A review by catherineofalx
Tenderness: A Gay Christian's Guide to Unlearning Rejection and Experiencing God's Extravagant Love by Eve Tushnet

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

 

Jesus said it best, in the epigraph to this book (taken from his words to Bl. Angela of Foligno): "I did not love you as a joke." 

 

This book will save lives. I am not exaggerating. Eve's questions are born of hope in its real, genuine, deep sense—not sunny optimism, but confidence in a project worth giving your life to: "What if gay people were *safer* in our churches than in the secular world? What if we could find *more* ways to give and receive love within the Church than we do outside it?" (xv) By starting here, and mixing lectio divina with real talk, practical advice, and lofty dreams along the way, this book manages to reckon with the pastoral crisis we're in while keeping us ever focused on the all-powerful, all-overcoming love of God. 

 

This book is first and foremost for gay Christians looking for community and longing for a whole kaleidoscope of futures, as it should be. But, while I don't wanna make this about ~the straights~, it's also for straight Christians who want to love gay Christians better... and straight Christians who know the secret that many of us see our sexualities as crosses, not gifts from and for God, too. This book will leave you loving the God who made us, and delighted to have gotten to know him better. I can't give a better review than that. 

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Ave Maria Press for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review!