Lost Faith and Wandering Souls

A Psychology of Disillusionment, Mourning, and the Return of Hope

David Morris

A deeper look at the religious identity crisis of our time that shows a way past our debates and toward a healthier spirituality.

Americans are obsessed with religion. You’re either in or you’re out; you’re this or you’re that. Except now, so many of us just want to forget the whole thing. We often feel angry, hurt, and alone, while knowing there’s a better way. Lost Faith and Wandering Souls helps readers get at these important feelings of disillusionment and shows that the keys to rediscovering hope are within.

Religion commentator David Morris puts theological arguments aside and holds up our humanity as equally important. He treats the loss of faith as if it were any other kind of loss, and asks, what if we learned to mourn? He turns to psychoanalytic psychology for its interpretive power. With the concepts of mourning, pining, and play, he shines a light on a path forward. Applying these concepts to contemporary spiritual memoirs, Morris discovers a back-and-forth movement in overcoming faith loss, going between feelings of numbness, self-recrimination, and wandering to playfulness, self-agency, and belonging. If we can feel our loss, he argues, then we can rediscover meaning making.

Lost Faith and Wandering Souls acknowledges the religious identity crisis of our time and the full power of the psychological journey. By looking beneath the surface at deep, lifelong dynamics, it shows a way through our losses individually and socially toward a healthier, inclusive spirituality.

David Morris, PhD (Drew University), is a lifelong student of psychology and religion, and the author of Lost Faith and Wandering Souls. He has served professionally for major national publishing brands and worked with bestselling authors and books. He is the publisher of Lake Drive Books and literary agent at Hyponymous Consulting, two innovative ventures working together to specialize in authors and books that help people heal, grow, and discover. He lives with his wife in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and they have two daughters. Visit davidrmorris.me.

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