If I Gave You God's Phone Number....Searching for Spirituality in America (ePub)

If I Gave You God's Phone Number...
- Survey reveals people's relationships with their Creator

What do a Cherokee Medicine Woman, a Death Row inmate, an Afghani Sufi Mystic, a Catholic, a Jew, several praying kids, and Mare Cromwell have in common? They all feel strongly about who or what they think God is, why things happen the way they do, and what will become of us in the future. They question, praise and criticize God in the hopes of better understanding themselves and others. In a world challenged by economic issues, climate change, war, and constant threat of terrorism, people are pausing from their daily routines to ask the deeper questions and wonder about the divine and mysterious nature of their Creator.

In this book, author and spiritual seeker Mare Cromwell interviews people from all walks of life, asking, "If I gave you God's phone number, what would you do with it?" This spiritual memoir, framed by twenty-one interviews with people from all walks of life, combines the oral tradition of Studs Terkel with the soulful searchings of Neale Donald Welsh.

If I gave you God's phone number... offers the reader what only the best books offer—windows into the most authentic reaches of the soul. Cromwell's conscientious selection of interview subjects, and her deft questioning, which presses them to go deeper and deeper, is what lends the book its striking range. This diorama of spiritual postures—some passionate, some highly intellectualized—is impossible to look away from, infects the reader with a fever of curiosity about the human condition, and then proceeds to administer the careful cure: vivid, compelling testimony. Not only do her many subjects nourish the reader by their telling, but Cromwell too provides ongoing doses of self-revelation, a gesture of honesty that unifies and strengthens the whole picture. Reading If I gave you God's phone number.... will enrich your view of spiritual life—in all its radiant variety—forever.

What people are saying about If I gave you God's phone number...

"I strongly recommend this engaging, thought-provoking book. It is distinguished by Ms. Cromwell's empathy for the interesting and diverse people she searched out to interview about their communication with God. Readers will be stimulated to reflect on their own spiritual journey as well as the author's own experiences and those of the people she has interviewed. Because of Ms. Cromwell's personal candor and insights, I continue to ponder the central question she asked her interviewees in this important and unusual book."
–James Crowfoot, Ph.D., Professor and Dean Emeritus, University of Michigan and former President of Antioch College

"Mare Cromwell has done a wonderful job of bringing people's personal views on God and spirituality to the public in this book. These stories will deepen our understanding of the diversity of spirituality in the human experience."
–Garrett Sarley, President of the Omega Institute, author of "The Essentials of Yoga" and "Walking Yoga"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mare Cromwell is an author, poet, gardener and environmentalist. A spiritual seeker for many years, she received a Masters in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan and worked internationally before starting this book. Seven years of interviewing along with a personal intensive search for spiritual meaning culminated in this treatise. Currently a professional gardener, Mare resides in Baltimore, Maryland, where she occasionally leads talks and workshops on spirituality, environmental sustainability and simplicity.