Quiet Dangers: Navigating the Psychological Challenges of Spiritual Intimacy

Robert Wick's latest book presents a discussion of the natural encounters all of us can expect on the journey toward a deeper relationship with the truth about ourselves, others, and God. This includes the search for imago Dei, what to expect in traveling our own road to Emmaus, how to recognize our own hidden resistances to spiritual growth and changeespecially compartmentalization, and ways to personally explore our own answer to Jesus's question in John's Gospel: What are you looking for?

In this soulful, inspiring, and practical new book, Robert Wicks, a trained psychologist and spiritual writer, brings the two disciplines together to reveal how the fully alive, fully human, and fully whole person needs both a healthy psyche and soul.
James Martin, SJ, author, Learning to Pray

Drawing on his extensive experience as a psychologist, as well as the wisdom of a variety of spiritual masters, Dr. Wicks offers us a clear roadmap for recognizing the hidden ways we try to avoid the truth.
Judith Valente, author, How to Live: What the Rule of St. Benedict Teaches Us About Happiness, Meaning, and Community

Robert Wicks expertly employs psychology and spirituality to uncover 'hidden rooms' in our personalities. These rooms have the potential to hinder or enhance our identity before God, ourselves, and others.... This work is instructive and inspiring, rich and layered, and a solid companion for a pilgrim on a journey of faith.
John Welch, OCarm, author, An Interior Life: Rummaging through the Christian Tradition

Bringing together practical suggestions with engaging stories in a style that is wisely evocative, Wicks invites us into a safe space where we are challenged to see what we have hidden from ourselves and from God and how our own stories can be rewritten in the language of love and humility.
Thomas E. Rodgerson, author, Overhearing a Christian Apology to the Nones: Revealing Still Hidden Truths in Dialogue

Dr. Robert Wicks is professor emeritus at Loyola University Maryland. He has published and edited more than fifty books, including Handbook of Spirituality for Ministers, Clinical Handbook of Pastoral Counseling, and most recently, Heartstorming: Creating a Place God Can Call Home (2020) and Do You Have a Moment? (2022), all published by Paulist Press.