Sacred Time/Search for Meaning » (1ST)

Gary Eberle is chair of the English Department at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he has taught since 1982. His books include the critically acclaimed novel Angel Strings, as well as The Geography of Nowhere: Finding One's Self in the Postmodern World and A City Full of Rain, a collection of short stories.

In Sacred Time and the Search for Meaning, author Gary Eberle contemplates how humans' view of time has evolved throughout history, how we came to measure time, and why we feel especially starved for it now. Eberle seeks to rediscover a renewed sense of meaning in life through looking for ways to enter the realm of sacred time or "sabbath time"—where we can reconnect with the slower, deeper rhythms of life that have traditionally been experienced through worship, prayer, and the observance of holy days.

Drawing from the work of Western philosophers from Aristotle to Heidegger, and on theorists from Jung to Foucault, he presents both an intellectual history of time and a personal account of his own search for sacred time. Along the way he formulates an insightful analysis of our culture's obsession with speed and efficiency, and he offers guidance for slowing down to savor life outside of schedules and routines, showing the way toward finding fulfillment in this increasingly accelerated world.

Library Journal

Fiction writer and essayist Eberle (English, Aquinas Coll.; The Geography of Nowhere) here presents a long contemplation on time and how human beings have attempted to measure and control it, especially as reflected in religious practice. Eberle's expository prose has a clear and simple style that easily carries the reader through many ideas and perceptions. The material Eberle includes on our efforts to improve timekeeping from the Middle Ages on has been treated more thoroughly elsewhere-since the approach of the millennium a few years ago there has been no shortage of books on the subject-but the latter chapters, in which he offers his own reflections on how to alter our relationship with time and to discover both personal and communal sacred time, are at once touching and profound. Recommended for most collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.