Cover of The Story of B: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

The Story of B: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

Ishmael seriesNext:My Ishmael(1997) →

Father Jared Osborne has received an extraordinary assignment from his superiors: Investigate an itinerant preacher stirring up deep trouble in central Europe. His followers all him B, but his enemies say he's something else: the Antichrist. However, the man Osborne tracks across a landscape of bars, cabarets, and seedy meeting halls is no blasphemous monster—though an earlier era would undoubtedly have rushed him to the burning stake. For B claims to be enunciating a gospel written not on any stone or parchment but in our very genes, opening up a spiritual direction for humanity that would have been unimaginable to any of the prophets or saviors of traditional religion. Pressed by his superiors for a judgment, Osborne is driven to penetrate B's inner circle, where he soon finds himself an anguished collaborator in the dismantling of his own religious foundations. More than a masterful novel of adventure and suspense, The Story of Bis a rich source of compelling ideas from an author who challenges us to rethink our most cherished beliefs.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 352 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked The Story of B: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Story of B: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. A Language Older Than Words Shares philosophy, environment, nonfiction
  2. A Field Guide to Reality Shares philosophy, fiction, history
  3. Original Wisdom: Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing Shares philosophy, spirituality, anthropology
  4. Reverence for Life: The Words of Albert Schweitzer Shares philosophy, spirituality, religion

“People who read The Story of B: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology
  2. Cloud-hidden, Whereabouts Unknown
  3. The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late
  4. Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World

“If you want more of the same (fantasy about spirituality), start with these.”

  1. The Tao of Philosophy: The Edited Transcripts
  2. Education and the Significance of Life
  3. You Are the World
  4. Nature, Man and Woman

“If it was the philosophy that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals
  2. God's Debris: A Thought Experiment
  3. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
  4. The Bird That Nobody Sees

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
  2. Muhammad, Prophet of God
  3. Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel
  4. The Signature of Jesus: The Call to a Life Marked by Holy Passion and Relentless Faith