SPIRITUAL SURVIVAL GUIDE: How to Find God When You're Sick

Shields, pastor of a large Los Angeles church and founder of the Institute of Faith and Health, died of prostate cancer before this book went to press. He and Ferrell, who is now director of the institute, offer here a surprisingly practical guide to Christian mysticism for the healthy as well as the sick. Already beginning to explore monastic and mystical traditions before his diagnosis, Shields found their disciplines invaluable as he coped with his dire prognosis and the attendant grief. Particularly, he found that the practices of "divine reading" and "imaginative prayer," based on the teachings of Saint Benedict and Saint Ignatius respectively, enabled him to literally hear God's voice and profoundly feel God's presence. Shields and Ferrell (writing in Shields's voice alone) fill their book with Psalms and other biblical passages, alternating between the poetic, archaic KJV and the accessible, paraphrased TEV. In doing so they give readers ample opportunity to meditate on Scripture using the ancient techniques Shields espouses. The mystical aspects of this book's worldview come not only in its prayer lessons but also in its notion of illusion and reality. Shields and Ferrell's faithfulness to Scripture should reassure readers who doubt that mysticism has a place in mainstream Christian life. Moreover, the book, which includes blank pages for personal reflection, offers many spiritual strategies beyond mystical practice, the most important of which is to stay connected to a loving community. (Apr.)