At age twenty-one, the pain of losing her mother to cancer sent Laurel Mathewson—with a naturally skeptical and questioning outlook—on a years-long existential journey. Laurel began to read The Interior Castle, Saint Teresa of Ávila’s book about the “dwellings” within our souls that we move through to develop an ever-deepening relationship with God through prayer.

In An Intimate Good: A skeptical Christian mystic in conversation with Teresa of Ávila, a beautifully written and moving memoir, she illustrates an ancient reality still very much alive today: the love and closeness of a good God, as known through Jesus Christ, who seeks to move out into the world, into our very bodies and lives. Not by nature or training inclined to believe such a wild claim, Laurel discovered that God is full of surprises.

Join Malcolm Clemens Young, Dean of Grace Cathedral, for a conversation with Mathewson about bringing to life the complex frameworks and ideas of The Interior Castle and also the living God who is at the heart of it.

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About the Guest

Born and raised in Oregon, Laurel Mathewson developed a deep love for nature, rural life, and social justice. At Stanford, she discovered her intellectual passion in the intersections of literature and landscape, faith and politics, and social transformation. After losing her mother to cancer at 21, she pursued careers in academia, media (as an editorial assistant at Sojourners in Washington, D.C.), and ministry. She eventually became an Episcopal priest, serving at St. Luke’s, a vibrant multicultural church in San Diego. During her time there she’s written award-winning pieces for Sojourners, Geez, and The Christian Century. She is also the editor of The Interior Castle: Exploring a Spiritual Classic as a Modern Reader.

About the Moderator

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.

About The Forum

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  Learn more about The Forum and upcoming discussions. You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum.