In The Dark
A Memoir of Religious Initiation, Doubt, Rebellion, and Discovery
by
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From the introduction...
Approaching the possibilities of a Divine Presence, this has never been based upon my being good enough, smart enough or popular. Never directed to stand in line to be fitted for a halo, much about my spiritual formation has occurred as if in a darkened theater...
And yet a darkened interior theater isn’t often promoted in the public gatherings of organized religion. Bright lights and social skills are preferred; illuminating all that is eternal and absolute instead of conditions where shadows and isolation reign.
...for reasons yet to be explained, I early began attending: “...Professor Night lectures each evening. Their words aren’t heard, their voices aren’t recorded, But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere” (Psalm 19, The Message).
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About the Book
This book is risky. Challenging naïve optimism and the illusion of certainty in shallow religion, the author cites a Judeo-Christian faith that has “left us in the dark, so that we can never know what God is up to, whether he’s coming or going” (Ecclesiastes 3, The Message).
And yet, the invitation is to explore authentic spiritual formation by balancing the objective with the subjective, the historically given Holy Bible with a private mystical quest. Illustrating this with his own life, the author reveals a deeply meaningful existence that is available and includes a full range of pathos whereby “the secrets of his [her] heart will be laid bare. So he [she] will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’” (1 Corinthians 14:25, New International Version).
WestBow Press (a division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan) named In The Dark as a top ten finalist in the 2015 New Look Writing Contest.
About the Author
Scott Stickney earned a B.A. Degree in Psychology and studied for two years at a theological seminary. An ordained elder in the Nazarene denomination, Scott served as a pastor in local churches for over two decades. Now residing in western Oregon, he enjoys the rain of the Pacific Northwest and continues to build depth and substance as a husband, dad, and practitioner in the “mysticism of darkness.”