From now until the release of my book How Jesus Saves the World From Us, I’m going to write twelve blog posts covering the themes of my twelve book chapters. My fourth chapter “Breath Not Meat” talks about the way that Jesus saves us from becoming “dead” in our lives through dehumanizing practices like consumerism so that we can be more fully alive as vessels of the breath of God. I am always being consumed by my bad habits. I... Read more
One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn as a writer is that I’m always at least half full of crap. I wrote a blog post on Wednesday that I felt a little bit too awesome about. I made connections I hadn’t made before about the way that queerness could purge American Christianity of its white supremacy. It didn’t get the traffic I thought it deserved, so I was irritated. And then I got a comment from someone who... Read more
All right friends, it’s time to ramp up our publicity campaign as we enter into the final homestretch. I’m going to give away a free signed copy of my book each day to the person who helps me the most with publicity on social media. I can ship it to you or your fundamentalist uncle or your granddaughter who stopped going to church. So here’s how it works. I’ve been tweeting out short statements about issues in the church today with... Read more
From now until the release of my book How Jesus Saves the World From Us, I’m going to write twelve blog posts covering the themes of my twelve book chapters. My third chapter “Empty Not Clean” talks about the way that Jesus saves us from building gated communities to keep ourselves clean from every worldly taboo by showing us that our corruption comes from within and requires becoming empty rather than clean. For the last three decades, the raison d’etre... Read more
I wish that United Theological Seminary president David Watson could have been at lunch with me today. I attended a presentation on Nicki Minaj and the queering of hip-hop culture that was eye-opening and very stimulating. Right now, some of my closest student relationships are with queer black women. I love them, and I think they have a lot to teach me about the gospel. David Watson wrote a recent piece called “Christian Unity and the New Moralism,” in which he... Read more
It’s crunch time for my book launch, and I’m supposed to be wearing my game face. I’m supposed to be exclusively using words like “thankful” and “excited.” I’m supposed to be humble-bragging about my endorsements and the number of supporters I’ve accrued for my thunderclap campaign. I’m supposed to be exuding the irresistible charm that will translate into viral buzz. Because that’s how marketing works. People will only support your cause and buy your books if they think that you’re already winning.... Read more
From now until the release of my book How Jesus Saves the World From Us, I’m going to write twelve blog posts covering the themes of my twelve book chapters. My second chapter “Mercy Not Sacrifice” talks about the way that Jesus saves us from the miserable life of always keeping score by inviting us into the kingdom of his mercy in which there is no score because everyone is wrong and God gets all the credit for loving us... Read more
I’ve decided to take a risk and start a Thunderclap campaign for my book release. What it means is that I have to recruit 250 people who are willing to let Thunderclap send out a very brief advertising message on their social media platforms on April 18th, my release date. If I fall short of 250 supporters, the Thunderclap message won’t send. That’s the gamble. But it’s good because it forces me to pursue my goal tenaciously. It’s incredibly easy... Read more
Elizabeth Esther grew up in a fundamentalist Christian cult. Her upbringing left her not only with deep spiritual wounds but with an unhealthy addiction to the highs of religious experience. In her new book Spiritual Sobriety, which comes out April 19th, she talks through strategies for recovering from spiritual addiction, making us of the wisdom from 12 step programs. It’s a new way of thinking about recovery from fundamentalism that I haven’t encountered before, and I really think she’s onto something. For... Read more
From now until the release of my book How Jesus Saves the World From Us, I’m going to write twelve blog posts covering the themes of my twelve book chapters. My first chapter “Worship Not Performance” talks about the way that Jesus saves us from the loneliness of living behind a mask and constantly performing for others by providing a way for us to experience the authentic delight that is true worship. I’ve only been to one Chris Tomlin concert.... Read more
Mercy Not Sacrifice
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