Who would have suspected that a boy whose heart was set on medical, musical, and football glory could end up a family man and a Catholic philosopher and theologian? Who would have guessed that a life so closed in on itself could be turned inside out by the wild love of Jesus Christ? Who would have believed that the drama of adoption and so many feelings of abandonment could be rescued by a love that never fails? iGod: A Hidden and Fragmentary Autobiography is Act I of the story of Donald Lee Wallenfang. Inside this book, the reader will be met with a narrative full of twists and turns and so many saturating moments of irony and paradox. This story testifies to the power of possibility and the unlimited reaches of divine grace. Beginning with the infancy of Donald Lee, a nonfictional tale is woven together that escorts the reader along the provocative periods of his childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and into the early middle-age years. All in all, this is a story about conversion. It showcases the inversion of "iGod" into a life enraptured by love and responsibility inspired from an elsewhere beyond the immediate capacities of the ego. Readers will find delight in these literary and photographic vignettes that expose the metamorphosis of a life given over to the point of abandonment.
Donald Wallenfang, OCDS, Emmanuel Mary of the Cross, is Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He is the author and editor of several books, including Shoeless: Carmelite Spirituality in a Disquieted World (Wipf & Stock, 2021), Emmanuel: Levinas and Variations on God with Us (Cascade, 2021), Human and Divine Being: A Study on the Theological Anthropology of Edith Stein (Cascade, 2017), and Dialectical Anatomy of the Eucharist: An Étude in Phenomenology (Cascade, 2017).
“The rich and insightful text you are holding in your hands is a window into the inner life of virtue. . . . With admirable vulnerability and courage, Wallenfang’s book offers us the perilous and troubling invitation to envision ourselves as givers and all of life as gift.”
—Andrew Kim, Marquette University
“iGod is a compelling and touching story of how a deeply self-centered life can be handed over completely to God in love. Using short narratives and pictures to great effect, Wallenfang traces the steps by which his passionate boyhood dreams gave way—under grace—to a life surrendered to God and offered for the good of others. Highly recommended.”
—Daniel Keating, Sacred Heart Major Seminary
“Reading through the snippets of a life presented in Wallenfang’s new memoir, I was reminded of what is best about life in Midwestern America. . . . Confession is defined as both to admit one’s vulnerability in the face of struggle and to profess one’s beliefs. There are many lessons to be learned throughout this confession that lives up to both senses of the word.”
—Colby Dickinson, Loyola University Chicago
“This is a beautiful account of one man’s life with all its unique details, but it contains truths and stirs reflections that can help all of us to make more sense out of how we can live our lives with God in the most fulfilling way.”
—Boniface Hicks, OSB, Saint Vincent Archabbey