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Godtalk: Travels in Spiritual America
From the author of City Poet , the brilliant biography of Frank O’Hara, now comes a fascinating account of thriving forms of spirituality in what is being called a “post-denominational” age.
As the nineties were drawing to a close, Brad Gooch set out on a journey to explore traditional and nontraditional forms of spirituality that took him across America and to India. Gooch’s quest—partly personal and partly investigative—took him to Chicago to read the mysterious Urantia Book; to Goa and La Jolla to experience the talks and treatments of Deepak Chopra; to Ganeshpuri and South Fallsburg, New York, to listen to the charismatic leader Gurumayi Chidvilasananda; to Bardstown, Kentucky, to observe the quiet solitude of the Trappists and to Dubuque, Iowa, to see the Trappistines; to Dallas to worship with the members of the gay congregation of the Cathedral of Hope; and to New York to talk with Muslims and Sufis. As Gooch proceeded on this unique spiritual odyssey—from fringe to mainstream—he witnessed diverse movements and religions and their strong appeal to a broad spectrum of followers.
Brad Gooch has written a revealing, richly detailed document of our time. In Godtalk , character, dialogue, and setting come together in an irresistible, fast-paced narrative that is both engaging and informative about the unexpected nature of spirituality in America today.
As the nineties were drawing to a close, Brad Gooch set out on a journey to explore traditional and nontraditional forms of spirituality that took him across America and to India. Gooch’s quest—partly personal and partly investigative—took him to Chicago to read the mysterious Urantia Book; to Goa and La Jolla to experience the talks and treatments of Deepak Chopra; to Ganeshpuri and South Fallsburg, New York, to listen to the charismatic leader Gurumayi Chidvilasananda; to Bardstown, Kentucky, to observe the quiet solitude of the Trappists and to Dubuque, Iowa, to see the Trappistines; to Dallas to worship with the members of the gay congregation of the Cathedral of Hope; and to New York to talk with Muslims and Sufis. As Gooch proceeded on this unique spiritual odyssey—from fringe to mainstream—he witnessed diverse movements and religions and their strong appeal to a broad spectrum of followers.
Brad Gooch has written a revealing, richly detailed document of our time. In Godtalk , character, dialogue, and setting come together in an irresistible, fast-paced narrative that is both engaging and informative about the unexpected nature of spirituality in America today.
- GenresReligionSpirituality
384 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2002
1 person is currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Brad Gooch
28 books107 followersBrad Gooch is the author of Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor (Little, Brown, 2009.) His previous books include City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O’Hara; as well as Godtalk: Travels in Spiritual America; three novels--Scary Kisses, The Golden Age of Promiscuity, Zombie00; a collection of stories, Jailbait and Other Stories, chosen by Donald Barthelme for a Pushcart Foundation Writer’s Choice Award; a collection of poems, The Daily News; and two memoirs, Finding the Boyfriend Within and Dating the Greek Gods.
His work has been featured in numerous magazines including: The New Republic, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Travel and Leisure, Partisan Review, The Paris Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Art Forum, Harper’s Bazaar, The Nation, and regularly on The Daily Beast.
A Guggenheim fellow in Biography, he has received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, and a Furthermore grant in publishing from the J.M. Kaplan Fund.
A professor of English at William Paterson University, he earned his PhD at Columbia University, and lives in New York City.
His work has been featured in numerous magazines including: The New Republic, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Travel and Leisure, Partisan Review, The Paris Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Art Forum, Harper’s Bazaar, The Nation, and regularly on The Daily Beast.
A Guggenheim fellow in Biography, he has received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, and a Furthermore grant in publishing from the J.M. Kaplan Fund.
A professor of English at William Paterson University, he earned his PhD at Columbia University, and lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 18, 2019
This book is exactly what it sounds like: journeys the author, Brad Gooch, made across America (and India, for a chapter on Indian mystical traditions there and in the U.S.), in search of the many ways Americans believe in God, practice their faiths, and fulfill the very human longing to connect with the spiritual.
One recurrent theme in Godtalk is the universality of religions -- how the differences we see between "being" a Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Buddhist or a Hindu, are artificial barriers, because there is only one God, and Oneness, Unity, is the essence of God's nature.
Gooch writes in a conversational, fluid style that is engaging and pulls you in from the start. He crams the book with detail -- on everything: appearance, clothing, tone of voice, design and architectural details, furnishings, EVERYTHING. I was hard put to figure out how he saw and noted everything around him with such specificity, wrote it down, and still kept up with conversations and paying attention to what he was there to write about.
One recurrent theme in Godtalk is the universality of religions -- how the differences we see between "being" a Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Buddhist or a Hindu, are artificial barriers, because there is only one God, and Oneness, Unity, is the essence of God's nature.
Gooch writes in a conversational, fluid style that is engaging and pulls you in from the start. He crams the book with detail -- on everything: appearance, clothing, tone of voice, design and architectural details, furnishings, EVERYTHING. I was hard put to figure out how he saw and noted everything around him with such specificity, wrote it down, and still kept up with conversations and paying attention to what he was there to write about.
Displaying 1 of 1 review