Steady & Trembling: Art, Faith, & Family in an Uncertain World

by Tom Montgomery Fate

Book by Montgomery-Fate, Tom

122 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2005

About the author

Tom Montgomery Fate is the author of five books of nonfiction, including Beyond the White Noise (1997), a collection of essays, Steady and Trembling (2005), a spiritual memoir, and Cabin Fever (2011), a nature memoir. His essays have appeared in The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun, Orion, Iowa Review, Fourth Genre, Riverteeth, Sojourners, Christian Century, and many other journals and anthologies; and they regularly air on National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio. A graduate of the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and of Chicago Theological Seminary, he is currently a professor of English at College of DuPage, in suburban Chicago, where he also lives. He and his wife Carol have three children.

Reviews

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Art and faith are about waking up, and waking other-Fate s up, again and again to the miracle of creation. The quality of my attention as a parent and writer may enable me to find God where I least expect God – in a patch of dandelions, in an old forgotten face, in a stack of my students’ papers, in a child’s innocent question.”

This book has been waiting for me for several years, but I finally sat down and read it. Why did I wait? There are a lot of books in my house, but this one deserved my attention. Montgomery-Fate has a lot to say that I can relate to. His writing is good, and his thoughts send my brain in many directions. I like books that make me think.

I found it interesting that Montgomery-Fate started his book with the season of autumn. I am oriented towards spring as the beginning of the four seasons, but I am not sure why. Maybe because so many things are born in the spring and so many plants come to life then. Autumn works well for those who are teachers as Montgomery-Fate is. I just hadn’t thought about it.

All in all, I found much to like in this set of essays. I am going to try to find someone else who might like this volume.