Original Faith

Original Faith looks at faith and spiritual life from a fresh, thoughtful point of view. In evocative and moving language, the book references direct experience, not doctrine. This approach enlivens the believer's awareness of faith while bringing the faith dimension of experience to the attention of nonbelievers. Paul Maurice Martin's qualifications are both personal and academic. They include an M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago; fifteen years of a rare progressive illness that has left him mostly bedridden; and a spontaneous religious experience that was the genesis of Original Faith. The book's topics include love, ego, despair, faith and identity transformation. Martin's suggestions for practice are varied and wide ranging, allowing readers to integrate them with their own lives to help realize their potential for constructive and creative action. Original Faith's perspective is that we are not here to search for meaning, but to help create it.