States of Bliss & Yearning: The Marks and Means of Authentic Christian Spirituality

Spirituality is not a permanent high, a continual blissed-out state. To experience the heights, one has also to know the depths.

In this book, based on speeches and sermons delivered in marques, cathedrals and local churches, Bell deals with issues as diverse as private devotion and public debt. He presents a view of the world in which the activities of multinational companies in the tropical rain forests are as relevant to the individual as his or her own conversations with God.

All in all, Bell paints a picture of God not as a 'celestial sadist' who wants to punish humankind, but rather as a compassionate being who asks that we do only what we can, starting from where we are, to be just and compassionate too.