An
interview with Grant Schnarr about his new book You
Can Believe
What
is the book about?
Grant: It is about
reconnecting people with spirituality and God. It's not just a
self help book.
It has meat, doctrinal ideas to chew on. For vegetarians, think of a good hearty
vegetable soup! All the flavor and substance.
The
book covers the basic questions of life. What are some of
these?
Grant:
Who is God? Why am I here? What am I supposed to do while I'm here? How is God
working in my life right now? Where will I go when I die? Is the world going to
come to an end? Do I need to do something while I'm here? Am I evil? Am I good?
What am I? How can I be happy? These are a lot of questions I find many people
ask. I feel like the difference between this book and others is that it doesn't
offer fairy tale or comic book answers about angry gods and super heroes and silly
passwords which will get you into heaven, like asserting one's faith or carrying
the right membership card. The answers are for the most part common sense, but
with a twist.
What do you mean
"with a twist?"
Grant: The
book dares to point to certain teachings, doctrines, tenets of belief.
It's
not a "Truth is relative: Believe what you want" book. You can believe
what you want, but this book does assert that some beliefs are more true,
or
present reality in a clearer way than other beliefs. You'll find new ideas
to believe in within this book.
How
does this book fit with your other books such as Spiritual
Recovery, or The
Art of Spiritual Warfare?
Grant: Both
of these books are about the practice of spirituality, and leave most of the belief
system of the individual up to the individual. I give some advice, for example,
how to combat dysfunction and overcome the negative self, but don' talk much about
where that negative self comes from, or who the higher power may be that helps
us. That's left for the individual to decide -- the old adage "God as you understand
God." This book is different. This book is about belief. Hence the title - "You
Can Believe!" It compares beliefs, some which seem to work in life and some which
don't work so well, and then offers a new idea, a new belief to consider. These
new beliefs are based on the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg's religious books
and philosophy. They aren't mine, but I do flesh them out with examples and illustrations
from modern life.
Who is Swedenborg?
Grant: He was an Eighteenth Century scientist
and theologian. He wrote 35 volumes of religious and spiritual material in the
latter part of his life. Much of what his message is about is that religion can
make sense. A lot of American religions have roots in Swedenborg's teaching, as
well as the recovery movement, and Jungian philosophy. He has also had a great
influence on literature and the arts in America, even though he was Swedish born
and lived much of his life in England, where all of his books were published.
A group of studiers of his works started a church based on the Bible and his works
about ten years after his death, and it's been around ever since. I'm an assistant
pastor for the Bryn Athyn Cathedral, in Pennsylvania, which is the home of the
world-wide New Church administration, and also home of the Bryn Athyn College
of the New Church, and the Academy of the New Church High School. You can learn
more about Swedenborg, the New Church, and all these at _www.newchurch.org_ (http://www.newchurch.org)
.
Why this book now?
Grant:
Most of my books have been practical self help books on spiritual growth. I wanted
to write a book for my church which explains the what behind the how. In other
words, it was time to write a book about my roots and the helpful beliefs that
have been a foundation for my other books. Also, this is the clearest and simplest
explanation of Swedenborgian thought do date. I say that from humility. I don't
try to explain every little detail, but take the simple and pastoral approach.
There are a lot of more in-depth books out there, and 200 or 300 level books,
but this is truly a book for inquirers into this faith and for beginners. That's
why I wrote it.