App Store

Google Play

SE - Details page - Device banner - 894x1036

Kliv in i en oändlig värld av stories

Lyssna när som helst, var som helst

Various authors

Evangelicals are supposed to be experts at telling their story. From an early age you are expected to have a "testimony, " a story of how God saved you from a life of sin and sadness and gave you a new life of joy and gladness. What happens if you don't have such a testimony? What if your story just doesn't fit the before-and-after mold? What are you supposed to do if your voice is not one usually heard?

In these offbeat, witty, and often bittersweet essays, up-and-coming writers tell the truth about growing up female and evangelical. Whether they stayed in the church or not, evangelicalism has shaped their spiritual lives.

Eschewing evangelical cliches, idyllic depictions of Christian upbringing, and pat formulas of sinner-to-saint transformation, these writers reflect frankly on childhoods filled with flannel board Jesuses, Christian "rap" music, and Bible memorization competitions. Along the way they find insight in the strangest places--the community swimming pool, Casey Kasem's American Top 40, and an Indian mosque.

Together this collection of essays provides a vivid and diverse portrait of life in the evangelical church, warts and all.

List of Contributors:

Jessica Belt

Paula Carter

Kirsten Cruzen

Anne Dayton

Kimberly B. George

Carla-Elaine Johnson

Megan Kirschner

Anastasia McAteer

Melanie Springer Mock

Audrey Molina

Victoria Moon

Shauna Niequist

Hannah Faith Notess

Andrea Palpant Dilley

Angie Romines

Andrea Saylor

Nicole Sheets

Shari MacDonald Strong

Stephanie Tombari

Heather Baker Utley

Jessie van Eerden

Sara Zarr

Cascade Books

Experiences in Evangelicalism

Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing Up Female and Evangelical

Joel Heng Hartse

"If this book moves, I hope it moves in the way pop songs do. There will be a lot of talk about songs, but inasmuch as this is a book about listening to music, it's also about how listening to music makes us who we are, or at least about how it makes me who I am, and so it is an exploration, an idiosyncratic and opinionated and particular one, of a self shaped by the oddly intersecting forces of the American evangelical Protestant church and the American popular music scene. I don't mean for that to sound hoity-toity--if this were fifteen years ago, I would say that this book was about Christian music, and I would know exactly what I meant. My purpose now is not only to talk about "Christian music." I am not here to explicate Christian music, to explain why it exists and whether it is any good. Instead, think of what you're about to read as like an iPod playlist, a collection of essays and thoughts on listening to music and having faith and how they have made me, and a lot of people like me, and maybe you.
 Also, there will be some jokes about Stryper."

Sects, Love, and Rock & Roll: My Life on Record

Edited by Christopher J. Keller and Andrew Shutes-David



The Experiences in Evangelicalism series offers forays into the evangelical experience, rethinking, and reimagining key questions, practices, and tenets of faith, as they have been framed in the evangelical tradition. Through theological reflection, critical analysis, and personal narrative, the series seeks to craft a more authentic and engaging evangelical spirituality. This series is a working partnership between The Other Journal at Mars Hill Graduate School and Cascade Books.