Overview

"Selected as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2023 by Spirituality and Practice ""This is an amazing book that I couldn't put down once I started it. -Richard Schwartz, PhD, developer of the Internal Family Systems model ""You were like this once. What did you do to get better?"" A day out from a mental institution, a woman devastated by flashbacks from childhood trauma poses this question to her big brother. Within a few weeks, she took her own life. This book is the answer that her brother wished he could have offered. Spiritual director and professor Frank Rogers had been there. As a young adult, he too was tormented by trauma suffered in the same family. Wracked by depression, he was on the cliff edge of suicide. From intense despair, he set off on a quest--for answers, for sanity, for a credible God to see him through. Cradled in the Arms of Compassion is at once a narrative of psychological transformation and a spiritual autobiography that details the survivor's journey. Rogers shows how he found recovery through a combination of reflective retreats, therapy, creative expression, and an extraordinary application of imaginative meditation that spiritual seekers and practitioners will find utterly fascinating. The ensuing discovery evolved into the uniquely self-restorative process known as the Compassion Practice. Frank Rogers' account reveals that a compassionate sacred presence sustains this wounded world, and that this presence can be known, even in the sewers of life's most damaging traumas. One of the few male accounts of childhood sexual abuse and fewer still that charts a spiritual course for the transformation of trauma. ""Like all good memoir, Cradled in the Arms of Compassion has a robust narrative engine-the reader is led along, page-by-page, with questions, curiosities, and a desire to see what 'happens next.'"" -Spirituality and Practice"

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9781957687339

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Reviews

"""This is one of the most compelling books I've ever read. With fearless honesty, Frank Rogers shares his journey through childhood abuse, coming close to suicide, and then gradually finding the 'sacred and sustaining' balm of compassion."" -Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom ""This fascinating memoir provides rich food for psychological and spiritual growth."" -Wilkie Au, coauthor with Noreen Cannon Au of Aging with Wisdom and Grace ""This is a book of singular beauty that even in its rawness bears multiple readings. Rogers's way of compassion illuminates a path of healing for all suffering."" -Dr. Wendy Petersen Boring, Associate Professor, Willamette University ""Frank Rogers Jr. recounts a palpable rendering of mind, body, and soul torment generated from childhood trauma and sexual abuse."" -Heather M. Boynton, PhD, RSW, HBPE, Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary ""Frank Rogers tells us the story of his own journey of recovery from sexual abuse with tremendous honesty and sensitivity. He holds the reader with care. Reading this book is a gift of life. Read it and share it widely."" -Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, Director for the Association of Hispanic Theological Education ""Frank Rogers is a spellbinding storyteller. Here he bravely narrates the tale of coming to terms with his own painful past-and how that journey can light the way for clarity, faith, and a measure of inner freedom."" -David Freudberg, host of public radio's Humankind ""This courageous and evocative book is a powerful testimony to the heart-breaking realities of childhood sexual abuse and the potential pathways to healing and restoration."" -Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, EdD, PhD, Professor of Practical Theology, Claremont School of Theology ""For any who desire to deeply understand what the healing of childhood trauma entails, this is a must read that provides a seamless weaving of story, trauma-based healing modalities, and contemplative spiritual practices."" -Janyne McConnaughey, author of Trauma in the Pews: The Impact on Faith and Spiritual Practices ""This is an amazing book that I couldn't put down once I started it. In Frank's brutally honest and remarkably disclosive telling of his story you will find a hope-filled model."" -Richard Schwartz, PhD, Founder the Internal Family Systems Institute and author of No Bad Parts ""Rogers offers a harrowing spiritual memoir documenting childhood abuse and trauma, and at the same time, a faithful walk in search of the divine that should be read alongside Julian of Norwich, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Bishop Desmund Tutu, and all the great memoirs."" -Patrick B. Reyes, PhD, Dean of Auburn Seminary, and award-winning author of The Purpose Gap ""No child should ever have to suffer abuse nor any adult the resulting self-loathing; but, like Dante, Frank intuits that the way ""up"" to God and life is necessarily ""down,"" through sin's source where his demons are rendered in vivid personal detail, given voice by his artful writing, which turns out to be key in his healing."" -David F. White, Professor at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and author of Tending the Fire that Burns at the Center of the World: Beauty and the Art of Christian Formation ""With the wisdom of a sage, the genius of a master storyteller, and the tender compassion of a saint, Frank Rogers Jr. offers this memoir as an invitation to dive deep into the waters of human experience and bear witness to it by the power of love."" -Aizaiah G. Yong, author of Multiracial Cosmotheandrism and The Pulse of Life"

"""This is one of the most compelling books I've ever read. With fearless honesty, Frank Rogers shares his journey through childhood abuse, coming close to suicide, and then gradually finding the 'sacred and sustaining' balm of compassion. The pages are riveting, and full of value for anyone who has felt loss and sorrow, trauma and shame, or a frustrated longing for inner peace."" -Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom ""This fascinating memoir provides rich food for psychological and spiritual growth."" -Wilkie Au, coauthor with Noreen Cannon Au of Aging with Wisdom and Grace ""Frank Rogers Jr. recounts a palpable rendering of mind, body, and soul torment generated from childhood trauma and sexual abuse."" -Heather M. Boynton, PhD, RSW, HBPE, Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary ""Frank Rogers tells us the story of his own journey of recovery from sexual abuse with tremendous honesty and sensitivity. He holds the reader with care. Reading this book is a gift of life. Read it and share it widely."" -Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, Director for the Association of Hispanic Theological Education ""Frank Rogers is a spellbinding storyteller. Here he bravely narrates the tale of coming to terms with his own painful past-and how that journey can light the way for clarity, faith, and a measure of inner freedom."" -David Freudberg, host of public radio's Humankind ""This courageous and evocative book is a powerful testimony to the heart-breaking realities of childhood sexual abuse and the potential pathways to healing and restoration."" -Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, EdD, PhD, Professor of Practical Theology, Claremont School of Theology ""For any who desire to deeply understand what the healing of childhood trauma entails, Cradled in the Arms of Compassion is a must read that provides a seamless weaving of story, trauma-based healing modalities, and contemplative spiritual practices."" -Janyne McConnaughey, author of Trauma in the Pews: The Impact on Faith and Spiritual Practices ""This is an amazing book that I couldn't put down once I started it. It reads like a compelling novel but it's not fiction-it's all true. In Frank's brutally honest and remarkably disclosive telling of his story you will find a hope-filled model."" -Richard Schwartz, PhD, Founder the Internal Family Systems Institute and author of No Bad Parts ""Rogers offers a harrowing spiritual memoir documenting childhood abuse and trauma, and at the same time, a faithful walk in search of the divine that should be read alongside Julian of Norwich, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Bishop Desmund Tutu, and all the great memoirs."" -Patrick B. Reyes, PhD, Dean of Auburn Seminary, and award-winning author of The Purpose Gap ""No child should ever have to suffer abuse nor any adult the resulting self-loathing; but, like Dante, Frank intuits that the way ""up"" to God and life is necessarily ""down,"" through sin's source where his demons are rendered in vivid personal detail, given voice by his artful writing, which turns out to be key in his healing."" -David F. White, Professor at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and author of Tending the Fire that Burns at the Center of the World: Beauty and the Art of Christian Formation ""With the wisdom of a sage, the genius of a master storyteller, and the tender compassion of a saint, Frank Rogers Jr. offers this memoir as an invitation to dive deep into the waters of human experience and bear witness to it by the power of love."" -Aizaiah G. Yong, author of Multiracial Cosmotheandrism and The Pulse of Life"

Author Information

Frank Rogers Jr., PhD, is the Muriel Bernice Roberts Professor of Spiritual Formation and Narrative Pedagogy at Claremont School of Theology. He's a spiritual director, speaker, retreat leader, and the author of Practicing Compassion, Compassion in Practice: The Way of Jesus, and The God of Shattered Glass: A Novel. He focuses on spirituality that is contemplative, creative, and socially liberative. He is the cofounder of the Center for Engaged Compassion (centerforengagedcompassion.com) and lives in Southern California with his wife, Dr. Alane Daugherty, with whom he shares three sons.

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