Confessions of a Seminarian: Searching for Soul in the Shadow of Empire

By Tom Reiber (Great Unpublished, 2002)

Reviewed by Daniel Liechty (for the Ernest Becker Foundation Newsletter)

Tom Reiber is well known to many of us as an early participant from the Port Townsend area in the discussions at Foundation-sponsored conferences and lectures.

His extensive grasp of both theology and depth-psychological principles ensured that his contributions were always stimulating and thought-provoking. Later on I heard that he had moved East to attend Union Theological Seminary, where he was also involved in activist politics related to the continuing US military and economic action against Iraq and its people.

It has been said that all writing is autobiographical. Yet many writers shy far away from the actual genre of autobiography, and well they should, as it is most difficult to write in this style without beginning to sound self-indulgent, boastful, self-serving, tedious or simply boring. In this volume, Reiber demonstrates a masterful navigation of the pitfalls of autobiographical writing. He offers here what he calls a `spiritual' autobiography, beginning with the early awakenings of his considerable and sensitive intellect as a young boy in Florida through to his acceptance of a pastoral position at Christ Church in Summit, NJ.

When so many autobiographies fail, I think three things keep this story consistently engrossing. The first of these is simply the time in which Reiber has lived. Say what you will about the Baby Boomer generation, it must be given that our time has not been a monotonous era. From the Sixties, Civil Rights, Vietnam, the moon landing, Watergate, the Sexual Revolution, the emergence of Third World and minority liberation movements, to the Reagan years of flag-waving patriotism and Yuppie materialism, the renewed worldwide movement for nuclear disarmament, the collapse of Apartheid and Communism, and the struggle to rescue democracy from corporate globalism, these past five decades have been ones of experimentation and fermentation in politics, religion, technology, economics and social institutions. Whether as a direct participant or a thoughtful observer, all of these major events figure in Reiber's spiritual autobiography.

The second point, just hinted at, is Reiber's own curious, sensitive and passionate intellect in the midst of these decades of turmoil and change. Theologian Karl Barth once wrote that he read with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Reiber exemplifies some of that hermeneutical spirit, in that he was constantly reading much of the best philosophical and psychological works available (including Becker's Denial of Death) at the same time he remained abreast, actively and as a reflective observer, of the events of his day. The ease with which Reiber moves from reference to a personal or social event into an interpretive discussion of the event based on his current reading keeps the narrative fresh and moving.

And thirdly, Reiber is able to navigate the pitfalls of autobiography because of his writing ability itself. Through the formation and dissolution of friendships and marriage, Reiber is able to convey deep emotions in a way that draws the reader in. Never self-conscious or whiny, Reiber uses intimate personal experiences and moments to poignantly frame issues of the times. As one example, Reiber relates an experience standing together with his father at the monument commemorating General Custer's `last stand' against the combined armies of Native American warriors at The Little Bighorn. The park interpreter had given the official spiel, in which Custer and his men were presented as surrounded and widely outnumbered victims of a massacre.

In the ensuing discussion between Reiber and his father, focusing on who are the good guys and bad guys in history, Reiber encapsulates in a few short sentences a significant dynamic of the cognitive gap between the WWII generation and their Boomer children, a psychological, intellectual, emotional and spiritual rift that has echoed loudly across the closing decades of the century. Furthermore, he conveys this encapsulation without any hint of the mea culpa or dismissive self-righteousness that characterizes so much recollective writings flowing from Boomer pens/word processors.

At Foundation events, we focus on the ideas and theories of Ernest Becker, Rene Girard, Carl Jung and others. I highly recommend this book for all who are interested in seeing how such ideas are integrated into living practice.

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