Loading..."We hear about heaven and the supernatural on late-night TV far more often than in church," said Dr. Ferlo, "and many Christians never hear it mentioned seriously from the pulpit. Everyone has something to say about their hopes and fears for the afterlife, but the topic of eternity is usually left to the talk shows."
Since its release earlier this month, Heaven has garnered much attention from the literary world and has been featured on radio shows across the country including NPR's Front Porch program.
Additional authors include Rick Moody, Nora Gallagher, Robert Orsi, Barbara Brown Taylor, Phyllis Tickle, Malcolm Boyd, Alan Jones, Cynthia Bourgeault, Donna Schaper, Susan Wheeler, and many others. These writings, which mix autobiography, story-telling, and theological reflection, are so poignant and wide-ranging that we can all find ourselves in them - and start telling our own stories about heaven.
"I found with many of these writers," said Dr. Ferlo in his Front Porch interview with Liz Bulkley, "that this is a way of putting into perspective the present life. So often, their images of heaven mirrored their own situations, and what they were hoping to do in this imagining, is to clear the mirror of its fog to see life as it really can be."
On May 13, 2007, Dr. Ferlo will appear at the National Cathedral in Washington to discuss Heaven with the Dean of the cathedral, the Very Rev. Samuel Lloyd.
Formerly rector of St. Luke-in-the-Fields, New York City, Dr. Ferlo has a Ph.D. in English Literature from Yale University and is the author of Opening the Bible (The New Church's Teaching Series) and Sensing Scripture.
Virginia Theological Seminary is the largest of the 11 accredited seminaries of the Episcopal Church and was founded in 1823. The school prepares men and women, representing more than 40 different dioceses and 9 different countries, for service in the Church, both as ordained and lay ministers, and offers a number of professional degree programs and diplomas.
