Skin Boat: Acts of Faith & Other Navigations

"I have thought every thought about how I would rather be somewhere else, anywhere else. I have thought that there is no place on earth that I would rather be. I have asked myself, Why do I persist?"

Skin Boat is John Terpstra's frank reflection on faith and church in a secular era. In the contemplative but direct prose style of his previous works of prose, Terpstra draws on his daily interactions with friends, neighbours and fellow congregation members, his work as a carpenter and cabinetmaker, and the stories of St. Brendan and St. Cuthbert.

Turning over words like worship, praise and maker - mainstays of the Christian lexicon - Terpstra prods at vocabulary too often glossed over by believers and nonbelievers alike, approaching faith as equally an intellectual as an instinctual and physical act. Over the course of the book, Terpstra considers the religious tradition in which he was brought up, his and his wife's decision to leave that tradition, the evolution of their adoptive church community, and occasional visits to other denominations. Conversations with members of his congregation, friends and co-workers illuminate and complicate any provisional conclusions reached en route. Ultimately, it is this degree of honesty and perplexity, too often missing from contemporary examinations of faith, that set Skin Boat apart as a thoughtful inquiry into its persistence.