Unbolting the Dark, a Memoir, by Lynne Spellman

Spellman is more conscious of her losses than most people. Her mother died of breast cancer when she was 12. How was she supposed to live with this permanent loss, especially when it was her mother who helped her interpret her own experiences? She became a philosopher, but it wasn’t her philosophy so much as long-term therapy, time spent in a monastery and the discovery of contemplative prayer that helped her realize that she blamed herself for her mother’s death. In midlife she went to seminary and was ordained as an Episcopal priest. In these short, skillful essays, she reflects on major Christian themes, such as incarnation and resurrection, for which she draws on her knowledge of Greek philosophy and contemporary theology.