April Reading List
These books might change your faith
This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley
Red Lip Theology by Candice Benbow
A Rhythm of Prayer edited by Sarah Bessey
A Church for All by Gayle E. Pitman
Truth’s Table by Ekemini Uwan, Michelle Higgins and Christina Edmondson
Woman Evolve by Sarah Jakes Roberts
In my Grandmother’s House by Yolanda Pierce
Find the complete list at Bookshop or on Amazon.
My disclaimer for this one is that the faith that I practice is Christianity, so this is really a list about transforming your Christian faith, although I do think that the words of these authors could inform a broader range of spiritual transformation.
In each of these books, the writers grapple with the complexities of the human experience, and how an expansive and expanding view of our faith help us navigate these uncertainties. A Rhythm of Prayer is an anthology of prayers where the writers share their prayers and thoughts about a range of life experiences, which may inspire and/or rejuvenate your own prayer life. This is the kind of book you can return to as many times as you find helpful. Similarly, you’ll want to read and reread This Here Flesh, as Cole Arthur Riley’s poetic writing style captivates you and challenges you to think about how your spirit is deeply connected to your body.
Yolanda Pierce too, explores that connection between spirit and body as she reflects on what it means to be a Black woman raised in the faith of her foremothers. How does the suffering and trauma of life inform how we see God? How does our view of God expand in light of these lived experiences? In Woman Evolve, Sarah Jakes Roberts broadens our view of Eve, positioning her as a role model for us, and not just a cautionary tale. What does it mean for us to learn from Eve, in a positive way?
Also challenging us to expand our view of God is our children’s book on the list, A Church for All. This delightful rhyming picture book imagines what a church that welcomes everyone might really look like. Candice Benbow also pushes us to reimagine the church and the Christian experience in Red Lip Theology, which is part memoir, part treatise. Her perspective rocks much of traditional Christianity, and offers us something new in this 21st century faith journey through this book of essays.
Ekemini, Michelle and Christina of the Truth’s Table podcast also give us a new way forward with their collection of essays of the same name. They share their varied experiences as Black women to talk about their faith through singleness, marriage, divorce, political activism, and so much more. They don’t shy away from the difficulties of their chosen topics, and their honesty will draw you in, and make you want to sit with everything that they have shared with us.
I chose these books because they provided a perspective that many more mainstream Christian writings do not, challenging the more “Sunday School” lessons that we get about our faith. As always, read one or many of them as a way to add to your own personal conversation with yourself about your religious identity.
Happy reading!
