The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The New York Times bestselling author of A History of God delivers the gripping, inspirational story about her own search for God. “A story about becoming human, being recognized, finally recognizing oneself…. It fills the reader with hope.” —The Washington Post Book World In 1962, at age seventeen, Karen Armstrong entered a convent, eager to meet God. After seven brutally unhappy years as a nun, she left her order to pursue English literature at Oxford. But convent life had profoundly altered her, and coping with the outside world and her expiring faith proved to be excruciating. Her deep solitude and a terrifying illness–diagnosed only years later as epilepsy—marked her forever as an outsider. In her own mind she was a complete failure: as a nun, as an academic, and as a normal woman capable of intimacy. Her future seemed very much in question until she stumbled into comparative theology. What she found, in learning, thinking, and writing about other religions, was the ecstasy and transcendence she had never felt as a nun.
ASIN: 0385721277
VSKU: RDV.0385721277.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Armstrong, Karen
Binding: Paperback
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: This book is in good condition with very minimal damage. This is an ex-library book with stickers and markings. Pages may have minimal notes or highlighting. Cover image on the book may vary from photo. Ships out quickly in a secure plastic mailer.