Christopher Carlisle is an Episcopal priest who served briefly in a parish before becoming the Episcopal Chaplain at the University of Massachusetts, where he created an innovative sanctuary of learning, worship and the arts. Open to all, students, faculty, and local residents reimagined religious "faith" across a broad spectrum of disciplines-from biology and quantum physics, to poetry and music, to working with the homeless on the streets of New York. Convicted that for many, the institutional church has failed the adventure of Jesus, Carlisle asserts that only by breaking beyond its buildings can we embark on Christ's life-changing journey.
Carlisle earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia University, and graduate theological degrees from Harvard and Yale. Having devoted much of his life to storytelling--recently by way of the "Street Stories" media project with Visionaries, Inc. and aired on public television stations across the country--For Theirs is the Kingdom is inspired by two outdoor communities he cofounded. Carlisle is married, has four children, and lives in western Massachusetts.
"Carlisle elegantly and evocatively describes the rarified world of Ben Cabot, a peripatetic Boston Brahmin who, like the great Montreal cathedral at the center of his tale, loses the ground under his feet. Amid wood-paneled walls, fine scotches, and expensive toys, Cabot slowly disassembles his spiritually burdened, privileged life. Carlisle offers his readers delicate meditations on interconnected themes, distributing his story into chapters reminiscent of Chopin's etudes. We glimpse faith in search of acts, privilege in search of duty, artifice in search of beauty, and ambition in search of purpose. Carlisle's timely and important book helps to frame today's social upheavals."
--Stephen Harris, Professor of English, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"A personal story of a young American thrown into the world of jealousy and greed in the Episcopal Church. Riveting, painful, and brilliant!"
--David Staines, Canadian literary critic, university professor, writer, and editor
"In his Gospel, Luke tells us that during the visitation, Mary tells Elizabeth that God 'has filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent away hungry' (1:53). This, it seems to me is, at the heart of Chris Carlisle's novel. Beautifully written and engaging, it tells a story of unadorned Christianity. Jeans, not collars. Feeding the poor. Housing the homeless. Christianity on the streets, in the manner of Jesus."
--Barry Moser, American Book Award-winning illustrator of The Pennyroyal Caxton Bible, Alice in Wonderland, and A River Runs Through It
"Here is a novel that will stick with you long after you've read it. Carlisle writes about worlds he knows . . . asking the quintessential questions about life's meaning and offering, among the witty and charged exchanges, a wealth of profound answers for the reader to ponder."
--Paul Mariani, National Book Award finalist, poet, author, professor, and biographer
"One of the best characters in Christopher Carlisle's For Theirs is the Kingdom is the city of Montreal. Westmount, the Old City, Place Ville Marie, Le Plateau, the Golden Mile--they all play a part in this story of a man's search for a fulfilling life path. Attorney Ben Cabot meets a sad bishop at Saint Joseph's Oratory atop Mount Royal and a renegade street priest on Place d'Youville, and finds that the church has been looking for God in all the wrong places."
--Dick Teresi, coauthor of The God Particle, contributing writer to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic
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