EVEN TODAY
Theology and the Inner Child

EVEN TODAY
Theology and the Inner Child

“Unless you change and become like little children you will not enter the kingdom of God” (Mt 18:4). But how does one do that? By getting in touch with the child within and the childhood we have left behind. These reflections, which call upon memory, imagination, and classic works of literature to arrive at a deeper understanding of God based on the common experiences of childhood, help us do just that. “If it is true,” the author states, “that philosophy begins in ‘wonder,’ it would not be too far flung to suggest that theology, its spiritual kin begins in ‘awe.’” Both find fertile soil for exploring the truth about ourselves and God, the world in which we live and the one to which we aspire, in the mind, heart and imagination of our inner child. The “books” between the covers of this volume speak of such things as fear and confidence, good and evil, loss and gain, giving and receiving, hospitality and isolation, silence and growth in faith, hope and love. They open up new horizons by reminding us of some old ones that profoundly influence our lives “even today.”

About the Author: Dennis J. Billy, an American Redemptorist of the Baltimore Province, holds a ThD in Church History from Harvard Divinity School and an STD in Spirituality from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas. An associate professor of the history of moral theology and Christian spirituality at the Accademia Alfonsiana in Rome, Father Billy is the author of Evangelical Kernels: A Theological Spirituality of the Religious Life (Alba House, 1993) and has published over fifty articles in a number of well-known scholarly and popular journals.