My Review of "Accidental Saints"

Nadia Bolz-Weber has become a voice to whom I listen when she preaches. And her Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People is an amazing book that takes the reader through the intimacies of parish ministry, sharing story after beautiful/painful story about the weirdness that is running a church. I'm not going to give any of them away in this review; but I can say as a pastor's wife, she's telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So don't let the tattoos throw you off. If you work on a church staff of any denominational variety, this is a must read.

Her's is a pastoral voice about grace without strings. I needed that voice to be grounded in scripture without apologies, not to shy away from Christ or his cross. I needed it to be strong and articulate. And, knowing me, I needed some honest, salty language thrown in.

All of that is embodied in Nadia Bolz-Weber. And her message in this book is simple: We live as sinners forgiven by a merciful God.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

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My Review of "Home on the Range"

Ruther Logan Herne's Home on the Range is a novel about the Double S Ranch and Nick, who is raising his two daughters by himself. I found the characters to be very realistic. The setting is wonderful and I loved to read all the struggles of each person. It makes it more realistic and easier to read and believe. Elsa is a wonderful character. I love that her past is a secret until the end of the book -- which, itself, is very well written. I was very pleased with this contemporary cowboy read. I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

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My Review of "Misfit Faith"

Jason Stellman's Misfit Faith: Confessions of a Drunk Ex-Pastor was not quite the book I had expected it to be. It was so much better! Jason Stellman was a Presbyterian pastor, but he became a Roman Catholic. I expected Misfit Faith to be, therefore, a semi-autobiographical work of Catholic apologetics. I read of Scott Hahn's mentorship of Stellman, and expected Misfit Faith to be a new, milder version of Hahn's scholarship. But I did not see any defense of Peter being the first pope in Misfit Faith , or any criticism of Sola Scriptura, or an explanation and defense of the Catholic understanding of justification. Instead, I read the story of Stellman's own spiritual journey. From the opening confession that Stellman had flirted with Christian universalism, I knew this wasn't going to be a Catholic apologetic. I wouldn't even characterize Misfit Faith as an apologetic at all. Because if there's one thing Stellman isn't sure on...

The Mrs. & the Minister

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