Practice Resurrection
And Other Essays
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"Erik Reece is obviously a writer to be reckoned with."—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
In Erik Reece's stunning collection of essays, ideas are the main characters. Written over a period of ten years, and revealing Reece's continued obsession with religion, family, and the natural world, in many ways these essays represent a sequel to his stirring memoir, An American Gospel. In that book, Reece intimitately describes his conflicted relationship with Christianity in the context of the death of his father, and Reece's own journey since then to find meaning and balance in the material and spiritual worlds. Practice Resurrection continues that exploration through essays that take the reader to Norway, New England, London, the Adirondacks, Appalachia, and back to Reece's native Kentucky River.
"With his singular wit and pith, environmental writer Reece explores issues such as God, Christianity, the environment (of course), and his father's suicide in essays rife with sentient turns of phrase and exceptionally insightful passages . . . Few are better than [Reece] is at discussing a personal crisis of faith." —Booklist (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Reece (An American Gospel) superimposes the title of one of his finest treatises on this anthology of 15 essays that delve into his conflicted relationship with Christianity and thoughts on environmental stewardship, among other topics. Reece, raised by a Baptist minister, refashioned his beliefs over many years to differ substantially from his forefathers' which preached that Christ's resurrection mattered more than his life and, instead, proposes to readers a religion of experience. Poignant topics, such as the new creationism, the circulatory system, and "lionspeak," reflect his life: poet, professor, essayist, naturalist, conservationist, birding friend of Wendell Berry, and executor of poet Guy Davenport's estate. While some of the essays address a straightforward topic, others meander and find their footing when Reece details his thought process. For example, "Flight Risk" starts on the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight, before moving to France to approach the apocryphal Acts of Peter, then to Simon Magus, and finally to the Daniel Boone Forest near Reece's home in eastern Kentucky. "The work of... writers I most admire is telling a truth that exposes a lie." The same could be said about Reece's fine collection, which will interest readers grappling with how to think of their faith in an environmentally precarious world.
