Discovering Community

by Stephen V. Doughty

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 083580870X
• ISBN13: 9780835808705
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Upper Room Books
• Length: 173 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Gentle book about a needed concern

"Why can't we all get along together?" Why indeed? Is it because we have lost contact with common values or that we have lost contact with a common vocabulary of meaning? Stephen Doughty grants us the chance to uncover roots of community. As he explores a variety of facets of this elusive entity called community, Doughty offers insights into the spiritual pilgrimage and experience that creates community, temporary and permanent, elusive and perhaps eternal. His musings on what prevents community from happening are pivotal in an analysis that is as personal as it is communal. His work would be helpful fodder for political debates as well as ecclesiastical discussions.

A Calling or an Invitation to All Communities

In a very poetic style, Doughty writes of the quest for community--first of his own quest for community, but even more for the larger principles of community. He unpacks some general principles that relate specifically to a Christian context and yet, his findings offer much to individuals who are not engaged in the institution of church: What community is there that cannot extend hospitality? What community cannot learn more about hospitality? What community does not face blockages in its ongoing life? These are some of the questions Doughty faces. He prods and pushes and gently shows us questions that guide our spiritual quest.The author includes meditative exercises and questions for group conversation. These seem to be quite helpful!