"For the general reader, Creamer presents a remarkably readable essay on each of the three thinkers. . . . Having struggled through a great deal of Lonergan's writings, I found Creamer's digest of Insight and Method in Theology breathtaking in its clarity."  "In Guides for the Journey David Creamer has produced a rare book in its clarity and its passion. It is rare in that it provides the general reader and introductory student with excellent briefings on the three scholars presented while at the same time proposing a deeply felt synthesis which engages the more sophisticated reader."  [Excerpts from a review of Guides for the Journey by Brian Ruttan (Professor of Divinity, Trinity College, University of Toronto) in University of Toronto Quarterly (Vol. 67, No. 1, Winter 1997-98), pp. 275-76.]

Guides for the Journey: John Macmurray, Bernard Lonergan, James Fowler, is an introduction to the lives and thought of these three significant thinkers. Over the past several years I have begun to use the thought of John Macmurray, Bernard Lonergan, and James W. Fowler in each of my university courses. Students are interested in all three. In my teaching and workshops I am often asked to suggest articles or books that are suitable introductions for the non specialist. There really aren't any! I think Macmurray, Lonergan, and Fowler are helpful in interpreting our lives and the world in which we live them at this juncture in human history. Their thought ought to be more generally accessible.

John Macmurray (1891-1976) is a deep but clear and original twentieth century philosopher of ethics and religion. He has been called "the best-kept secret of British philosophy in the twentieth century." Because of a renewed interest in his thought, five of his most important works (he wrote fifteen books and countless articles) were reissued by Humanities Press International between 1991 and 1993 (Conditions of Freedom, Freedom in the Modern World, Persons in Relation, Reason and Emotion, and The Self as Agent).

Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984), a Canadian Jesuit philosopher and theologian, was critical of both traditional and modern ideas about knowing. Most of his life was devoted to developing an integrated and generalized method of inquiry which he saw as able to overcome modern divisions and fragmentation in knowledge. His most famous books are Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (1957) and Method in Theology (1972). The Lonergan Research Institute has entered into an agreement with the University of Toronto Press to publish the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan in twenty-two volumes. To date, five of the Collected Works have appeared.

James Fowler (1940 - ) and associates have done the ground breaking work on the application of developmental psychology to an understanding of "faith" (meaning-making) as developing. I first met Jim Fowler in 1976 and have been interested in his work ever since. Harper & Row published his first book, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, in 1981. His most recent work is Weaving the New Creation: Stages of Faith and the Public Church (Harper Collins, 1991).

I have written with my students in mind (undergraduates and graduate students) as well as those adults who have attended workshops and lectures I have given over the years. I will use the book as a textbook! After an introductory chapter, I have two chapters on each thinker (one on their life and one on their thought) and end with a chapter that draws together the points of congruence in their approaches. I am not presuming a familiarity with Philosophy or the meaning of technical terms used (because I did not want to interrupt the flow of the text I have provided a glossary). I use direct quotations from Macmurrray, Lonergan, and Fowler in my presentation to give the reader a flavour for their styles. Because it is my hope that readers will want to go deeper I have included endnotes as guides for further reading as well as a comprehensive bibliography and index.