Now a New York Times bestseller, Nadia Bolz-Weber takes no prisoners as she reclaims the term “pastrix”(pronounced “pas-triks,” a term used by some Christians who refuse to recognize female pastors) in her messy, beautiful, prayer-and-profanity laden narrative about an unconventional life of faith.
Heavily tattooed and loud-mouthed, Nadia, a former stand-up comic, sure as hell didn’t consider herself to be religious leader material-until the day she ended up leading a friend’s funeral in a smoky downtown comedy club. Surrounded by fellow alcoholics, depressives, and cynics, she realized: These were her people. Maybe she was meant to be their pastor.
Using life stories-from living in a hopeful-but-haggard commune of slackers to surviving the wobbly chairs and war stories of a group for recovering alcoholics, from her unusual but undeniable spiritual calling to pastoring a notorious con artist-Nadia uses stunning narrative and poignant honesty to portray a woman who is both deeply faithful and deeply flawed, giving hope to the rest of us along the way.
Wildly entertaining and deeply resonant, this is the book for people who hunger for a bit of hope that doesn’t come from vapid consumerism or navel-gazing; for women who talk too loud, and guys who love chick flicks; for the gay man who loves Jesus, and won’t allow himself to be shunned by the church. In short, this book is for every thinking misfit suspicious of institutionalized religion, but who is still seeking transcendence and mystery.
This book is crazy awesome wonderful Disclaimer: I’m writing from the perspective of a much-less-cool Lutheran pastor. The things Nadia does wouldn’t work in my context, and I’m not into tattoos.But see, this book isn’t telling me I should be just like her. Pastrix has no magic bullets. No Superhero who thinks they’re going to “save” the church. No “Hey I’m Pastor Perfect of Awesomesauce Church and if you only do what I do you can be like me.” I hate those books. They’re less useful than toilet paper. But this is…
Fall In Love With Her Defiant Personality I secretly took a peek at an advanced copy of Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber’s forthcoming memoir Pastrix: the Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint. The illicit peek (I’m not cool enough to have actually received a copy of my own for review) turned into a complete sleep-robbing read-through, so I figured I might as well write a review since, as anti-piracy awareness ads have informed me, I basically stole money straight out of Bolz-Weber’s pocket.I don’t love memoir. Everyone thinks…