Elizabeth Esther - Spiritual Sobriety: Stumbling Back to Faith When Good Religion Goes Bad

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY

Spiritual Sobriety offers a provocative and insightful counterbalance to the indulgent emotionalism that characterizes much of modern-day religious experience. Drawing from experts and everyday people as well as her own story of religious addiction, Elizabeth Esther points helpfully toward the line between holding religious beliefs and using them. Spiritual Sobriety isnt just for religion addicts. Its for everyone.

Karen Swallow Prior, Ph.D., author of
Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me and
Fierce ConvictionsThe Extraordinary Life of
Hannah More: Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist

With the skill of a seasoned teacher and the care of a dear friend, Elizabeth Esther lights the path forward for those escaping unhealthy religious environments and habits. Rarely is a single book this personal and practical, compelling and profound. With Spiritual Sobriety, Esther establishes herself as one of our cultures most important healers. Her words of hope and healing will undoubtedly impact generations.

Rachel Held Evans, bestselling author of
Searching for Sunday and A Year of Biblical Womanhood

No matter your religious addictions or theological positions, or how you plan to vote in the next election, the compassionate kindness of God cannot be moved. With an unexpected blend of tender vulnerability and cutting honesty, Elizabeth Esther emerges from a spiritually abusive past as a woman who takes that truth to heart, learning to be kind to herself in the process. Her willingness to stay small in the presence of God is perhaps what I admire most about her.

Emily P. Freeman, author of Simply Tuesday

If, like Matthews Gospel said, youre worn out and burned out on religion, this practical and tender book will help you come away with Jesus and recover your real life. Elizabeth Esther is an honest, kind, frank, and real companion for your journey to spiritual sobriety.

Sarah Bessey, author of Out of Sorts:
Making Peace with an Evolving Faith and Jesus Feminist

With her usual humor, candor, and unflinching honesty, Elizabeth Esther shares powerful insights that will resonate with seekers of all backgrounds.

Jennifer Fulwiler, radio host and bestselling author of
Something Other Than God

We need this book and we needed Elizareth Esther to write it. As somebody who has spent more than half of my life living in the aftermath of spiritual abuse, I wish Id read this book years ago. For the soul who has been victimized by religion, manipulated by dogma, or broken by somebodys idea of God, Spiritual Sobriety offers hope, light, and a path forward.

Matthew Paul Turner, author of Churched and Our Great Big American God

Spiritual Sobriety is extraordinarily helpful, generous, and woven with the thread of true freedom. After reading it, youll learn that a lasting faith should be steady and grounded, rather than a frenzy of purely emotional highs and lows. I am so grateful for this book and highly recommend it to anyone looking for lasting spiritual health.

Nish Weiseth, author of Speak: How Your Story Can Change the World

Spiritual Sobriety is a must-read for those recovering from Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome. Elizabeth Esther offers hard-won lessons with grace and wit, reminding us all that healing is within reach.

Reba Riley, author of Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome

In Spiritual Sobriety, Elizabeth Esther asks this insightfully scandalous questionare we mainlining religion, using it as an anesthetizing agent against the pains and questions of life? With the incisive style that has become her hallmark, Esther draws us from the narcotic numbing of so much religion, and invites us to imagine a vibrant faith of loving and sober connection with God.

Seth Haines, author of Coming Clean

Spiritual Sobriety is an important book. Its important because some folks, like myself, have survived harmful spiritual experiences and have been left to untangle the effects of spiritual addiction. And its important because other folks, regardless of their experiences, are unaware of what spiritual wholenesssobrietyeven looks like. With her characteristic honesty, intelligence, and wisdom, Elizabeth Esther shines a light on topics that prefer to hide in darknessand illuminates the way to freedom. Read, and then share, this book.

Zach J. Hoag, author of After the Apocalypse

Elizabeth has been through darkness that could have stopped her in her tracks, but she presses on, bringing good news to those of us who need to hear it most. She dismantles all the ways we become codependent on unhealthy religious systems while also offering us a fresh hope in the God who transcends those systems. Spiritual Sobriety is not merely a good bookit is a crucial book. A game changer in the conversation about faith and God.

Rob Carmack, pastor of Collective Church in Roanoke, Texas

ALSO BY ELIZABETH ESTHER

Girl at the End of the World: My Escape from Fundamentalism
in Search of Faith with a Future

Copyright 2016 by Elizabeth Esther

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Convergent Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

CONVERGENT BOOKS is a registered trademark and its open book colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN9780307731890

eBook ISBN9780307731906

Cover design: Jessie Bright

Cover background image: SchmitzOlaf

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FOR MY CHILDREN

Jewel, James, Jude, Jorai & Jasiel