My God, My God: An Alphabet of Internal Archery is a richly layered and original exploration of faith, selfhood, and the enduring mystery of God in the modern world. In a series of alphabetically arranged reflections, Mark Patrick Hederman draws together memoir, theology, philosophy, literature, and cultural history to illuminate the deepest questions of human existence.
Beginning with the startling idea that God is in love with creation, Hederman invites readers into a lifelong dialogue between the human person and the divine. Through personal stories – from rural Ireland to Paris in the era of Vatican II – he examines how identity is formed, how belief survives doubt, and how each individual becomes a unique “I” within a vast and interconnected universe.
Central to the book is a vision of spirituality that is both ancient and radically fresh. Engaging with Eastern and Western Christian traditions, Hederman explores the concept of divine “energy” (energeia) – a living presence accessible to every person—and the idea that human beings are called into a dynamic partnership with God. Faith here is not merely doctrine, but relationship, participation, and transformation.
At the same time, My God, My God confronts the challenges of contemporary culture. It grapples with the “death of God” narrative, the authority and failures of institutional religion, and the dominance of scientific rationalism, offering instead a recovery of myth, imagination, and symbolic ways of knowing. Hederman argues that these are not relics of the past but essential tools for understanding realities that lie beyond logic alone.
Throughout, the book returns to one central insight: each person is utterly unique, irreplaceable, and called into a relationship of love that transcends biology, psychology, and history. Heaven and hell are not distant places, but conditions shaped by our freedom – by our capacity to accept or refuse that love.
Written with intellectual depth, wit, and poetic sensitivity, My God, My God speaks equally to believers, sceptics, and seekers. It offers not a system of answers, but a profound invitation: to rediscover the divine within the fabric of everyday life, and to uncover, within oneself, a path toward meaning, connection, and transformation.
