Learning on Life's Way

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Born into a pack of religiously divided siblings with a devout mother and an agnostic father, Sponheim finds the triad of faith/unfaith/many faiths central in telling the tall tale of God. Through his half-century of teaching and writing, the doctrine of creation becomes decisive for Sponheim, featuring a God who has a "very big operation going in this world." Drawing on such diverse mentors as Soren Kierkegaard, Alfred North Whitehead, and feminist authors, he offers a deeply relational conception of the "tallness, " the height, humankind seeks. In his own family he sees God's operation in such diverse worlds as music, science, and athletics. Personally, he has witnessed the saving work of the Creator in such worldly affairs as inner city social change programs, a domestic abuse project, and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Without compromising a present-time "ethic of risk, " he closes with an eschatological exploration, asking "What future would do, if it were true?" And "Is it true?" "Paul's story begins like a memoir about Thief River Falls, Minnesota, where he and five brothers and sisters grew up with their saintly mother and agnostic father. Into this diverse family comes a tall tale of Jesus and God's love. In the details of family life he weaves theological insight from many mentors, including Soren Kierkegaard and Alfred North Whitehead. This book is a gem . . . It will give you many glimpses of the great work that God is doing in the universe." --Lowell Erdahl, Bishop Emeritus, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America "A remarkable journey! Paul gathers key themes of his extensive theological work over the years and weaves them thoughtfully into his personal and professional life story." --Terence Fretheim, Luther Seminary "The interplay of faith and doubt in Paul Sponheim's early life called him to become a theologian who embraces paradox: the tall and the true, trust and action, the personal and the global, the church and the world. He tells a modest and refreshingly honest story about learning and teaching in a world where 'God's big operation' cannot be confined to our experience, language, or institutions, but restlessly influences and welcomes creativity wherever it ventures." --Kirsten Mebust, Augsburg University "Paul Sponheim here gives us a beautiful gift: a judicious testimony to a life whose existential searching has led to profound insights into a God whose love brings intimate entanglement in the proceedings of the world. With unguarded honesty and expansive humanity, he provides an impelling story of a human being whose world-affirming life of faith has empowered an open reception of actuality's fullness and a creative enactment of possibility's riches." --Curtis L. Thompson, Thiel College "Paul Sponheim speaks of the nature of reality as 'a becoming, a coming to be.' In Learning on Life's Way, the author reveals his own becoming as a learner of deep things and a teller of a tall tale, which is his unique way of talking about faith lived, proclaimed, pondered, and ever new. This is a memoir, to be sure, but it is much more. It is a moving stream of remembrance and reflection by a master teacher and a humble student still asking the right questions." --Scott Tunseth, General Editor, Fortress Press Paul R. Sponheim is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary, St. Paul. He is the author of nine previous books and co-author of Christian Dogmatics.