A Journey with God in Time: A Spiritual Quest

by John S. Dunne

In this unique autobiography, John Dunne meditates on what it is to love God with all one's mind, might, heart, and soul. Dunne's captivating prose connects contemporary theology with the very real life experiences of finding, losing, and living love. Centered around pivotal moments at various stages in his life, A Journey with God in Time uses the grist of Dunne's experiences to plumb new theological and spiritual depths. A series of dramatic Thomas Cole paintings reflects the time periods-childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age-that form the organizational backbone of this work. Among the life experiences Dunne discusses are his relationship with his grandfather, his love of music, and his thoughts on death. In prose and song cycles Dunne takes readers on a spiritual journey through his extraordinary, and sometimes ordinary, life. Readers will find rich nourishment for mind and soul in this compelling new book.

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

John S. Dunne was an American priest and theologian of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He held the John A. O'Brien Professorship of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.

Reviews

[Alexander]

I found this book quite unusual and difficult to classify. Initially it struck me very much as a fairly randomly developing meditation on Dunne's life and his reading and writing of various books. I think that I only began to properly appreciate it when I reached the final chapter, which required going back and rereading some of what had come before. This lead me to conclude that the book was doing something far different, both more beautiful and more sublime, than I had initially grasped. Like Dunne's life itself, I suppose, the book gradually comes into focus at the end in his movement through life of beginning with "love God with all your mind" to "love God with all your heart" to "love God with all your soul" to, finally, "love God with all your might." The final vision, of a life coming to learn how to love with detachment, or as he reframes it, loving heart-free, is poignant, profound, and haunting.

[John]

Life is a journey in time in which we discover that God is our companion. John Dunne's book takes him from St. Edward's in Texas to the University of Notre Dame for philosophy where he discovered that reading the Summa of St. Thomas brought him peace to Rome where he studied theology at the Greg and final yearned a doctorate with the subject of participation in St Thomas Aquinas. John was ordained and returned to Notre Dame as a teacher. There he discovered his vocation As a writer. The remainder of John Dunne's book provides an excellent introduction to the books he wrote. Wonderful memoir of a profound religious thinker.

[Vegetarian]

Recommended by ex-sminarian philosophy professor