From Sand to Solid Ground: Questions of Faith for Modern Catholics

Where was this book when I was in Catholic School? Before I read this book I was a 26 year-old "lapsed Catholic", but this book has brought me back to the Church by truly uniting reason with faith. This book is a brilliant interpretation of Christian theology--and it explores the development of the Christian world-view throughout history. Morwood brings to life the message of Jesus in today's world for all people. He challenges Christians to think outside of their dogmatic and literal framework that characterizes much of their faith at the expense of the Good News that Jesus revealed to human beings. Morwood's message is not new, but his strategy for understanding this message is quite revolutionary. Every "thinking Christian" would benefit from this read. (Catholics, Protestants, and open minds alike.) It is very easy to read and hard to put down.

Morwood does a simply Outstanding Job of taking us Out of the Box, of challenging us to look for horizons and not boundaries, of not being museum keepers, but God's Gardeners, loving Change and Growth

This is a must read. Morwood's lucid writing illuminates and inspires. Open this book to any page and you will find a golden nugget of hope and inspiration. It is an eminently thoughtful and creative assemblage of questions and answers in an age characterized by fear, suspicion, impasse, cover-up, closed-door sessions -- both inside and outside the boundaries of Roman Catholicism.

This book was highly recommended to me by an old friend who is an inactive priest and former Benedictine monk (with a PhD in church history) as one of the best books he has ever read. Once I started to read it, I found it hard to put down and I had many notes to myself in the margins along with much underlining and many exclamation points. I am a cradle Catholic who was taught from an early age that God is always present and that we are to love one another, but something didn't seem right about the way the church treated lay men and women on a day-to-day basis. The distinction between an EVERYWHERE GOD and an ELSEWHERE GOD is crucial. It has always been there and, to some extent, I felt like a dunce for not seeing the obvious; my whole family lived their faith as if they could only have authentic access to God through the clergy/hierarchy of the church and if you thought otherwise you simply were not being appropriately reverent and not being a good Catholic. Morewood, who is not only an inactive priest, but an adult educator, does an excellent job presenting this material. The question and answer format was very helpful since many of the questions were ones I've wanted answers to, but would have had difficulty formulating so clearly. I felt that Morewood's book helped me realize that living the basic message of Jesus Christ is possible and essential if we are ever to have peace on earth.

The question and answer format for this book make it an easy read but the content is deep and challenging. It deals with who or what is this divine presence we call God and what is the relationship with Jesus. The author emphasizes that this divine presence is within each of us. Each one of us is a human manifestation of this divine spirit and the author chalenges us to reflect on how we are living what we profess to be. In Jesus he sees the most complete expression of the divine spirit.