Author Description

Think "path" instead of "pyramid." Think "stone" instead of "Stonehenge." Think "chair" instead of "church." Sacred places don't have to be exotic or famous or traditional. They can be individually chosen and uniquely personal. They can be places sacred to only one person -- however that person chooses to define "sacred." In this collection of moving stories and striking photographs, folklorist and theologian Phyllis Cole-Dai, together with photographer James Murray, capture the intimate sacred spaces of thirty ordinary people. Representing a broad range of spiritual orientations, ages, gender, and walks of life, Everyday Edens illuminates the mystery and power of personal sacred places -- from a four-year-old who talks to God in his bedroom, to a twenty-year-old computer whiz who finds peace rocking in the chair that once belonged to his grandmother; from a former homeless woman whose sacred place is anywhere she can help someone in need; to a woman who has found a place in the woods where the wind blows just so through the pines. Each evocative story calls us out of spiritual exile to return to our spiritual home -- that sacred place where we can recover what we've denied, remember what we've forgotten, and reconnect with our inner self and Spirit. Each intriguing image inspires us to claim or create our own sacred spaces.