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Searching for Home: Spirituality for Restless Souls
Deep down it's easy to believe that the better job, the nicer house, or the more dynamic church will finally make us feel "at home." In Searching for Home, M. Craig Barnes challenges this belief. He reminds us that paradise is lost and we can't go home again. Our great comfort and hope, however, is that we are never lost to God.
Seasoned by more than twenty years as a pastor, Barnes discusses the importance of confession, worship, and grace in our search for home. He offers advice about how we can move from being transient nomads "too frightened to be grateful" to pilgrims who are at home with God, guided by our pleasure in him.
This book was written for both Christians and seekers who are still looking for a sense of belonging or "home." It will be a useful tool for pastors, adult Sunday school groups, and counselors of all kinds who are advising pilgrims along the way.
Seasoned by more than twenty years as a pastor, Barnes discusses the importance of confession, worship, and grace in our search for home. He offers advice about how we can move from being transient nomads "too frightened to be grateful" to pilgrims who are at home with God, guided by our pleasure in him.
This book was written for both Christians and seekers who are still looking for a sense of belonging or "home." It will be a useful tool for pastors, adult Sunday school groups, and counselors of all kinds who are advising pilgrims along the way.
192 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 9, 2018
This book was excellent at the diagnosis but fell a bit short on the remedy. By far the most enjoyable part of the book involves interpreting Dante's "Inferno" poem in light of Christian spirituality. Or rather comparing the poet's wanderings to modern day's people sense of being lost and attempting the same journey. The book is prompted by the author's own story, mostly as it relates to his father's abandonement of the family. The author starts an inquiry into what might have been his father's state of mind and spirit when he decided to move away and start wandering. There is no bitterness, guilt or "search for the lost father" angst in these pages. Just a thoughtful and profound realization that, just like his dad, many people are looking for a "true" home. This is meant not only as a geographical location but as a mental place to lay one's head and rest from wandering from unsatisfactory situation to unsatisfactory situation, be it job, relationship, career, community, church or personal failure. He sets out to describe the fantasies that most restless souls have about the shape of this ideal home, be it a Rockwellian dream, a place in our childhood that doesn't exist anymore or just a place to "hang your hat". "If only " we complain. A home is a mirage according to the author. In a few minutes it can all come tumbling down. It is when we run out of options, jobs, places and fall in despair that God (this is a Christian book in case it's not clear) has us where He can reach us. Dante's Inferno reserves the worst possible place for cowards, those who quieted their yearning and led a blameless but forgettable life. They are not even allowed in Hell. Because this yearning in itself is what the author calls a "memory" of home, the inner call towards heaven no matter how hard the road. Once the impulse that has people always searching for the next thing, regretting the past and not being able to accept today's grace exhausts itself, we start seeking for the true home. A sense that we have been in the lap of safety propels the lost nomads of today's world to finally give everything for lost and thus receive God's grace. Obviously, the author pulls some great examples from the Bible itself: his interpretation of the Prodigal Son parable and his realization of the homelessness of Christ as a child, being visited only by those who were away from home are very touching and fit perfectly in this context. Where the book derails a bit is at the very end. The author suggests that God honors our freedom and our choices. His job is not to give us a map or decide for us at every fork in the road or even keep it all nice and tidy. Instead, and this is quite satisfying, a person that has found his home in God knows that regardless of the choice, God will be there. We have nothing to fear in that respect. We have become so reliant in ourselves , so determined to succeed and self-improve, so defined by our functions that we run ragged like the salmon going upstream to spawn and die. The confidence in God's grace and the effort to live through Jesus should trigger the discovery that we are at our most excellent when precisely being more ourselves. The paradox here is quite elegant and flies in the face of all the self-help and improvement credo we are fed continually, our identity tied up to our little communities (more about this later) and our roles. We carve out little communities of like-minded people so often that we deny ourselves the opportunity to see God in others. We are unable to just accept the people we are wirh as our community just because we don 't like them . Unable to embrace our place wherever that is. We complain a lot. Nothing grates God more than complainers according to this book. This is where i believe the book looses its grip. Isn't it a complaint about our lives that makes us turn to God? What is the difference between a yearning and a complaint ? Something is missing. And for all our becoming more ourselves as a reflection of God's intentions towards us, it is fine to lack direction in the details of our choices but the risks are not only "hard work", they can be very painful and involve others. An abstract God that loves us but does not manifest or even hint at the best course of action towards paradise is not very useful in that it really can't be blamed for our failure or cowardice. A son and father relationship demands something of an obedience and love with specifics.
March 29, 2020
Modern culture has created a nomadic lifestyle. Barnes uses his father as an example. A failed pastor, he left his family and disappeared from their lives. Barnes learns that his father has died after living for years in a small trailer, moving from place to place with no connection to family or community.
The book begins in a promising way and Barnes accurately assesses the plight of modern American culture. However, he then uses Dante’s Inferno as an illustration of his thesis. The book then gets bogged down in Medieval theology and becomes tedious. The book has moments of brilliance, but the author tries too hard to be brilliant and it becomes boring.
The book begins in a promising way and Barnes accurately assesses the plight of modern American culture. However, he then uses Dante’s Inferno as an illustration of his thesis. The book then gets bogged down in Medieval theology and becomes tedious. The book has moments of brilliance, but the author tries too hard to be brilliant and it becomes boring.
September 20, 2017
This is a jewel of a book. Craig Barnes stirs the reader by using a longing for home as a central narrative. He helps us go from nomadic wandering towards a vocation as pilgrim. Dante is his guide. Barnes beautifully appropriates the 13th century Divine Comedy as a metaphor that is especially apt for today, a day in which the pursuit of communion with God is still central and compelling for our lost souls.
March 30, 2018
This is a must read for Pastors/Leaders and indeed people who truly are seeking to follow Christ more closely.
Here we get deep glimpses into issues of identity and character. Here we are taught more deeply of the grace of Jesus who meets us in all our situations and leads us, introduces us to the father.
I have already recommended this book to several and will continue to recommend it to many others.
Here we get deep glimpses into issues of identity and character. Here we are taught more deeply of the grace of Jesus who meets us in all our situations and leads us, introduces us to the father.
I have already recommended this book to several and will continue to recommend it to many others.
April 4, 2016
Where is home? It is a question that seems simple enough, but it becomes more complex the more you think about it. Is home where I live right now? Is it where I grew up? Is it the place I've been the longest? M. Craig Barnes in his book Searching for Home: Spirituality for Restless Souls looks at this question of home and tries to point the reader to understand that our true home may not be found in a certain location, but rather it is found with God.
Searching for Home is a book I've read before with a friend and I remember liking it quite a bit. The same held true this time around. I did find some minor issues I'll mention, but overall it was a book that I found thought provoking.
The focus of the book is about our search for home, as may be obvious. However, Barnes takes the approach that our home is ultimately with God. We may try to search for home on earth, but often this search for the perfect place leaves us weary and may even leave us farther from finding our true home than closer.
One of the main reasons that I've really enjoyed this book is that I could kind of relate with the premise to a certain degree. When I first read it I wondered where I would find a job and what God had in store for me next. While we have moved since the time I first read this book, the question is still with me. I still don't know what God has for me entirely, but some of the aspects of the book helped in that regard.
One of the ideas that Barnes hits on, is that if home is identified as being with God then the worry about always making the right decision becomes reduced. This shifts the focus from making the right decisions about everything, to learning to see, experience, and serve God wherever we are.
Another idea of Barnes that I found very useful is the idea that God desires us to be purer forms of our self. Barnes is not meaning that we are good just the way we are and that there is no need for repentance and redemption, but rather that as one of God's creations, God enjoys us and likes us and desires for us to be who he desires us to.
While, admittedly one weakness of this idea is that it is rather vague. What does this exactly look like? Even so, I think it is very easy to fall under the idea that we're meant to be like somebody else. That we're not any good ourselves. So Barnes presenting the idea that we're not meant to change into a different person, but simply a more redeemed version of who we already are is helpful, even if it is a bit vague. In my mind it allows for much more grace than the idea that we have to be like one ideal that somebody comes up with.
One last idea that I found helpful from the book was the idea that home on this earth will never be perfect. This idea may seem rather obvious with all the pain, sorrow, and conflict in the world. Despite this though, I do find myself always desiring the ideal. That things will be just the way I wish them.
That is not what is going to happen though. Life will never be perfect, While discouraging on one level, it is a good reminder that no matter how hard we try, where we move, or how much we desire it we will not create heaven on earth. This isn't to say that God isn't active, or that redemption isn't a reality, just that these are simply glimpse of heaven on earth.
These were some of the ideas that I really enjoyed out of the book. There were a couple minor weaknesses to the book though. One of these was a bit mixed. One of the interesting slants that M. Craig Barnes uses through his book is to go through Dante's Divine Comedy as an outline of sorts for each of his chapters. He tries to weave some of the insights that Dante was trying present with his own.
In some sense it is an interesting approach to the book. However, it also kind of feels like a bit of a gimmick. This could simply be because it's hard to present any kind of in-depth analysis of Dante and be a book that is easy to access, however, I'm not sure that the book really needed that connection. Maybe part of the problem is that I'm simply not up on my Dante.
The other aspect that I found rather weak is that I felt Barnes tended to present the past, particularly the eras where people "knew their place in life" with some rose colored glasses. While I understand where he was coming from. As my generation can tend to be restless and move around seeking their ideal situation, it is easy to say that someone who knew their lot in life had some benefits. I imagine it is more complicated than that. I imagine that that system had down sides and people who didn't feel at home either stuck with little ability to move.
This negative didn't really bring the book down any, in my opinion, but I just felt that he presented the past a bit too positively.
So overall, I enjoyed Searching for Home. It's a book that has helped shaped me into one who is trying to seek God wherever I am. That there isn't an ideal out there somewhere if I just make the right chain of decisions. These are things I've needed to cultivate these last five to six years. Even then I still struggle with embracing these ideas at times.
Searching for Home is a book I've read before with a friend and I remember liking it quite a bit. The same held true this time around. I did find some minor issues I'll mention, but overall it was a book that I found thought provoking.
The focus of the book is about our search for home, as may be obvious. However, Barnes takes the approach that our home is ultimately with God. We may try to search for home on earth, but often this search for the perfect place leaves us weary and may even leave us farther from finding our true home than closer.
One of the main reasons that I've really enjoyed this book is that I could kind of relate with the premise to a certain degree. When I first read it I wondered where I would find a job and what God had in store for me next. While we have moved since the time I first read this book, the question is still with me. I still don't know what God has for me entirely, but some of the aspects of the book helped in that regard.
One of the ideas that Barnes hits on, is that if home is identified as being with God then the worry about always making the right decision becomes reduced. This shifts the focus from making the right decisions about everything, to learning to see, experience, and serve God wherever we are.
Another idea of Barnes that I found very useful is the idea that God desires us to be purer forms of our self. Barnes is not meaning that we are good just the way we are and that there is no need for repentance and redemption, but rather that as one of God's creations, God enjoys us and likes us and desires for us to be who he desires us to.
While, admittedly one weakness of this idea is that it is rather vague. What does this exactly look like? Even so, I think it is very easy to fall under the idea that we're meant to be like somebody else. That we're not any good ourselves. So Barnes presenting the idea that we're not meant to change into a different person, but simply a more redeemed version of who we already are is helpful, even if it is a bit vague. In my mind it allows for much more grace than the idea that we have to be like one ideal that somebody comes up with.
One last idea that I found helpful from the book was the idea that home on this earth will never be perfect. This idea may seem rather obvious with all the pain, sorrow, and conflict in the world. Despite this though, I do find myself always desiring the ideal. That things will be just the way I wish them.
That is not what is going to happen though. Life will never be perfect, While discouraging on one level, it is a good reminder that no matter how hard we try, where we move, or how much we desire it we will not create heaven on earth. This isn't to say that God isn't active, or that redemption isn't a reality, just that these are simply glimpse of heaven on earth.
These were some of the ideas that I really enjoyed out of the book. There were a couple minor weaknesses to the book though. One of these was a bit mixed. One of the interesting slants that M. Craig Barnes uses through his book is to go through Dante's Divine Comedy as an outline of sorts for each of his chapters. He tries to weave some of the insights that Dante was trying present with his own.
In some sense it is an interesting approach to the book. However, it also kind of feels like a bit of a gimmick. This could simply be because it's hard to present any kind of in-depth analysis of Dante and be a book that is easy to access, however, I'm not sure that the book really needed that connection. Maybe part of the problem is that I'm simply not up on my Dante.
The other aspect that I found rather weak is that I felt Barnes tended to present the past, particularly the eras where people "knew their place in life" with some rose colored glasses. While I understand where he was coming from. As my generation can tend to be restless and move around seeking their ideal situation, it is easy to say that someone who knew their lot in life had some benefits. I imagine it is more complicated than that. I imagine that that system had down sides and people who didn't feel at home either stuck with little ability to move.
This negative didn't really bring the book down any, in my opinion, but I just felt that he presented the past a bit too positively.
So overall, I enjoyed Searching for Home. It's a book that has helped shaped me into one who is trying to seek God wherever I am. That there isn't an ideal out there somewhere if I just make the right chain of decisions. These are things I've needed to cultivate these last five to six years. Even then I still struggle with embracing these ideas at times.
October 19, 2017
This book has been very helpful on my spiritual journey.
October 31, 2013
Going through a time of spiritual discernment, I was given this book by a close friend. It has turned out to be one of the powerful and helpful books I have read about our spiritual journey and my relationship with God that I have read in quite some time. Using the framework of Dante's "Divine Comedy," a work with which I was not familiar (and am still not an expert in by any means!), Barnes explores the depths of our spiritual longing for Home - not the place where we were born and raised, or even where we currently live, but Home as in our created design to be living in harmony with God. And on that journey, we first have to explore the very depths of our own Hell, draw strength from a movement through a spiritual Purgatory, and then, and only then, move toward the power and grace of our heavenly home.
I was almost moved to tears on some pages. And having just read the book (which I now must return to my friend), I have ordered by own copy which I can then read again, and make markings and notes for my own reflection and meditation.
Thank you, Craig Barnes, for writing this book! I give it my highest recommendation to anyone who in any way may be struggling on your own spiritual journey.
I was almost moved to tears on some pages. And having just read the book (which I now must return to my friend), I have ordered by own copy which I can then read again, and make markings and notes for my own reflection and meditation.
Thank you, Craig Barnes, for writing this book! I give it my highest recommendation to anyone who in any way may be struggling on your own spiritual journey.
May 26, 2012
To be honest, I read this book while my mom was in the last stages of battling cancer, so there is a lot that is fuzzy. Nonetheless, this book was excellent and will certainly be re-read in a few months.
He author uses Dante's Inferno as skeleton of he book, demonstrating that 21st century humans deeply long for a place to call home which can only be found in our hope of heaven in a relationship with Christ. This boom uses classic literature, philosophy, theology and poetry to demonstrate this longing and to compel he reader toward finding their home in Christ's future promises.
My only complaint is that he stops at the hope Of heaven rather than completing the eschatological home of he new earth. I believe the book would have been richer had he rooted the reader's hope in the new earth and the new heavens--not just heaven. Despite this oversight, this was a deeply moving and wonderful book that should be read by hose who feel listless, apathetic, or who have a sense of longing that has not been met.
He author uses Dante's Inferno as skeleton of he book, demonstrating that 21st century humans deeply long for a place to call home which can only be found in our hope of heaven in a relationship with Christ. This boom uses classic literature, philosophy, theology and poetry to demonstrate this longing and to compel he reader toward finding their home in Christ's future promises.
My only complaint is that he stops at the hope Of heaven rather than completing the eschatological home of he new earth. I believe the book would have been richer had he rooted the reader's hope in the new earth and the new heavens--not just heaven. Despite this oversight, this was a deeply moving and wonderful book that should be read by hose who feel listless, apathetic, or who have a sense of longing that has not been met.
February 12, 2010
I found Craig Barnes' book on the Internet and have since bought all of his books.
His earthly and eternal search for "home" applies to all of us. He has a creative, storytelling
style that makes his writings so readable.
His earthly and eternal search for "home" applies to all of us. He has a creative, storytelling
style that makes his writings so readable.
October 27, 2015
I thought the beginning was really good - it got kind of redundant towards the end, and I didn't actually finish it, just skimmed the last few chapters. The "Forks in the Road" chapter had some interesting insights.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews