How some churches fail to provide a lifeline

When I first saw its clickbait-worthy title, I was inclined to dismiss Gaslighted by God as another book participating in the exvangelical Christian influencer complex. I was fully prepared to read a series of hot takes on all the reasons any intelligent person should leave the church, walk away from organized religion, and take up SoulCycling as their new spiritual practice (but not before buying this book to arm them with all the arguments they would need to remind them of why they were right).

While I wasn’t entirely wrong, what I primarily encountered in these pages is a critically engaged and powerfully pastoral series of thoughtful reflections on how the cultures of theologically fragile and fearful churches have inflicted harm on those seeking a lifeline in times of pain, despair, and confusion. Tiffany Yecke Brooks reveals how these churches uncritically teach abusive interpretations of scripture and participate in perpetuating the many forms of systemic oppression we find embedded in just about every aspect of our world—the main difference being that their versions are #blessed.

Brooks does so much more than tell readers (yet again) about why and how the church is failing to be the church or how the message of Jesus is being contorted to serve the comfort of those who don’t know what to do with life’s unanswerable questions. She gets in close to the pain of our lives and articulates the purpose of Jesus’ healing work in the midst of our individual and collective spiritual chaos. She does so with humility, compassion, and an eye toward the purpose of our healing.