{"product_id":"faith-lost-and-found-jim-hanson-9789363547681","title":"Faith Lost and Found","description":"Jim Hanson's poems speak to the epic issues of how faith is lost in a\u003cbr\u003ematerial and mortal world, and how it can be found through responses\u003cbr\u003ethat are spiritual and worldly as well as religious and heavenly. They\u003cbr\u003efollow the line of paradise lost and gained by John Milton and divine\u003cbr\u003etranscendence by Dante, but with the breadth of perennial philosophy.\u003cbr\u003eThey recognize that faith is doubtful, perhaps futile, like Sisyphus\u003cbr\u003epushing his rock with great effort and no outcome, oscillating between\u003cbr\u003eresolution and dissolution, sin and redemption, samsara and nirvana.\u003cbr\u003eIs the end another, exalted beginning as promised by T.S. Eliot or the\u003cbr\u003efutility lamented by Sylvia Plath and John Berryman? Perhaps the\u003cbr\u003efinding and losing of faith is an unending process. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe poems start with doubt about self and human nature expressed in\u003cbr\u003edemons, violence, and residue. They proceed to knowledge sought\u003cbr\u003estarting 2,500 years ago in the Axial Age, in a dialogue of similar\u003cbr\u003eissues then and now, and in the world around us regarding the\u003cbr\u003eAnthropic Principle. They go on to posit multicultural responses to\u003cbr\u003edoubt and suffering - theistic, Western, and Eastern - then to more\u003cbr\u003eindividual responses of paths to take and of perennial faith to be\u003cbr\u003efound. So we all may have some faith in our selves and in the\u003cbr\u003esocial\/cultural realm, bio-physical realm, and ideal gods and heavens\u003cbr\u003e- some transcendental faith beyond who we are and what we know. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJim Hanson is a sociologist and retired Senior Researcher at Southern\u003cbr\u003eIllinois University-Carbondale. He has taught sociology and community\u003cbr\u003edevelopment, also has worked in community and economic development. He\u003cbr\u003eis a lay-ordained Zen Buddhist and lives in the St. Louis area with\u003cbr\u003ehis wife, Carol. His poetry collections include Endless Journey: Poems\u003cbr\u003ein Search of Meaning published in 2022 by Spartan Press, Perspectives: \u003cbr\u003eEducational Poems on the Humanities and Sciences published in 2023 by\u003cbr\u003eResource Publications, and Ruminations: Poems on Living and Dying\u003cbr\u003epublished in 2023 by Cyberwit Press. Single poems have appeared in\u003cbr\u003esome thirty websites and printings. He is a member of the and Illinois\u003cbr\u003eState Poetry Society Southern Chapter and St. Louis Poetry Center. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eBIO\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJim Hanson is a sociologist and retired Senior Researcher at Southern\u003cbr\u003eIllinois University-Carbondale. He has taught sociology and community\u003cbr\u003edevelopment, also has worked in community and economic development. He\u003cbr\u003eis a lay-ordained Zen Buddhist and lives in the St. Louis area with\u003cbr\u003ehis wife, Carol. His poetry collections include Endless Journey: Poems\u003cbr\u003ein Search of Meaning published in 2022 by Spartan Press, Perspectives: \u003cbr\u003eEducational Poems on the Humanities and Sciences published in 2023 by\u003cbr\u003eResource Publications, and Ruminations: Poems on Living and Dying\u003cbr\u003epublished in 2023 by Cyberwit Press. Single poems have appeared in\u003cbr\u003esome thirty websites and printings. He is a member of the and Illinois\u003cbr\u003eState Poetry Society Southern Chapter and St. Louis Poetry Center.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jim Hanson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 936354768X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9789363547681\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Cyberwit.Net\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/12\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 146\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.43lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.34d","brand":"Jim Hanson","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48874342678783,"sku":"9789363547681","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/faith-lost-and-found-jim-hanson-9789363547681","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}