The Molten Soul

Like one of Temple's best sermons, this is a message that one must sit with and ponder. Most of us have either observed or personally experienced what Temple describes-- an individual who undergoes a profound conversion, then becomes an artifically different person with an answer for every question and a judgmental or condescending attitude toward anyone who does not agree with them. This book will provide hope to those who have been turned off to institutional religion due to this attitude. For more traditional believers, there are many comments that could alienate them. However, if they will press on through the material that challenges their beliefs, the reader will find truth that can transform their relationship to God and to people who are different from them. Temple is also consistently fair in pointing out the risk of rigidity in all traditions-- from social activists to fundamentalists. This fairness and insight reveals that this work was not written by an elite ecclesiastic with an ax to grind, but rather by a person with deep faith and a pastor's heart. I highly recommend this book to all who will read it with an open mind-- and even more to those who need to have their certainties challenged.

The Molten Soul is Gray Temple's vivid metaphor for what happens to us Christians in our conversion moments, those times when we actually come face to face with God. With conversational warmth, Temple confronts the opportunities and problems presented by religious conversion through lenses of the Christian life, faith, doctrine, and community. He tackles questions that we all ask - such as, why are we so powerfully motivated by the fear of death and the dread of God? Once we allow God to get through enough of our defenses that we can visualize that a mutually loving, trusting, and lasting friendship is possible, what then? How do we keep our faith from ossifying into rigidity? As we encounter God's grace over and over again, how can we be spiritually ready to accept and use it to build a visionary Christian community? Where, indeed, can Job go to church?In his foreword, theologian Walter Brueggemann writes, ". . . Temple urges `moltenness,' the process of being melted down, liquefied, rendered supple and open for new congealing that must not be too firm or full, but that readies the soul, in good gospel fashion, for the next melting that is the good work of God." Temple is a theologian, a preacher, and a priest - he meets his readers on all of these levels as he prods us to stay molten as individuals and as community. The Molten Soul makes righteousness meaningful for today. I'll be reading this book more than once.

Gray Temple is one of the few geniuses in the church who has the dedication and courage to speak the truth in the midst of confusion. Using powerful insights from the Anglican theological tradition as well as the best of the hints from contemporary theory, namely faith development theory, Fr. Temple is raising the dialogue to a new level of intensity as well as sensitivity of respect for the other. This book is a must for all who seek to be real in the work and art of ministry. His gift and curse is his broad knowledge of many fields, making him the odd duck of being a general practitioner, which is a fading art. His ability to synthesize broad disciplines without reductionistic simplisity is reminiscent of older Anglican scholarship. To me, it is a "must read" and I plan on using it in my seminary course this coming fall, not only to expose my students to the information, but moreso to experience the model of reflective theological scholarship and pastoral incisiveness. A tour de force from one of our best thinkers and most caring pastors. The Rev. Dr. David Galloway Rector, Christ Church, Tyler, Texas Adjunct Professor of Pastoral Ministry, Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest

As a Priest and a Licensed Psychotherapist, this book is outstanding in both the theological and psychodynamic content. I am an Interim Rector at a church that suffered a split due to the Charismatic Born Again influence. This book helps me wonderfully understand and be able to teach - many of the dynamics my congregation needs to hear. It will be the September offering for Adult Education in my congregation. The author is adept at theology and amazingly proficient at psychodynamics. His dependence on Becker is not shared - that was a "digression". Outside of that I have no negative comments. The book flows well and is succinct with helpful anecdotal material.

After reading the first 50 pages of his new book, The Molten Soul, I asked Gray (fortunately for me the author is a friend and my priest) how he managed to keep one foot in each of the row boats named Charismatic and Liberal. His response was characteristic of the humor exhibited throughout the book, "not very well, but I keep trying to stay dry." Gray balances many things well in this informed and heartfelt examination of just what it means to continuously be a child of God, a human being. With acessible scholarhip and personal compassion, Gray removes all of the ready excuses we use for keeping the mystery of life and death at arms length. He exhorts us to loosen up, lighten up, and take the risk of remaining molten, but always in community with others and in the Presence of God. The Molten Soul is a challenging, at times edgy, book. I admit to feeling discomfort and even a bit lost at times. But then, with a warm and light touch, I felt guided back to a safe place to process what I had just experienced. Not unlike the feeling I get from one of Gray's better sermons. My only regret after reading The Molten Soul is that I can only come up with a small handful of people I know who have open enough hearts and minds to take up the challenge to read this very unusual book. Where indeed, can Job go to church?