preserve a heritage that our ancestors suffered to retain? Does this obligation extend to a duty to be a member of a group with which you have many ideological and/or political differences? I still don't know any answers. But I do like that Anne Lamott shows that there is a benefit in this heritage. I like to think that she also shows that it is possible to believe in the underlying principles without conceding to the myopic politics of many contemporary instituti...more

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message 1: by Jessica

09/17/2007 03:19PM

I also enjoy Anne Lamott's books, and her questions about faith have paralleled mine. I appreciate her honesty and her journey, and it encourages me to continue on mine.