Then God Said
Contemplating the First Revelation in Creation
by Susan Muto
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
112 Pages, 5.50 x 8.50 x 0.22 in
- Paperback
- 9781625649010
- Published: July 2014
$18.00 / £16.00 / AU$22.00
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Susan Muto is a renowned speaker, author, teacher, and dean of the Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality. A single laywoman living her vocation in the world and doing full-time, church-related ministry as the executive director of Epiphany Association, Muto has led conferences, seminars, workshops, and institutes throughout the world.
Professor Muto received her PhD in English literature from the University of Pittsburgh, where she specialized in the work of post-Reformation spiritual writers. Beginning in 1966, she served in various administrative positions at the Institute of Formative Spirituality (IFS) at Duquesne University and taught as a full professor in its programs, edited its journals, and served as its director from 1981 to 1988. An expert in literature and spirituality, she continues to teach courses on an adjunct basis at many schools, seminaries, and centers of higher learning. She aims in her teaching to integrate the life of prayer and presence with professional ministry and in-depth formation in the home, the church, and the marketplace.
As the editor and co-author of many books by and with Rev. Adrian van Kaam, CSSp, PhD (1920-2007), as a frequent contributor to scholarly and popular journals, and as herself the author of over thirty books, she has achieved recognition as an excellent researcher and teacher in her field. In fact, her many books on formative reading of scripture and the masters are considered to be premiere introductions to the classical art and discipline of formative spirituality and its systematic, comprehensive formation science, anthropology, and theology. She lectures nationally and internationally on the treasured wisdom of the Judeo-Christian faith and formation tradition and on many foundational facets of living human and Christian values and virtues in today's world.
Professor Muto holds membership in numerous honorary organizations and has received many distinctions for her work, including a Doctor of Humanities degree from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She was also one of four Catholic writers to be honored in 2009 with a lifetime achievement award by the Catholic Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. She is the recipient of the 2014 Aggiornamento Award presented by the Parish and Community Library Services Section of the Catholic Library Association in recognition of an outstanding contribution made by an individual or an organization to the ministry of renewal modeled by Pope John XXIII (1881-1963). For more information on her life and ministry, go to www.epiphanyacademyofformativespirituality.org.
"Susan Muto leads us into historic Christian spirituality, which has always used the creation as a window through which to see the glory of God and the sacredness of our common life on the earth."
--Steve Harper, retired professor, Spiritual Formation, Winter Springs, FL
"What a welcome and timely addition to the literature of spirituality is Susan Muto's Then God Said! As we view the terrible devastations and extinctions to our world through climate change, Muto blesses us with sacred scriptural references and charming stories and anecdotes about God's first revelation--creation. This book is truly a jewel for contemplation. Thank you, Muto, for teasing our palates with pastas and garlic in Table of Plenty and now our eyes and whole being with birds, goats, horses, bones, books, clouds, stars, and water--all the result of Then God Said. It is very, very good!"
--Sharon Richardt, director, Mater Dei Retreat and Spirituality Center, Evansville, IN
"With an artist's palette, Susan Muto paints creation with broad strokes, juxtaposing scriptural texts and images, daily life experience, and carefully-crafted prayer. In an age of rekindled awareness of the cosmos as our God-given good home, this book is an accessible companion for contemplation with the fauna, flora, things, and places of our day-to-day life."
--Daniel Benedict, Abbot, Order of Saint Luke, Cathedral of Saint Andrew, Waialua, HI
"Like a book of poetry slows us down and makes us feel love again, this book makes us experience wonder. Through Scripture after Scripture, Muto helps us see that God's 'splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise' (Hab 3:3) Don't hurry through this little treasure. It can be a handbook to help agitated minds enter into a place of awe. That kind of transformation happens slowly. I think how God must love this writing. It is a book of worship."
--Ruth A. Burgner, senior director of communications, The Mission Society, Norcross, GA