ENDORSEMENTS
"Eugene Bianchi's memoir displays a stunning humility--in the root sense of the word. Earthy and courageous, it charts the journey of one man's search for (and discovery of) a fully embodied spirituality, a search that leads him from his Italian-American roots through the Jesuits and several marriages to being, finally, at home."
-- Barbara DeConcini, Executive Director of the
American Academy of Religion, 1991-2006
"Bianchi writes with clarity, candor, and remarkable compassion. He speaks the truth as he has experienced it across a long life dedicated to spiritual and personal authenticity. The path he has followed from a rigid religiosity of abstract ideals to a calm acceptance of the presence of the divine in the ordinary stuff of human life is very much his own --- yet it describes as well the stages through which many in his generation have passed. Here is a memoir that marks not only the moments of an individual's life but the momentous changes in a significant part of American culture over the past six decades."
-- Luke T. Johnson, R.W. Woodruff Prof., New Testament Studies,
Emory University
"Eugene Bianchi's memoir will interest, indeed fascinate, anyone who has lived through the turbulent yet gripping religious transitioning of the last three-quarter century. He emerges as a successfully failed Jesuit and a sojourner in faith as in life. 'Taking a Long Road Home' is an outstanding example of beautifully sustained narrative, headlong in parts, erudite, disarmingly truthful and humble, deftly cumulative, metaphoric, sure and yet tentative. It deserves a quiet reading place beyond distractions. It will be a challenge to set aside before its finish."
-- Robert Brophy, Professor of English,
California State University, Long Beach
"Eugene Bianchi's memoir of a long life in and around American Catholicism is an eloquent testimony to his ongoing search for spiritual completeness. From his days as a Jesuit, to years of searching for love and fulfillment, to the quieter and perhaps deeper questions that have come with length of years, Bianchi offers an inspiring and often moving account of how a human life and a religious tradition are interwoven in ways both challenging and consoling."
-- Paul Lakeland, Aloysius P. Kelley, SJ, Professor of Catholic Studies,
Fairfield University
"The candid log of a turbulent voyage from 'sky-bound' religious institutions to an 'earth-based ecumenism.' A former Jesuit priest and advocate of reform in clerical ministry (especially regarding celibacy), Eugene Bianchi narrates stages of his search for faith grounded in awareness of love and grace in the here and now. Written both for the critical theologian and the 'person on the street' the book provides opportunities for discussion, heart-warming memories, and sharing the desire to 'end well-finir bien' as the most important of life's enterprises."
-- Fred Tollini, SJ, Professor of Theater,
Santa Clara University
Autographed copies will be available directly from the author for $25.00 (including shipping). Please email me at releb@emory.edu with any request for a more personalized autograph. Orders may be sent either through PayPal (below) or by sending a check for $25.00 to: Eugene Bianchi, P.O. Box 49397, Athens, GA 30606
