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The youngest son of a large Catholic family, Fenton Johnson spent his childhood in New Haven, Ky., where Trappist monks from the nearby Abbey of Gethsemani were frequent visitors to his home. Despite his early exposure to Catholicism and monastic life, Johnson—who is gay—grew up to be a religious skeptic. Keeping Faith begins in 1996, when Johnson attends a weeklong encounter between Buddhist and Trappist monks at Gethsemani and embarks on a painful yet exhilarating journey to explore the meaning of faith in the context of history and his own experience. The result—a seamless blending of historical analysis and personal reflection—will resonate with readers of many faiths and backgrounds.
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