My Grandfather's House: A Genealogy of Doubt and Faith

Rating:
Summary: Fine spiritual biography/embarrassing religious history
Review: Clark has deep knowledge of his forebears' stories, an open way of telling his own story - which seems to be quite relevant to the experience of many 'boomers' in its search for spiritual grounding - and a really wonderful and subtle way of tying the two together so that the past becomes alive in and to the present.

Perhaps inevitably for someone who feels that he has undergone a spiritual hegira culminating in attainment of his proper place, Clark shows a good deal more insight into and sympathy for his childhood days and current condition than for the states of mind and being in between, which tend to become mere waystations (viewed rather unsympathetically) en route to the present.

When Clark ventures beyond attesting to these stories and attempts to speak more globally of the nature and defects of Protestantism vis-a-vis Catholicism the incompleteness and defectiveness of his grasp of the subject are unfortunately clear. The only branches of Protestantism actually considered are Lutheranism (the picture drawn quite misss the essence) and his own Anglican- Puritan-Harvard-Unitarian ancestry, which is clearly too small a slice of the Protestant pie (despite Mayflower-descendants' tendency to think themselves the pinnacle of intellectual and spiritual progress) to justify the sweeping statements made, which mar (and were quite unnecessary to) Mr Clark's otherwise interesting and lively book.

Rating:
Summary: Fine spiritual biography/embarrassing religious history
Review: Clark has deep knowledge of his forebears' stories, an open way of telling his own story - which seems to be quite relevant to the experience of many 'boomers' in its search for spiritual grounding - and a really wonderful and subtle way of tying the two together so that the past becomes alive in and to the present.

Perhaps inevitably for someone who feels that he has undergone a spiritual hegira culminating in attainment of his proper place, Clark shows a good deal more insight into and sympathy for his childhood days and current condition than for the states of mind and being in between, which tend to become mere waystations (viewed rather unsympathetically) en route to the present.

When Clark ventures beyond attesting to these stories and attempts to speak more globally of the nature and defects of Protestantism vis-a-vis Catholicism the incompleteness and defectiveness of his grasp of the subject are unfortunately clear. The only branches of Protestantism actually considered are Lutheranism (the picture drawn quite misss the essence) and his own Anglican- Puritan-Harvard-Unitarian ancestry, which is clearly too small a slice of the Protestant pie (despite Mayflower-descendants' tendency to think themselves the pinnacle of intellectual and spiritual progress) to justify the sweeping statements made, which mar (and were quite unnecessary to) Mr Clark's otherwise interesting and lively book.

Rating:
Summary: Beauty and Story and God
Review: Perhaps one of the most original and reflective conversion stories in print. Clark creates a self-portrait from the reflection he finds of himself in the 500-something years of his family's history. Amazingly researched, beautifully written. Probably has a special appeal to people of English ancestry and, of course, to those who contemplate theological mysteries.

Unlike the other two reviewers, I had no problem with his discussion of Protestantism. Rather, I felt that he had a firm understanding of the content of his book.

Rating:
Summary: Beauty and Story and God
Review: Perhaps one of the most original and reflective conversion stories in print. Clark creates a self-portrait from the reflection he finds of himself in the 500-something years of his family's history. Amazingly researched, beautifully written. Probably has a special appeal to people of English ancestry and, of course, to those who contemplate theological mysteries.

Unlike the other two reviewers, I had no problem with his discussion of Protestantism. Rather, I felt that he had a firm understanding of the content of his book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Storyteller + Great Story= Great Read
Review: The author is certainly not a theologian, but he is a magnificent storyteller. I read this book primarily for the story of the author, but found myself pulled into the tale of his English ancestors, something that I would not have read about under normal circumstances. I enjoyed very much his weaving together of his own personal spiritual journey with that of his forbearers.

While the other reviewer thought that his description of Lutheranism was off base (I agree), I would remark that the Universalist or Puritan trajectory of the Reformation was not an illogical outcome given some of the premises of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli concerning the nature of revelation, the church, the bible, matter, redemption, damnation and self. They are certainly not the only possible outcomes, which the author sort of implies, but they are certainly connected intellectually to Luther.

If you want to know more than you want to know about the relationships of the Naturalist Emerson and Thoreau, or neat details about Hawthorne and Melville, not to mention countless other luminaries, this book's later chapters will certainly be of interest to you.

You may find "Surprised By Joy" by C. S. Lewis enjoyable as a spiritual autobiography. Of course, Thomas Merton's "Seven Story Mountain" is incredible for its style and content.