Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life - Softcover

Virgin Time goes to the heart of one of the most profound yet least discussed issues of contemporary American life: the individual's search for faith. It is a passionate inquiry into the sources of wonder that cause a person to say, "I believe."
Patricia Hampl's quest, which begins as an attempt to shake off a Catholic upbringing, takes her to the "old world" of Catholicism in Italy and France, introduces her to fellow pilgrims at Lourdes and elsewhere, and inevitably brings her back to America, where, in a visit to a Northern California monastery, she discovers the contemplative silence that had eluded her. With its emphasis on religious experience beyond the ambit of religious institutions, Virgin Time is even more pertinent today than when it was published in 1992.

Patricia Hampl is Regents' Professor at the University of Minnesota.