The title of this memoir (the second in a series, following the well-received Sacred Journey) originates in the theologian Paul Tillich's epigraph: "We want only to show you something we have seen and to tell you something we have heard ... that here and there in the world and now and then in ourselves is a New Creation." The humility of this title--the "now and then" that refers to the occasional glimpse of glory but does not claim any more for itself than that--beautifully reveals something of the tone and attitude of Buechner himself. It also suggests what it is about him that readers hold so dear. In this volume, picking up where the first book left off, Buechner begins with his education at Union Theological Seminary, where he studied under Tillich and others. He then tells of his years as minister and teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy, concluding with his move to Vermont and his decision to make a living as a full-time writer.

As he says very simply in the introduction, "if you tell your own story with sufficient candor and concreteness, it will be an interesting story and in some sense a universal story." It will also, as this book affirms, be a story that says something of the myriad ways in which God speaks to us. This realization lies at the center of this small but lovely book. "Autobiography becomes a way of praying," he concludes, "and a book like this, if it matters at all, matters mostly as a call to prayer." --Doug Thorpe


From Publishers Weekly
In these spiritual memoirs, novelist, essayist and Presbyterian minister Buechner explores his belief that God speaks to us through events. The first volume is devoted to his childhood, years at Princeton and inclination toward the ministry--according to PW, his "reflections on death and bereavement are especially felicitous." In the second, he "issues a graceful invitation to share the insights of a contemporary God-centered person" as he recalls his years as a seminary student, school minister and developer of Phillips Exeter Academy's religion department. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Spiritual and autobiographical reflections on the author's seminary days, early ministry, and writing career.


From the Publisher
Spiritual and autobiographical reflections on the author's seminary days, early ministry, and writing career.


About the Author
Frederick Buechner is the popular author of such nonfiction titles as Telling the Truth, Wishful Thinking, and Peculiar Treasures. The New York Times Book Review described his recently published memoir, The Sacred Journey, as a "beautifully successful experiment." In addition to The Final Beast, which was originally published in 1965, Mr. Buechner is the author of ten other novels, including the bestselling A Long Day's Dying and, most recently, Godric. He makes his home in Rupert, Vermont.

ANNOTATION

"A synthesis of memoir and theological explanation ..."-- Washington Post Book World

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Spiritual and autobiographical reflections on the author's seminary days, early ministry, and writing career.

About the Author