Featuring: Author Richard Rosenbaum's memoir, A Barrel of Religion
About the author
Richard Rosenbaum was born in a middle-class Chicago family in 1935 and was part of the Catholic Church his entire life. He studied for the Catholic priesthood, then changed paths for a couple decades to get married, raise four children, teach college computer courses, and manage a stamp, coin, and collectible store. Many years later, Richard still heard the call and became an Orthodox priest while continuing to teach and manage his store. As part of his spiritual journey, he was active in local and overseas ministries, assisted aspiring priests, visited with death row inmates, and much more.
About the Book
In his memoir, Richard Rosenbaum chronicles his childhood memories and experiences—of family, church, school, and work—from the late 1930s in Chicago through his very productive adult years in suburban Detroit, Michigan.
He touches upon the details of his youth in Catholic schools and the Church in the 1940s and early 1950s, including his call to the priesthood. He also shares behind-the-scenes views of many aspects of life in Catholic, and later Easter Orthodox, seminaries.
Richard discusses Church history and ecumenism in general, and he compares and contrasts Catholic and Orthodox traditions, highlighting his own spiritual journey in both. He also includes special stories about priests he has known, his own overseas mission work, and visitations with death-row inmates. And he looks at issues that the Catholic Church has faced in recent years—including the scandals and media coverage of them—and suggests ways that vocation levels could be improved.
He also describes in vivid detail his work experiences that began at a very young age and involved a vast range of jobs and situations. While enjoying family life, he earned degrees in higher education and pursued entrepreneurship and invention. Richard shares his amazing life's journey in this book, a gift given to us not long before his passing.
A Barrel of Religion
For the cover, the author’s wife, Maureen, and son, Michael, wanted to create a visual play on the title to show Richard's life at the seminary. And thus, we created a cover that did both, but kept the emphasis on Richard.
How SPS helped
Richard Rosenbaum's wife, Maureen Rosenbaum, and his son, Michael Edwards, brought the late writer's manuscript to SPS after Richard’s passing. Because they wanted to publish the manuscript as a tribute to the father and husband they so admired, they wanted to keep the wording as close as possible to what Richard wrote. Thus, the SPS team focused their editing efforts on grammar, style, and potential libel, as well as formatting for both print and e-book publication. For the cover, the clients wanted to create a visual play on the title and show Richard's life at the seminary. And thus, our book cover designers created a cover that did both, but kept the emphasis on Richard.