Working on God

Millions of Americans are finding it more and more difficult to apply the traditional demands of organized religion to their lives, and yet a complete absence of spirituality leaves them uneasy.Working on Godis a book for and about such intelligent, independent people, who are seeking to reconcile their spiritual yearnings with their skeptical intellects. Winifred Gallagher, a behavioral-science reporter, began her investigation of religion in our postmodern age with research and interviews and soon discovered a vast, quiet revolution under way among ordinary men and women grappling with the sacred. Both Gallagher's brilliant journalistic inquiry and her very personal journey unfold over time spent in a Zen monastery and a cloistered convent, in small-group discussions and healing rituals, in a Conservative synagogue that shares spaces with a Christian church, and in the birthplace of the New Age. Written with humor, empathy, and a rigorous curiosity,Working on Godbreaks new ground in depicting the broad-based spiritual movement that is transforming many lives.

Winifred Gallagher's previous books are <i>Just the Way You Are: How Heredity and Experience Create the Individual</i>, which was a <i>New York Times</i> Notable Book of the Year, and <i>The Power of Place: How Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions</i>. She has written for many magazines, from <i>The Atlantic Monthly</i> to <i>Rolling Stone</i>. She lives in Manhattan and Long Eddy, New York.