Confessions
The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest
Visionary, activist, and one of the most important religious thinkers and teachers of our time, Matthew Fox has devoted his career to unleashing the suppressed mystical and life-affirming traditions within Christianity. His theology of "Creation Spirituality" - notably the belief that we are born in "original blessing" - has reinvigorated the faith of countless Christians and earned him the headline-making censure of the Vatican, who officially "silenced" Fox in 1989 and precipitated his dismissal by the Dominican Order in 1993. In this always compelling memoir, Fox, now an Episcopal priest, traces the roots of his radical theology, from his 195Os childhood in Madison, Wisconsin, through formative years spent training in a late-sixties Paris rocked by revolutionary fervor, to taking on the Vatican (which he likens to standing in front of a train), to his most recent experiences as a leader of "rave masses" for urban young people. Written with his characteristic candor and insight, Confessions details Fox's spiritual, intellectual, political, and cultural evolution as an envelope-pushing member of a generation "bold enough to question many things and to seek spirituality over religion.". Fox's story mirrors the questions and concerns of those millions of contemporary seekers with a "passion for holiness"; a yearning for a Christian spirituality committed to social justice, feminism, and environmentalism; and a desire for ritual that heals, celebrates, and honors the gifts of being in each of us. Always relentlessly ahead of his time, Fox embraces his role as a "post-denominational priest," passionately exploring the present and future role of faith, church, and a spirituality grounded in the emphatic belief that finding God is still possible.
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Spiritual, Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Spiritual · Nonfiction · Fiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
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Balanced tone · Measured pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
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Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
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A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-0606-2965-6
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL9234533M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in Spiritual, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- What question is the author really asking beneath the book’s main argument?
- Which claim challenges one of your familiar assumptions?
- What remains unresolved—and is that uncertainty useful?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
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