Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber is an outspoken woman of faith dedicated to spreading love and joy to all. The Lutheran church she previously ran, The House for All Saints and Sinners, welcomes everyone: LGBTIQA folks; folks with difficult pasts; people in transition. EVERYONE. Controversy is no stranger to her, and with her upcoming book Shameless, she’s going to be fighting a lot of haters. This book is a deep-dive look at gender, sex, and sexuality, primarily in the Christian church in America. It researches what the Bible actually says about the subject and all the drama that has been created over years of trying to keep men and women in a tiny circle of what is “acceptable” with little to no basis from the belief of the religion itself.
In short, this book is a giant controversy in a few hundred pages and it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY in our current climate. Women in the United States are regularly exposed to laws regulating our bodies. Not a day goes by where I don’t read a new news article about an unfair dress code, specific rules for women, or modesty clauses. Birth control is such a hot topic that Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale has become an insanely popular and award winning show. Shameless pulls back a lot of the fear and shame in sexuality. It clears away a great deal of hatred and anger. Bolz-Weber is a loving force that swears, laughs, and is the first person to say she isn’t perfect. She is fabulous and if this book didn’t keep making me ugly cry, I’d reread it like three more times this weekend.
This book will not be for everyone. There will be people who read this book and demonize Bolz-Weber. I, however, think it is an important book that helps clear away cobwebs for people who have spent too long in their lives living in a coat of shame and guilt rather than to their full potential.
Shameless is available January 29, 2019 from Crown Publishing.
