Struggling with her return to the Christian church after many years away, Kathleen Norris found it was the language of Christianity that most distanced her from faith. Words like "judgment," "faith," "dogma," "salvation," "sinner"-even "Christ"-formed what she called her "scary vocabulary," words that had become so codified or abstract that their meanings were all but impenetrable. She found she had to wrestle with them and make them her own before...

Belinda Davis's move to Boston had introduced her to a life she never could have imagined growing up in the West. But even the opportunities of wealth, literature and travel left her feeling empty. Realizing her faith had been pushed into the background, she once again invites God to have first place in her life. But now she faces new life decisions that seem even more difficult than before. Torn between two contrasting ways of life, one full of fascinating...