{"id":30878,"date":"2014-10-16T14:01:42","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T21:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/?p=30878"},"modified":"2015-03-10T10:02:41","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T17:02:41","slug":"disquiet-time-welcome-to-the-land-of-misfit-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2014\/10\/16\/disquiet-time-welcome-to-the-land-of-misfit-toys\/","title":{"rendered":"DISQUIET TIME: Welcome to the Land of Misfit Toys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m very excited to announce that next week (on Tuesday 10\/21), my latest book, DISQUIET TIME: Rants and Reflections on the Good Book by the Skeptical, the Faithful, and a Few Scoundrels<\/em><\/strong><\/a> hits bookstores everywhere.<\/p>\n

Let me tell you a bit about the book, which is quite different from anything I\u2019ve done in the past. First of all, I didn\u2019t write the whole thing. Along with one of my best friends, Jennifer Grant<\/a>, I acted as co-editor of the book and contributed two chapters to it as well. Jen and I asked several dozen of our cleverest, funniest, most honest and deep-thinking friends (many of whom are writers whose names you\u2019ll recognize)<\/a> to contribute an essay to the book. The assignment seemed simple but turned out to be anything but for most of us who chose to accept it:<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve asked people to write about verses\/passages\/ideas in the Bible that:<\/p>\n

~ most confounds<\/span> them,<\/p>\n

~ they wish weren\u2019t in there,<\/p>\n

~ are their guilty pleasure,<\/p>\n

~ are a solace in hard times<\/span>,<\/p>\n

~ for those who once embraced the Bible in their journey but no longer do \u2013 what is the verse or passage or idea that they still return to, that still has meaning for them when the rest of it doesn\u2019t,<\/p>\n

~ for those who once embraced the Bible but no longer do, what was the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back? was there a verse\/passage\/concept that sent you<\/span> packing? if so, why?<\/p>\n

~they love most or hold most dear,<\/p>\n

~ makes them laugh or cringe or invariably brings a tear to their eye.<\/p>\n

The tone is conversational, humor is welcome, language needn\u2019t be pious or PG-rated. Have no fear of being censored. \u2026 In other words, just go for it. Just be as honest and as fearless as you can be.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

DISQUIET TIME<\/strong><\/em><\/a> contains more than 40 essays by our brave, marvelous friends<\/a> who took off their kid gloves and took on the Bible to honestly (and often with great humor) talk about what bothers\/elates\/annoys\/amuses or leaves them in awe about the \u201cGood Book.\u201d They are men and women; young, middle-aged, and sage-aged; Christian, Jewish, Buddhist<\/a>, and none-of-the-above; evangelical, post-evangelical, Episcopal, Catholic, mainline, orthodox, nondenominational, spiritual-but-not-religious, and \u201cnones\u201d; emergent, emerging, and fully emerged. They are black, white, Hispanic, Asian-American, and none-of-the above; conservative, liberal, libertarian, Democrat, Republican, middle-of-the-road, and with occasional anarchistic tendencies; married, single, divorced, gay, straight, bisexual, parents, and singletons. They are faithful, skeptical, and the odd scoundrel (or dozen).<\/p>\n

The result is a chorus unlike any I\u2019ve heard (or read) before. You won\u2019t agree with everything you read in DISQUIET TIME<\/strong><\/em>, but you will find something \u2014 a gem or two or dozen \u2014 that click with, challenge, or inspire you.<\/p>\n

Beginning tomorrow and running through November, we\u2019re launching the DISQUIET TIME DISQUIETING BLOG TOUR<\/strong>, where you\u2019ll hear from many of the authors included in the book and a few of our friends who aren\u2019t. Check back here for updates and links to each day\u2019s blog or visit www.DisquietTime.com<\/a> where each of them will be cross-posted.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve also created a few fun bells and whistles to help share the DISQUIET TIME<\/strong><\/em><\/a> love.<\/p>\n