The Invisible Church

"In these troubled times, the call of the soul--the desire to find spiritual fulfillment and meaning--has never been more powerful. Or more important. Yet that call is in danger of being drowned out by a culture obsessed with fame and wealth, and leery of religious charlatans offering salvation to the highest bidder. Filled with insight and sharp wit, The Invisible Church quiets the din and offers a path to a deeper, richer, more transcendent life." -- Arianna Huffington "The Invisible Church by Pittman McGehee and Damon Thomas is the most provocative understanding of the psychology of religion that I have read since Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving. It speaks to our obvious questions. It awakens our unconscious yearnings." -- John Shelby Spong, Author, Jesus for the Non-Religious "For the thoughtful modern, The Invisible Church: Finding Spirituality Where You Are, opens a path between mindless literalism on the one hand and arid secularism on the other. McGehee and Thomas reclaim the psychological profundity of religion while simultaneously summoning the reader to grow into spiritual maturity. With wit, humor, and parabolic insight, they wonderfully open the reader to discern the Divine moving through the forms of our daily lives." -- James Hollis, Ph.D., Jungian analyst in Houston, Texas "Our Mother, the Church, is in desperate need of restoration in our troubled times! I know of no better authority than Rev. Pittman McGehee to address this formidable task." -- Robert A. Johnson D. Hum, Author of numerous bestsellers including She, He, We and Inner Work "Feisty, pungent, learned, and always thought provoking, J. Pittman McGehee points us to spiritual experiences without walls. Essential reading for anyone interested in direct, lived experience of the sacred." -- Dr. Jerry M. Ruhl, Jungian psychologist and co-author of Living Your Unlived Life and Balancing Heaven and Earth

While nearly half of Americans identify themselves with a fundamentalist brand of religion, and a sizable minority has rejected religion altogether, there is a vast middle ground.

While nearly half of Americans identify themselves with a fundamentalist brand of religion, and a sizable minority has rejected religion altogether, there is a vast middle ground. This book is aimed at that huge group of people who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. In other words, people who are open to encountering the divine and the transcendent, and indeed actively seek these experiences. The authors help readers improve their understanding of the religious nature of the psyche, the origins of myths and religions in the collective unconscious, and the ways in which organized religion has often worked to infantilize its followers. They leave the reader with an empowered ability to claim his or her own spiritual authority and lead a more abundant, authentic life. Many of those who have left organized religion have done so because it has hurt them in some way or because it failed to address their needs, yet they maintain a strong yearning to reconnect with the divine and transcendent level of human existence. As religious fundamentalism continues to influence so much of our national discourse, and as atheistic books rank high on bestseller lists, the time has never been more crucial for a book to address a third way between fundamentalism and atheism - a way that encourages readers to connect with their true religious nature, while at the same time maintaining their intellectual integrity and claiming their own authority. McGehee and Thomas offer that third