Spiritual disillusionment is real and isolating. Christians feel disillusioned with other believers, the world, and God, but few books are offering a systematic perspective. This guide seeks to “help you reclaim the night and interpret the pain by building (or rebuilding) a framework of spiritual disillusionment.” The core tenet of this book is that spiritual disillusionment is “an invitation to love.” It welcomes us into a journey “from the pain, through the night, into love.”
Spiritual disillusionment is not all loss because losing an illusion tends to open a new window to realities we did not see before. Because God is active and real in this world, loyalty to him means loyalty to reality. “God is the ultimate realist.”
However, as humans and Christ-followers, we still live through many assumptions that do not stand the test of reality. In the author’s words, “a healthy faith will pop a lot of balloons in its lifetime.”
Equally important, spiritual disillusionment is part of our maturity in Christ. It is growth, not decay. “In disillusionment, God invites us to reframe questions as companions, to see that our senses neither create nor negate His presence and to experience the fellowship of Jesus’ suffering.” Not allowing oneself to experience disillusionment reveals a rigid certainty that one has arrived at the final truth. But as the author quotes C. S. Lewis in the Oxford scholar’s classic work A Grief Observed, “My idea of God … has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself. He is the great iconoclast.” Many wise saints have uttered the same simple truth: the real purpose of the dark night of the soul is for the deepening of love. One has to take this step toward trusting God despite a deep disillusionment with the Creator himself. Disillusionment is the narrow path. It is in the night that Jesus says, “Follow me.”
This book can be used as a spiritual devotion when you experience pain, trauma, and doubt in life. Structured into 52 small chapters, it follows the contours of spiritual disillusionment with the author as a wise guide. It can also be used as a small-group study material for believers who desire healing from trauma and disillusionment. (Tyndale Refresh)
About the Author
Mary Li Ma is a member of Plymouth Heights CRC church in Grand Rapids, Mich. She holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and now works as a research analyst for a national research center on education equity.