Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

Vloekend als een bootwerker komt ze dichterbij de kern van de boodschap dan de meeste auteurs.

bolz-weber gets right up into the face of the problem of how/why shitty terrible happens in the world if God exists/loves us. the kind of thing which always makes me wish I was a person of faith. I cried instead.

Tattooed. Self-described “cranky.” Cussing here and there.

And a pastor.

There is a lot here.

I doubt you'll find this book at your local Christian bookstore. And it might not be the book for you if you take offense to some of the more colorful four letter words. (The first line of the book is: “'$h!t,' I thought to myself, ‘I'm going to be late to New Testament class.'”)

But if you have struggled with heavy doubts about this whole God thing at some point in your life, perhaps due to suffering a major loss of some kind, death of a loved one, or physical/mental/ or emotional pain, addiction, etc... If you were given a false view of God as the opposite of love, if you've been hurt by the church, this book is for you. (It's kind of like “The Ragamuffin Gospel” on steroids, with profanity, written by a female Lutheran pastor instead of a male Franciscan priest.)

I've seen Pastrix described as a theological memoir of grace. And that it is. She talks a lot about the God who meets us in our suffering. She is adamant that God doesn't cause suffering, but that he bears it on the cross. He doesn't initiate it, but He redeems & transforms it.

I genuinely loved this book from start to finish and was deeply moved by it. I just finished it and I already want to re-read it (and make all my friends read it!)